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Establishing a Student-Centered
Classroom
By asking students to be active participants in the classroom from the
very first days of class, teachers can encourage students to engage in shaping
their development over the course of the semester or year. These resources discuss
ways students can take the lead in their classes by helping to establish classroom
ownership from the start!
On the first days of school, invite students to establish
year-long goals and needs for the classroom with the ReadWriteThink lesson Creating
Class Rules: A Beginning to Creating Community (E).As the year progresses,
return to and update these rules, which
provide a foundation for continuous community-building
in the classroom. Older elementary students can take this process one step
further with the ReadWriteThink lesson Our
Classroom: Writing an Owner’s Manual (E), which asks students
to write an owner’s manual to help them become more familiar with their
classroom
as well as to let other classroom visitors and new students know about their
classroom.
Encouraging students to make writing their own! The School
Talk article "Writing
and Beyond in an Inquiry-Based Classroom" (E) demonstrates several
ways that students can
explore and test their ideas through writing in the content areas in the classroom.
As students return from their summer reading, ask them to identify books
they have read and enjoyed.
Once they've
analyzed
their past
readings,
use the ReadWriteThink lesson Developing
Reading Plans to Support Independent Reading (M) to have students complete
a reading plan, a simple wish list of books they hope to read over the course
of the school year, based on
their preferences in
the
past.
The
finished
list
becomes
another supporting resource to guide independent readers.
Check out the Voices from the Middle article "From Engagement
to Celebration: A Framework for Passionate Reading" (M) for details on
a program that gives students varied opportunities to become engaged
in literature, choice in what they read, time to actually read, and chances
to share their insights and discoveries.
Read "Much
Ado about Negotiation" (S), from English Journal, which describes
how a new English teacher invited students to negotiate with him their course
of study. The article discusses setting the stage for negotiated learning, establishing
ownership and building ensemble, clarifying expectations and rehearsing together,
planning ahead and assessing the performance, helping students take on additional
roles, and allowing students to give direction.
The English Journal article "Making English Classrooms Happier
Places to Learn" (S) describes how one teacher uses of Brian Cambourne’s
theory of literacy learning -- immersion, demonstration, expectations,
responsibility, approximations, employment, response, and engagement --
as a way to make it more likely for students to learn.
Get students involved by avoiding the issues outlined in the Teaching
English in the Two-Year College article "Boredom in the First-Year
Composition Classroom" (C), which analyzes the responses of thirty-two first-year
writing students to questions about boredom.
Reading portfolios can help students engage literary texts in multiple
and productive ways, and offer opportunities to examine effects
of the reading process over the course of the writing pieces. Check out
the Teaching English in the Two-Year College article "Portfolios
in Literature Courses: A Case Study" (C) for the details!
NOTE: Free access to journal articles mentioned in this Inbox is provided
for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available
to journal subscribers only. This Inbox Idea was published 08-25-2005.
Initials in annotations indicate academic level of the resource (E=Elementary,
M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, G=General).
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