15 Examples of Student-Centered Teaching
Terry Heick June 8, 2019 in Teaching
15 Examples of Student-Centered Teaching
by Terry Heick
15 Examples of Student-Centered Teaching–And 15 That Are Not So Much
Student-centered teaching is simply the process of teaching with student needs ‘first.’
In 28 Student-Centered Instructional Strategies, we expanded some on the idea, explaining:
“This means that planning often begins with the student in mind as opposed to a school policy or curriculum artifact, for example. Done well, it can disarm some of the more intimidating parts of academia, while also shortening the distance between the student and understanding. Put another way, student-centered teaching is teaching that is ‘aware’ of students and their needs above and beyond anything else. It places students at the center of the learning process.”
To begin to make sense of what ‘student-centered learning’ means in a modern classroom, we’ve provided some examples below. We didn’t get too carried away and progressive with it–our goal was to help clarify for practicing teachers in existing K-12 classrooms a useful definition for student-centered learning. Below, we’ve created
Class Size Matters: Understanding The Link Between Class Size And Student Achievement
9 Roles For The Teacher That Leads
Examples of Teacher-Centered (Not-Student Centered)
Being clear about how to do well in your class
Admonishing students to ‘think’
Helping students master content
Helping students continuously practice and revise how they perform on one assessment form
Creating curriculum and instruction around standards
Handing students a rubric or scoring guide
Letting students choose the project’s product
Choosing ‘power standards’ in a staff meeting in the middle of a summer PD with the other 4 teachers from your department or grade level
Allowing students to choose from two novels that are unlike anything they’ve ever seen or experienced in their lives
Worksheets, essays
Giving struggling readers a few extra minutes to read a 17-page short story
Starting class with a standard and target
Giving an on-demand assignment even though you just finished a writing piece or unit
Framing learning in terms of letter grades and certificates and completion
Grading everything
Examples of Student-Centered (Not Teacher-Centered)
Being clear about how you will promote, measure, and celebrate understanding
Modeling ‘how to think‘ for students
Helping students understand what’s worth understanding
Diversifying what you accept as evidence of understanding
Creating curriculum and instruction around a need to know
Collaborating with students to create the rubric or scoring guide
Letting students choose the project’s purpose
Choosing ‘power standards’ from your curriculum after meeting with both students, parents, and community members that voice their unique societal and cultural needs
Letting students choose their own media form that reflects the purpose of the reading
Choice boards
Placing struggling readers in a lit circle that gives them an authentic role that they can be successful in, allows them to hear oral fluency and reading speed model and keeps them from feeling ‘broken’
Starting class with a story
Using the on-demand writing prompt as the summative assessment
Framing learning in terms of process and growth and purpose
Choosing what’s graded carefully, and considering other work as practice