This is the third and final installment of our “Student-Centered Resources for Next Gen Educators” series. Be sure to check out part 1 and part 2.
What does an actual school leader use to inform their work as they implement student-centered practices, instruction, and professional development for their staff? This Student-Centered Learning Podcast series gets to the heart of this very question in a compelling conversation between host Arthur Baraf, who is also principal at The MET School in Rhode Island, and instructional leader, Alin Bennett. Baraf, an educator for over 17 years in student-centered schools, shares recommendations for resources for educators who want to hit the ground running with student-centered instruction as they begin their careers. Bennett adds the teacher perspective and details how these resources have been useful to him as an instructional leader at The MET. The resources (linked below) are actionable tools and strategies that have been field-tested by Baraf and his staff and have proven to help improve student agency and bring deeper learning outcomes for their students.
In this final installment, Baraf and Bennett share professional development resources that can be used by school leaders and professional development providers to support stakeholders in the move to, or implementation of personalized, student-centered learning. They acknowledge that none of the strategies shared in previous parts of the series can be adopted without leadership, support, and buy-in.
Resources
Exploring Student-Centered Assessment
This resource is a suite of four videos that share research on and explore various kinds of student-centered assessment. Baraf specifically highlights the self-assessment video and shares why–from his experiences in the classroom–he finds self-assessment important.
This short video resource can be used as a tool for teachers to help students assess and evaluate what they want from their school, classroom and learning experiences. Bennett highlights that in his experience, it can help to facilitate discussions about the purpose of school and how school can be more meaningful to students.
Building a Learning Community that Supports Teacher Leadership and Personalized Learning
This resource introduces the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) and is a useful tool when thinking about school change. It can help school leaders, professional development providers, and school support staff understand varying stakeholders level of concern, or apprehension in the change process and offers strategies to identify the best approaches for working with educators at the different levels of readiness to adopt personalized learning.
This resource offers 14 clips, from the popular film Most Likely to Succeed, used to create a series of prompts to help school communities delve further into the content and topics of the film. Prompts focus on topics such as public exhibitions, innovative school design, and failure with a growth mindset and includes discussion questions, and relevant resources.
This resource is a useful guide for any school leader involved in any school reform initiative. It offers guidelines for helping to manage conversations and developing productive public conversations about school change.
This is part three in a series developed by the Student at the Center Hub team and Arthur Baraf, a Students at The Center Distinguished Fellow, principal of The MET, an innovative public school in Providence, Rhode Island and the host of The Student-Centered Learning Podcast. Subscribe and stay tuned for more episodes or check out the archives for a variety of SCL topics on Podomatic, Stitcher or iTunes.