William,
Right. And of course we have to follow the prescribed curriculum and meet the learning outcomes. But there are many creative, fun, and interesting ways to achieve that. Also, the personalization we give can make the student feel we care about their successes and readines for their chosen career workforce.
Barry Westling
Kenneth,
Unfortunately, sometimes activities don't work out as planned. Nonetheless, I think the spirit of student centered learning is sound. If a collaborative student assignment is made, the involvement crteria needs to be made clear and the teacher needs to monitor sufficiently. Whenever we can individualize our time and/or attention to students, a more personalized instructional experience the student will likely receive.
Barry Westling
We are there for the students. That's why we are instructors. IMHO, it's all about the students. No students, no college. No students, no instructors. No students, no fun!
afework,
Nice sentiment! When we put our focus on individual student achievement the outcome will result in improved student successfulness.
Barry Westling
Yes it is often called collaborative learning, but in real life that is not true. I have been in classes in which it was a "collaborative" class and in turn I did all the teaching with no help from the collaborative teacher. But that did not deter me I managed the class and made it student oriented to make sure the students learned and meet their goals and my goals as well.
All the words I say, all actions and activities I show in the class should be designed by the image of my student.
Lynne,
For me, I like to think of student-centered learning as a form of individualized or personalized instruction, distinct from relying soley on a fixed curruculum-based system where class lessons proceeed regardless if the students are understanding or getting needed information.
Barry Westling
Education is focused on student learning and as an adult learner, it is the responsibility of the student to take charge of their experience so they may have the best opportunity to be successful academically. Lynne
Kenneth,
Nice sentiment. True, we want to be focused on our student's successes, yet we are also often confined to specific curriculum. These two mission are not in conflict, rather through a collaboarative learning envirnoment teachers can get their students involved according to their abilities and the teacher can achieve their student outcomes. I'm not saying that's easy, just that it's possible.
Barry Westling
It is our job to be student centered for this is why we got into education int he first place. At least that is why for me. If we focus on student learning and maintain a correct and centered path of development, then we can overcome any other obstacles that may lay in our pathway.
Using your experience and knowledge to help students understand what is expected of them in the workforce.
Hi Demarcus,
Right. If we are not flexible we are going to tend to rely on static lessons that may or may not meet the students learning needs.
Barry Westling
Being a student-centered instructors helps you be successful because you become flexible in your teaching methods in order to meet the students where they are, ensuring their learning.
Hi Eleftherios,
That's a great point. When the teacher can establish a good personal (and profession-level) relationship, there's sort of a built in connection that will exist that will make communications, directives, assignments, and ultimately student performance improve.
Barry Westling
Hi James,
It would be great if all students performed and learned at exactly the same level. That would make instruction so much easier. But the reality is that is never the case. So we have to work with the existing students we get, with their individual learning challenges and prior knowledge (which may be lacking greatly). I guess we'd have more instructors if teaching was easy.
Barry Westling
Hi Tim,
Great analogy to customizing instruction for students. Student-centered is similar but differs only in that students have to learn a certain subject matter. How it's done can be individualized.
Barry Westling
Being a student-centered instructor will make me a successful teacher simply by the fact that the most important person in this teacher-student relationship are the student themselves. All the knowledge and experience in the world doesn't mean a thing, in regards to instruction, if the students don't actually learn. Having a good grasp on different learning styles and different teaching techniques would allow me to reach more students, much more effectively. That goes a long way as far as being a "successful teacher".
Doing this will allow me to make changes to class based on student needs and will give current and future students a better opportunity to engage with the class.
No student is alike. As an instructor enters the classroom with a lesson plan they must adjust on the fly. I was a football player and the quarterback would come to the line after calling a play in the huddle and see that the defense was lined up to stop the play that he just called; therefore, he would call an "audible" an audible is a play that is called at the line and he adjusts his strategy according to the conditions of the environment. An instructor must become proficient at calling audibles on the front line.
Hi Jeanie,
Good point. The day of spoon feeding (in the adult population taking career classes) has long passed. We need workers who can think as well as do. Thinking sills cannot be told in advance, but teaching students how to think by using applications, stories, examples, case studies, and pretend scenarios promotes the environment of development of independent thought.
Barry Westling
