Is Your Classroom Learning Centred?

Whether you instruct first grade or university students, take some time to think about where you are with creating a learning space where your students have ample voice, engage frequently with each other, and are given opportunities to make choices.

Guiding Questions

Use these questions to reflect on the learning environment you design for students:

•In what ways do students feel respected, feel valued, and feel part of the whole group?

•In what ways do students have ownership of the classroom? Do they ever make decisions about resources, environment, or use of time? When? How often?

•Do they have ownership in their learning? Do they have choices and options for projects, assignments, and partners for group work?

•When are students comfortable with expressing who they are and their thoughts and ideas? When are they not?

•When do you inquire about the needs of your students? How often do you do this? How often do you check for group understanding and adjust the instruction accordingly?

•How are desks arranged? Are students facing each other? Do they have multiple opportunities each week to share with fellow classmates, and to share with a variety of classmates?



•As the instructor, what is my "air time" each class session? How much direct instruction is there? How might I change some of that directing teaching to facilitating?