|
|
One of the main focuses of S.T.A.T. is to create learner-centered environments where students are in charge of their own learning and can work at their own pace. This segment highlights how learner-centered environments are beginning to take shape in both Lighthouse and non-Lighthouse Schools.
|
Students and teachers at Lighthouse Schools are learning that having access to devices opens the door for more learning opportunities and personalization. However, having additional technology does not supplant the face-to-face student interactions and collaboration with teachers and other students. This album features pictures that demonstrate how teachers are facilitating blended lessons that encourage students to collaborate and work independently by using both digital and traditional resources.
|
Classroom wall space is no longer filled with store bought posters and bulletin board displays. In a learner-centered environment, it is evident that wall displays are co-created by the teacher and students. Current student work that evidences choice and pride, as well as anchor charts, are display throughout the room. Anchor charts are an important reference tool for students to use in the classroom, as they reinforce new learning in a visual way. They are generated together by the teacher and the students during a lesson. Sometimes they are posted on the classroom wall in "draft form" and other times the teacher cleans up the information on the chart and displays a “published version” for students to self-monitor their behavior by reminding them of expectations.
|
In the learner-centered environment, students are empowered when they are able to personalize, or make their own choices about, their learning. Student choice is expanded beyond where the learning occurs to include how the learning occurs. Teachers at Lighthouse Schools are personalizing the learning experience by creating opportunities for choice in the content students learn, the process they use to learn that content, and in the products they use to express what they know.
|
In a learner-centered environment, resources and materials are organized and available based on student needs and to promote student choice. Furniture and learning spaces are strategically arranged so students can easily transition from collaborative groups, to direct instruction, to individual work that encourages opportunities for personalization. This album captures the increased student engagement that occurs when students have readily available resources and choice about where they learn.
|
Teachers at Lighthouse Schools are rethinking the learning environment by purposefully arranging furniture to support flexible grouping and instructional outcomes. These creative spaces were being developed as teachers set up their classrooms before students returned.
|