1. Guide on the Side: Developing a Student Centered Classroom
SWCOLT Saturday, February 24, 2018
Jason Slanga
Who am I?
11 yrs Latin in MD
Curriculum and PD for BCPS
Latin Immersion
Podcast
Teacher training

2. You are probably already using some elements of a Student Centered classroom.
Creating a S centered classroom is not all or nothing.
Make incremental changes that you feel comfortable with.
Talk to S’s about the culture that you want to create.

3. Why a “Student Centered” Classroom?
Greater student engagement
More effective use of instructional time
S’s learn better when the class is relevant.
Giving S’s a more prominent role in the class, frees the teacher up to observe.

4. What is a “Student Centered” Classroom?
Emphasizes
Student-student interaction
Student agency
Students help to determine:
Content
Procedure
Assessment

5. ACTFL Can-Do Statements
I can…
Interpersonal, Novice-Mid
communicate basic information about myself and people I know
communicate some basic information about my everyday life
Presentational, Novice-Mid
present information about myself and others
express my likes and dislikes
talk about my daily activities
These tasks, especially at the Novice-Intermediate levels are focused on the S’s.
They are not tied to curriculum: “Talk about my preferences” not “Talk about skiing, baseball, etc.”

6. Creating a Student Centered Culture
Classroom arrangement
Student self-empowerment
Incorporating student feedback
Meta-cognitive discussion
Give S’s the tools to make them active agents in their learning, not passive recipients
Feedback and MetaCog discussion creates buy-in
Here are some examples

7. The Stereo Controls Slow Down / Speed Up Again Louder Sorry, Charlie!
Where Are Your Keys?
Where are Your Keys?
Teach these techniques the first week of class
S’s are able to modulate their input
Hand signals allow S’s to deal with confusion without “outing” themselves.

8. Student Feedback Parking Lot Parking Lot Parking Lot Plus Delta
Parking Lot: AVID
Anonymous feedback
This requires a lot of reinforcement
Plus/Delta
DELEGATE! Students will provide more honest feedback with you out of the picture.

9. Language Teacher Makers
Delegate!
Talk to students about Student Centered learning
Train students to teach each other
WAYK Philosophy
In order for students to be more independent, you MUST give them the tools to be successful.

10. The Clipboard TQ 80/20 Allow the teacher to LISTEN
Adapt this to your policies and priorities
Target Language Use
Learning Practice
The Aha! Moment
Collaboration
Risk taking
Communication / Accuracy
TQ 80/20
Allow the teacher to LISTEN
- identify personal interests
- identify things that need practice
- reward language learning skills
- promote risk taking

11. Vocab Swap S’s learn to teach eachother
The important take away is that the T is not the only source of information

12. Free Voluntary Reading
S selected
S’s choose their assessment
Lots of input that is relevant, because S’s selected it
Create a classroom library
Non-targeted
Narrative promotes more retention than thematically grouped lists.

13. Picture Talk Extremely freeform – build up to this
S’s are extremely independent
S’s choose what is important
Stack the deck- force what you want them to learn
Warm-up period – S’s will practice familiar language, before getting curious
NOTICE what interests S’s
Relate disparate language concepts

14. Putting it all together: - Content - Procedure - Assessment
Where are opportunities to give S’s input?
This doesn’t mean that S’s do whatever they want
S’s have had active learning trained out of them – it will take time to change their mindset.

15. Customize Content Families Food Hobbies, sports and leisure activities
Favorite ___
Travel and vacation
Address the general goals of your curriculum
High interest = high retention, so less time is wasted.

16. Unit Development
Think about instances where S’s might be excluded from the content of your curriculum – how can you re-include them?
S’s select their authentic source
S’s select their assessment

17. Thank you!