Making the Transition to Learner-Centered Instruction

Of all the building blocks that take project-based learning (PBL) from “just projects” to a vehicle for turning learners into critical thinkers, skilled collaborators, and creative minds, integrating learner-centered practice into the classroom is often the most crucial, but the term is also highly problematic. Because it can mean many things to many people, first defining the components of a strong learner-centered environment is important before we discuss what it takes to create one.

• Teacher-led instruction is a component of the class but is not the predominant instructional strategy. This doesn’t mean direct instruction is taboo, it just means that it’s done to provide the foundational knowledge and skills that students need to make progress independently.
• Well-established classroom management practices, routines, and norms lend themselves to student agency and the ability to work as autonomously as is developmentally appropriate.
• Lessons are designed ways that empower learners. Students can be facilitators for things that teachers normally do, such as navigating materials or providing key answers needed to progress through a unit.

A learner-centered classroom functions much like a collegiate-level lab where the participants form a community driven by individual agency that contributes to a shared goal overseen—but not micromanaged—by the teacher.

Cultivating a learner-centered classroom environment where PBL and other similar approaches thrive takes time, and even those who do it well agree that there are always ways to improve. As with any type of professional growth, goal shifting what instruction looks like is a process, and the amount of time it takes varies from teacher to teacher.

The ideas and suggestions in this article can help you or the teachers you support take steps toward a more rigorous, collaborative, and ultimately empowering classroom for students.

How Much Freedom Do You Give Students?

A key component of developing learner-centered classrooms is teacher comfort. Every teacher has a slightly different level of tolerance in terms of the amount of control or freedom they provide their students in order to achieve their learning goals and manage lessons. Sometimes this is influenced by safety concerns in classes, such as industrial arts or chemistry, where power tools and reagents are involved.

Often, it comes down to classroom management styles. Some teachers prefer a much more structured step-by-step approach where students receive more direction, while others like to allow students a greater degree of choice in selecting their individual learning pathways and processes toward the learning goal. Moving from one to the other takes time and involves playing a long game that is never the same number of innings for everyone.

Collaboration is Key to Implementation

While there can be variance in the amount of time it takes to shift a teacher’s practice in this manner, making it a collaborative endeavor helps to ensure success. Switching up one’s instructional approach is no small thing. It generally requires a reconsideration of a person’s core teaching philosophy and is akin to removing or retrofitting the engine in a car. Because of its challenging nature, an endeavor of this magnitude shouldn’t be attempted without a thought partner.

It could be done among a small group of teachers, such as with a professional learning community. It could also be done with the help of an instructional coach or mentor teacher who can provide ideas and act as a sounding board for reflection.

Try a Three-Part Approach

There are many formulas or models of cultivating learner-centered practices, but the ones I’ve heard from teachers that were both affirming and effective involved these three steps:

1. Use self-reflection and assessment. Before any kind of coaching or planning takes place, teachers looking to make the shift need time to self-reflect and assess their end goals in order to determine what changes they feel would be most effective (or are comfortable making). Some teachers might want to look exclusively at integrating more collaborative learning into their lessons, while others might feel the need to use a workshop model so that they get direct instruction time every day.

Allowing them solo time firmly establishes the process as one that they have control over. Even if the shift to a more learner-centered classroom is something they didn’t choose, it’s important to allow teachers an opportunity to consider the actual conditions in their classroom without undue pressure.

There are a couple of different tools that can be helpful in getting teachers started with this kind of goal setting and “pre-flection.” Northwest Michigan College has developed a rubric that can be used as a self-assessment tool, and the Modern Classrooms Project has a walkthrough guide that could be used in a self-audit. One of my favorite books on the subject is The Shift to Student Led: Reimagining Classroom Workflows with UDL and Blended Learning, by Catlin Tucker and Katie Novak. Tucker also shares lots of great resources on social media. Any of these can help you get the process started.

2. Collaboratively review goals and define the steps. After the initial solo assessment, a collaborative goal-setting process can begin. Working alongside other professionals helps push thinking and ensures that goals move practice forward and that the results will be measurable and observable. Peer coaches, instructional coaches, or administrators can all support individual teachers, but in many of the cases I observed, I learned that the optimal format is being present in a small group of teachers who are all participating in the same process—with administrative support given intermittently or at a distance.

This provides space for teachers who might be uncomfortable or feel singled out, and it also allows them a safe, consistent space to discuss progress or challenges that they encounter as they try to meet these goals. If you can loop this into your existing professional development cycle, all the better. 

3. Develop new strategies with peers. Once the goals have been set, and those involved have had an opportunity to express their opinion about what will result in a more learner-centered classroom becoming reality, the collaborative support begins. This is where teachers focus on helping or implementing the strategies, with the support of a peer group, that might be new ideas.

For example, if an elementary teacher has decided to make station rotations a larger part of their reading and writing lessons, their support group could help them by providing models for what this could look like, suggesting age-appropriate activities that could be used as stations or inviting their colleagues to observe their own take on stations in their own class.