How to Implement the Three Teacher Classroom Model

Recently, my wife hosted a dinner party for all of the teachers at her preschool. It was quite the event, requiring a lot of preparation as well as the purchase of a brand-new dinner table to accommodate the size of the group.

Three components made this a successful event:

The hostess prepared the meal, arranged the environment, and checked in with the guests from time to time to make sure that the guests were enjoying themselves.

The guests, with their personalities, conduct, and tastes, impacted the entire event; without them, there wouldn’t have been a gathering in the first place.

Our home was all set up to accommodate the guests, facilitate the dining experience, and provide a place for them to chat afterward.

The three components of this successful event provide a good analogy for understanding the three teacher classroom model of classroom management. Practitioners of learner-centered approaches like Reggio Emilia will recognize this phrase immediately, since the environment always acts as “the third teacher” in their classrooms. Yet, a strong emphasis on utilizing the environment as a teaching resource and having the learner take the lead doesn’t often happen outside the elementary level or in more traditional classrooms. The three teacher classroom is a way to reallocate roles and responsibilities in a typical classroom to make it effective and engaging for students while amplifying the teacher’s impact.

When planning a shift to this model, it’s important to consider the role of the environment before we look at the role of the student so we can shift nonessential duties away from the teacher. This allows you to play a more active facilitator role in the classroom, as opposed to being the center of instruction.

Teacher 1: The Environment

The learning environment itself is often the most underutilized resource in a classroom.

Imagine creating a classroom environment where you can reassign the activities that consume most of your time. You’re able to provide individualized support to either remediate or extend the learning based on your students’ individual needs and interests. It’s not impossible, but it requires you to rethink the way in which you see your classroom as an active “teacher.” This is where visitor experience planning comes into play.

Museums are a prime example of a learning environment designed to teach. They’re designed around promoting a visitor-driven experience where learning takes place without guaranteed facilitation by a designated person. The job of a curator shifts from micromanagement or low-level knowledge building to building understanding individually based on deeper interactions and the interests or learning preferences of the learners themselves.

Museum designers create teaching spaces through the following:

• Multimodal means of building knowledge, both individually and collaboratively (video exhibits, maps/infographics combined with text, audio guides, exhibits with discussion questions or places for visitors to share their own ideas and read others’ insights).
• Clear and public expectations for conduct that are shared by a staff member upon entry to ensure understanding.
• Differences in galleries: The physical layout shifts in service of what is being learned.
• A variety of pedagogical approaches, such as direct instruction, hands-on learning, reflection, all of which can be done without staff (orientation videos are provided prior to viewers entering an exhibit, pop-up tables have interactive or tactile items).
• Free-choice learning: the core of the learning experience. There is choice in how a visitor approaches knowledge building, but there is also a suggested order.

If we take these common principles of visitor experience design and apply them to the classroom, we can imagine opportunities to create a more active and engaged learning environment that complements what the students and teachers can do:

• Create playlists of resources that can be accessed on demand. Google Docs, websites, and text/articles are all available in formats that are engaging to the students and aligned to the learning needs in the room.
• Contribute collectively to norms/agreements around behavior. These rules are posted and reviewed by everyone who is part of the learning environment.
• Design project walls, learning walls, and bulletin board displays as resources that facilitate learning rather than decorate the space. Room aesthetics always support the unit and are rotated frequently.
• Materials are easily accessible and held in a location that all students know about.
• Shift the location when possible, to better facilitate the learning process. The environment doesn’t always mean classroom, as this isn’t always the best place for certain tasks or processes.

Teacher 2: Students

If bettering the lives of students is core to the purpose of classrooms, then it’s important for students to be equal partners in these spaces whenever possible. This allows them to develop essential success skills while they build knowledge, but it also means that teachers can deliberately look to expand opportunities for students to take an active role. This means that they’re sometimes as dependent on each other as they are on the teacher for learning.

This active role can manifest itself through the following:

Greater visibility in planning lessons. Share what’s coming up ahead of time, especially when students are connecting their tasks to the actual content goal or standard they need to master.

Reliance on a small list of core instructional routines and tools. To guide student activity in the classroom, well-worn structures such as thinking routines, protocols, and exit tickets save time on directions and require less monitoring from the teacher.

An emphasis on learner-centered structures. The workshop model is one such example. Forty minutes of direct instruction should be followed by just as much if not more student-directed time to allow for building understanding and meaning making.

Students take on instructional roles. Learners are required to perform duties that are traditionally assigned to the teacher (instruction, group formation and management, assessment, resource gathering, etc.).

Select activities based on roles for students. Build lessons with discussions, partner work, open-ended reflection, jigsaws, and similar activities.

Teacher 3: The Teacher!

Finally, consider how you can shift what you do in service of the ways you’re utilizing your other two “teachers.” While many aspects of what teachers do may stay the same or are affirmed by this concept of a three teacher classroom, there are always opportunities, often in the moment, to make changes that help shift or lighten your classroom load.

Facilitate rather than instruct. Prioritize interaction and student support, and leverage the other assets in the classroom in ways that allow them to keep those priorities in focus.

Ensure that self-directed processes run smoothly. Timely clarification in support of these processes is key to their success.

Extend and adjust learning experiences. When students struggle, provide remedial support. When they’re ready for more of a challenge, you’ll have time to provide it.

Incorporate feedback from learners into lesson design. Be responsive to the informal and formal feedback you get from students about what was successful and what needs further adjustment.

Close the book. Only teachers have a full view of the whole instructional calendar, so it’s important to make sure that there’s a clear beginning and end to the project or unit.

What other ways have you utilized the other two teachers in your room (the learning environment or your students) to provide yourself more time and space for the things that matter?