Are you hitting a wall in engaging your students? Finding something challenging doesn’t mean that you give up.
Perhaps you haven’t found that one approach you need to master to achieve a student-centered and participatory classroom.
Lucky for you, I’m here to teach you all about creating an engaging learning environment to promote active learning, critical thinking, and meaningful interactions.
Grab your favorite pencil (Ticonderoga, of course!) or sparkly pen and dive on in with me, friend.
First, What is Student-Centered Learning?
Have you heard of participatory approaches like student-centered learning before? It’s no problem if you haven’t.
In most simple terms, student-centered learning, also known as personalized or self-directed learning, is an educational approach where students take an active and empowered role in their own learning process.
For those of us who have been in education for a while, you know this means students have a say in determining their learning goals, interests, and pace, and they are encouraged to explore topics that are personally meaningful to them.
As you can see this approach shifts the focus from traditional teacher-centered instruction to a more personalized and flexible model, allowing students to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-regulation skills as they engage in inquiry, collaboration, and independent exploration.
It’s also good to know that:
- A personalized approach tailors educational experiences to meet the individual needs, interests, and learning styles of each student
- The approach empowers students to take on more active roles as creators of knowledge rather than passive recipients of information
- It shifts the role of the teacher to a facilitator of learning, “guide on the side”, and mentor so you don’t have to be solely a provider of information
How I Started Using Student-Centered Learning to Increase Engagement
You may look at me, and think, “She’s one to talk about struggling with student engagement.”
When I started teaching, I was just like you. I often found myself struggling to keep my students engaged and motivated in the classroom. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried, there was always a sense of disinterest and lack of enthusiasm.
Then, I started implementing student-centered learning, and it changed me and my teaching by:
- Enhancing my satisfaction with teaching. Seeing my students actively engaged and taking charge of their learning was very rewarding and invigorating. My job happiness and sense of efficacy increased when I saw my learners being more enthusiastic and motivated.
- Strengthening my instructional strategies. As I built skills in facilitating discussions, guiding student inquiry, and tailoring lessons to individual student needs, I honed and diversified my instructional methods.
- Reducing classroom management needs. When my students were actively engaged, they were much less likely to exhibit disruptive behavior. I was able to spend less time on discipline and more time facilitating meaningful learning experiences.
Side Note: This may seem pretty magical but it’s still hard work. Others in my field approach it differently. For example, Jodi Durgan with the Clutter-Free Classroom has a similar but different approach to increasing student engagement that focuses on specific strategies around routines, hands-on activities, and small group instruction. Give it a look to see how you can blend her concrete strategies with my overall approach to student-centered learning.
5 Actionable Steps to Implement Student-Centered Learning Today
You know how student-centered learning works now, but maybe you’re struggling to see how you can make it work for you. Try this:
- #1: Conduct student interest surveys. Start by getting to know your students’ interests, strengths, and learning preferences. Create simple surveys or have one-on-one discussions to learn about what topics excite them and how they prefer to learn.
- #2: Be careful with overwhelming your students with too much freedom. While providing choice and autonomy is a powerful strategy, offering excessive options or completely open-ended tasks can lead to confusion and anxiety, especially for students who struggle with decision-making.
- #3: Read KnowledgeWorks’ great overview of flexible learning pathways. Developing lesson plans that offer multiple pathways for students to explore a topic helps cater to different learning styles and piques students’ curiosity.
- #4: Contact me for a free, no-commitment call about fostering collaborative learning. I can help you think about how to create opportunities for students to work together on projects, discussions, and problem-solving activities.
- #5: Don’t forget to include reflection and self-assessment. This is a step that is often missed, but encouraging students to reflect on their learning journey is a critical component in developing responsibility and self-directed learning.
I dare you to pick out even just one of the above steps and do it before you wrap up your work for the day.
Do you see the comment section below? Let me know which step you plan on doing first. Join the convo and share your own successes or struggles with the community!
Case Study: Uninspired to Renewed Purpose
One of my clients was fed up with feeling frustrated by the lack of student engagement and meaningful experiences in her classroom. Despite her best efforts, she felt stuck in a routine of traditional teaching that left both her and her students uninspired.
Thankfully, she came across project-based learning (one way to do student-centered learning) through my Educator’s Vault, that brought back her excitement and promised to rejuvenate her teaching.
In her own words, “I had tried countless strategies before, and when I heard about project-based learning, I was skeptical. I thought it might be too idealistic for the realities of a busy classroom.”
Since she had experimented with a variety of teaching methods like one-size-fits all hands-on learning and adding technology through her school’s 1:1 Device initiative, she thought, “What did I have to lose? My students’ enthusiasm for learning was waning, and I was ready to try something new.”
To her surprise, she experienced a remarkable shift in her classroom. She witnessed her students becoming active participants in their education, eagerly taking charge of their learning projects. The once-muted classroom transformed into a hub of collaboration and creativity.
I am proud to call this teacher a friend and favorite client to this day.
With the implementation of student-centered learning through her projects, my client found a renewed sense of purpose and joy in her teaching. “It’s like a breath of fresh air!” Her students’ growth became a testament to the success of this approach, reinforcing her belief that student-centered learning is truly a game-changer in education.
Wrapping it Up
People like you and my client are precisely why I started Empowered Educators.
I knew there was a need for coaching and support as teachers implement more student-centered instructional strategies.
If you would like to know more, send me a message or click over on Instagram and Facebook to connect.
Great job making it to the end of this post! That type of fortitude shows that you will persist in finding the best strategies for your classroom as you engage students.
Here’s a freebie as a reward! Click the image below to grab it now.
