Get Started with Student-Centered Learning – A Beginner’s How To Guide

Giving students a voice and creating a student-centered classroom sounds like the ultimate hippie fantasy, you can almost smell the patchouli drifting through my room as I give out hugs and high fives highlighting all of the awesome work my kids do.  Except that is not reality.

Reality is I have standards to meet, essential learner outcomes to follow, curriculum to cover and yes those darling standardized tests.  In fact, in Wisconsin we get to take them already in October, wahoo.   So no, my room isn’t some test free haven, but a totally typical elementary classroom with about 25 students that are all on vastly different levels, all have different talents and challenges and just want to succeed,and have some fun in school.  And yet amidst all of the demands student-centered learning worked for me, and it can for you to, so here is a little help to get you started.

1. Know your goals.  You cannot set students on a journey if you have no idea what the goal is.  I have said this before but it so important and your goal does not have to be a certain size either.  Some projects require more in depth learning because the goal encompasses more things and others are a quick mini-lesson meant to secure only one skill.  Know your goal, seriously, and know how they relate to the bigger picture.
2. Then rewrite and break down your goal so it makes sense to students and to yourself.  I do this in my head because some of our essential learner outcomes are really lofty, I can only use them as a guide, but how is that going to actually look like in real life?  So “Using the writing process” becomes a break down of 5 different goals each with different outcomes.
3. Brainstorm some ideas before you introduce.  I love coming up with ideas of what types of projects we can do to reach our goals and then tell my students about them particularly at the beginning of the year.  That way, if this is new to them they don’t feel super overwhelmed.  Some kids will just fly with the whole “How are you going to reach the goal?” mentality, while others will look like they are about to cry.  Give them some scaffolding and point them in the right direction, they will take on more and more responsibility as they get used to this approach.
4. Give the introduction enough time.  When you reveal the next big adventure you do not want to be in a hurry.  Firstly you want to get the kids excited but secondly you want them to understand what the purpose and the direction you are about to take is.  If you hurry you will regret it later.  Which leads to the next tip.
5. Start small.  I didn’t throw all of my super scripted lesson plans out at one time.  I opened it up in social studies first, which seems wonderfully suited for student-directed learning, we got our feet wet and figured out how to navigate through it and then we started to look at other areas.  Pick something manageable for you so you are not in a panic because panic is contagious.
6. Let the kids…  Let the kids think of questions.  Let them pick partners, even if you are thinking you would never pair someone up like that, let them.  Let the kids try out a direction and let them struggle a little bit.  You can always jump in but don’t do it right away.  You can re-direct sure or even advise but don’t take over, often we teachers take over much too soon.  For this to work you have to trust your students.  
7. Step aside.  For this to be truly student-centered this cannot be about the sage on the stage.  Remember these kids are here to experience school not just to have it done to them.  So set the stage and then get off.  
8. Give them time to discuss.  The best ideas often come from students so let them have the time to figure them out.  I know I don’t write the best lessons when I am rushed or don’t have time to ponder, so give that same opportunity to your students.  Have them discuss with others, let them mull over it, they don’t have to come up with a direction right away.  Sometimes projects occur naturally because their curiosity takes over, wahoo.
9. Don’t fret about the volume.  One thing I learned was that student-centered learning can get really noisy and that’s ok.  Most of the time it is students discussing with each other or speaking to you about it, and sometimes they are just really excited.  I would rather have my classroom loud with excitement then silent.  Oh and that goes for the staying in your seat thing too.  Let them move out of their seats, get comfortable and get working.
10. Expect failure.  And then learn from it.  Not all projects are going to be stellar, not all work will be immaculate and that is ok.  These kids are learning and it can lead to a wonderful discussion about what went wrong and where to go from there.  Everything is a learning process and there simply is no such a thing as failure (unless they do not show up), they may just not have learned as much as you were hoping for.
11. Make room for it all.  Not all learning will be project based, sometimes there will be no end product but rather a discussion, an idea or a new direction taken.  This isn’t a “teach the material – give the test type of approach,” even though you can make it that, it is get to know the material, get invested and show me you know it somehow type of thing.  I had kids that wanted to take a test and that was fine with me.  I had kids that wanted to make a movie to show their learning, great!  And I had kids that just wanted to tell me all about it, wahoo!  Make room for all types of assessment, give a deadline, check on their progress and hold them accountable.  Student-centered does not mean it all has to be a project; it means to give them a voice in the learning!

There are so many more things I could add to this but I want to leave it a little bit open.  After all, my goal is to introduce and entice people into student-centered or student-directed learning, not to take the journey for them.  So what will be your direction?  How will you accomplish the goal of giving your students a voice?  How will you step aside and let them speak?