Building Student Centered Lessons

One of the goals of many new standards being proposed across the nation and globally from CCSS to NGSS and ISTE is to put students at the center of the learning experience. To "take ownership" over the learning. Katie Martin in her book Learner Centered Innovation lays out the 10 Characteristics of Learner Centered Experiences. If you haven't read her post highlighting the characteristics, read it here. 

As I look to align my curriculum for the upcoming year, it is not as easy as it sounds. In a passion project situation student questioning leads them to new understandings that take them beyond content goals of my classroom. But when student questioning is supposed to lead to content (and skill) mastery it can become tough to guide that process. That is one of my biggest fears about our upcoming school year. When students ask questions, how can we honor them.

In our new science standards every unit is guided by a real world phenomenon that addresses the content outcomes of the unit. Something that will get students asking questions right away. Rather than a pretest, students construct conceptual models for their understanding of the phenomenon. Essentially, "tell me what you think is going on." Teachers look at these initial models to help see where students are at in their current understandings key to the model.

If there are misconceptions, it is necessary for the teacher to design experiential lessons for students to address these. In addition to misconceptions, the teacher needs to help learners address those questions they pose about the phenomenon. While a teacher might be able to tell students the answer, that is not the expereince we are looking for. We need to start thinking about lessons as active learning experiences. Yes, there will be bridges that the student may need to led, but the lessons experiences that form the learning.  And while I am hoping to build experiences when students can discover the answers to their questions, I can't stop there. Ultimately the goal is to get learners to the point where they can begin designing the paths to discover the answers to these questions. That means mapping out the steps and tools required.

So when I'm trying to build these experiences, there are several considerations I need to take into account:

• Do I have a good central hook/phenomenon? This is not science specific! Is the driving question of your unit creating interest? Will it be able to carry interest over the course of a series of days?
• Am I giving opportunity for my learners to express their ideas and questions? Are these explanations deep enough to show what students are thinking? What kinds of tools can I use to let all learners express themselves.
• Am I taking the time to consider all student responses? I may have a plan of what the unit might look like ahead of time. But, will I be willing to scrap my best laid plans in favor of what my learners actually need. Taking more time when needed or ditching favorite lessons students have already mastered.
• What is my role in the process? Will I be willing to hand control of more of the practices over to the learners. How will I model these practices so that learners feel confident in the process?
• Is there a structure of formative assessment of both content and practices built into the process? Is the formative assessment formal enough to provide feedback but not too burdensome in order to keep the feedback timely? How will I leverage technology and face to face conferring to make this happen?
• What will assessment look like? Will there be opportunities for students to demonstrate mastery content and practices/skills? Will students be able to find a mode of assessment that removes obstacles unrelated to the desired outcomes?

A lot of considerations, I know. When I look at the stages in a unit storyline, it is a process. I may have a predetermined path, but ultimately it needs to be the students who are driving the storyline. When you look at the storyline, remember the phenomenon is just the hook or driving question. The model is just student understanding of that driving question. So this is not just for science.

I'm excited to share the process of how I am able to handle these phenomenon driven storylines. What worked, what didn't, and how I'm going to respond.