Merging Data-Driven Approaches With Student-Centered Learning

Some educators still haven’t accepted the fact that teaching and learning aren’t all about data. Often, the emphasis is placed on data rather than anything else like the learning environment, a student’s abilities, and more. When students are given a voice in the classroom, they can express better their desire to learn and how to succeed in the task.

To learn how lessons can be grounded in student-centered learning, teachers must first become the student. Through this, teachers can create activities that support the student-centered mindset, and design an environment where both quantitative and qualitative data can be supported. Teachers can give students weekly checkups where they would know where the students are at with regard to their learning progress.

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It’s inevitable in a class to have someone getting left behind. To provide the attention needed by students having a hard time with a particular topic, teachers can work together with some of the pupils who have the mastery of the lesson to help their classmates—one-on-one—which would result to student-centered and developed lessons.

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Data is important for teachers and students to know where they’re at when it comes to their progress. Students utilize their classwork as a source of data, strengths, analyzing, weakness, and structures to improve their work. With the use of data, students can inspect evidence of their own improvement, examining their errors for patterns, and recounting what they see in the data in regards to their current level of performance. Data can be used by students to set goals and reflect on their progress through time, and include data analysis into student-led meetings.

Jay Eitner is an award-winning educator and a superintendent for schools for the Waterford Township School District. For more information about Jay, visit this LinkedIn page.

Top Readily Available Technology Tools For The Modern Educator

Technological innovations have presented a plethora of new ways teachers can fine-tune the teaching process. There are many innovative tools within easy reach of the modern educator, some of which teachers should start taking advantage of right now.

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One of these is Google Drive. This free-to-use online storage is just like your typical MS Office, and features like Google Sheets allow teachers to create multi-authored or multi-editable documents. Sharing documents students are working on fosters collaborative work, with the teacher able to access and make corrections, solicit feedback, and offer other inputs outside the classroom. 

YouTube can be used for uploading video productions and similar class projects that teachers can then view without the need for the submission of DVDs or flash drives. Educators can make their own channels, too; with organized video playlists and instructional PowerPoint slides that are part of the course curriculum. Quick access without the need for laptops and other physical storage devices is a great benefit of uploading to YouTube. 

Finally, while Facebook and Instagram are the more popular social media venues nowadays, teachers should make good use of blogging, via sites like WordPress or Blogger. Assignments can include making a semester-long chronicle of insights learned in the classroom, or the timelining of an elaborate student project. This will allow teachers to check outputs while going paperless and being more environment-friendly. 

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Over the years, Jay Eitner has won several awards and has presented workshops on digital leadership, technology infusion, and student achievement. More on Jay’s work and interests here.