The Student-Centered Shift: Empowered International Schools and Classrooms Through Project-Based Learning

Fifth grade teacher Linda Amici's most 'dreaded standards' became her favorite after making one simple shift....

She turned them over to her students. 

With this new agency, students worked harder th…

How do you design learning in your classroom/school?  Imagine inviting student input on everything from the way the timetable is organized, to the design of learning experiences, even to how they ar…

What is deep learning? 

Is it students engrossed in semester long units or learning experiences? Inquiring, probing, investigating, and making meaning of their learning. 

Perhaps.

But most of us don'…

Imagine a school where you take your shoes off every time you enter the classroom. You shared the space with local bugs, insects, bees, and biodiversity surrounding you. You rode a bus to school powe…

How do we EMPOWER our SEN learners? 

What if by accomodating for their unique needs, we were able to create a more student-centered environment for ALL learners? 

Provided alternative methods of asse…

How do we cultivate and unleash student creativity in our classrooms?

Right now it's happening on the peripheries. In makerspaces, STEM projects, electives, and arts/music/drama classes.

But how do w…

How do we EMPOWER adolescent learners? 

Anyone who works with this age group, knows that they have a unique set of needs. Adolescent learners have unique needs for increased social connections, purpo…

Taking the first steps 👣 into design project-based experiences can be a scary thought for a lot of teachers...

It certainly was for me.

How will I ensure students acquire the mandated curriculum? Ass…

What if you could re-imagine schooling to be student-centered? Build from the ground up? 

That's what Connect Academy did when it was given carte blanche to re-imagine schooling for students in the P…

How are you finishing off the semester before Winter Break? 

While many classrooms finish with final exams, as learner-centered practitioners, we understand that it's far more POWERFUL to let our stu…

How do we better include learners and learning profiles often left behind in traditional settings? What if we could custom-fit learning experiences around their unique strengths, gifts, capabilities …

How much voice and ownership do you provide students in their learning journey? 

I understand the fears the fears of inviting too much input: 

What if students go in a direction I can’t support? Stee…

There are several skills that are hard to build in students within the walls of a classroom.

Skills like leadership, community building, survival, mentorship, global citizenship, and expedition plann…

Designing a learner-centered experience isn't that complicated. It requires only a few shifts in the way we currently design projects, units, and lessons. 

Building a learner-centered environment to …

AI is here. And while many schools are still wrapping their heads around how to best use it, some classrooms are already using it to enhance learning experiences. 

Whether that's in animating student…

What happens when we co-design learning experiences with our students?

Give them choice over the product they create. Questions they pursue. Teammates they assemble. 

This was Maheen's big pondering …

We talk a lot about tips, strategies, frameworks, and components of project-based experiences, but we don't talk a lot about mindsets.  

How do you develop the mindsets that allow for creativity, agi…

As an edu-transformer, if someone asked you point blank, what are the top 10 ways to re-imagine the schooling experience, what would you tell them? 

That's what I asked longtime experiential educator…

Why do we still use traditional transcripts to report on learning?

As if academic marks are all that matter. 

Transcripts don't tell the story of a learner's strengths, special talents, competencies,…

As learner-centered practitioners, I imagine we are all firm believers in the benefits, and postive outcomes project-based experiences have on our students. But what about our learners? Do they feel …