A Student Centered Classroom

Moving to a student centered classroom has been easier than I had thought.  Actually this process has taught me a lot.  Our students are digital natives therefore they don't have hesitation when it comes to technology.  Rather their thinking is more freer than an adult's thinking.  When I release the control in my classroom and allow students the freedom to problem solve or to create, their finished product is always better than I had imagined and always done in a different way than what I would have chosen or even thought of.    An example of this in my classroom was when students were asked to create a presentation of the zoo animals they learned about on our class field trip.  Not only did the students choose apps or web tools that I hadn't thought of using they also surprised me with the content they chose to use in their presentations.  Examples of this would be the students who chose to not only take pictures of the animal at the zoo but also took a picture of the informational sign outside the animals habitat, and recorded a zookeepers presentation of an animal.    I  was also pleased that the students uploaded the sounds the animals made, songs, and additional pictures from the web.  I never would have dreamed a year ago that first graders, when given the freedom, would be so on task and so focused on a given assignment.

It is so important for the students to use the iPad as a tool to learn and not the apps or web tools.  Apps and web tools will come and go but if the students learn to problem solve, create, and produce using their iPads they will be successful no matter what app, tool, or program is available.

Now more than ever a teacher must be a facilitator and encourage students to collaborate  and work together.  Classroom environment must be conducive to this and one way I found to do this is to arrange student desks into learning groups where they are encouraged to discuss and share.

Authentic assessments are also more valuable in this process.  An assessment that requires a student to think and produce is more meaningful than answering a set of questions.

The hardest part of moving to a student centered classroom is getting students to value the process.  Students will work harder, stay on task longer, and produce more meaningful activities if given the chance to be involved in their own learning?  Giving students choices.  is a very powerful tool to use.