Cultivating the Learner-centered Classroom: From Theory to Practice

Cultivating the Learner-Centered Classroom, a progressively-oriented guide for teaching, provides teachers with concrete strategies for making a fundamental shift in educational thought and in practice: from behaviorism to constructivism, from control to cooperation, from following recipes to understanding the learning process, from meeting standards to individualizing expectations and instruction, and from coercing students’ obedience to facilitating their authority and autonomy. The authors offer practical procedures and strategies that are aligned with progressive educational thought, and bridge theory and practice concerning the following aspects of teaching: 1) facilitating community development in the classroom 2) facilitating community development with parents 3) classroom organization 4) observing and assessing student growth 5) planning instruction 6) individual, small group, and whole group instruction 7) evaluating and reporting student growth