At the Modern Classrooms Project, we know that the most meaningful experiences in school are often created from human connections: between educators and students, between students and their peers, and through learning new things.
Humans are social creatures, and learning is at its core a social experience. Our model reimagines instruction to deliver content asynchronously, so that educators can focus class time on delivering the interpersonal elements of learning: discussion, reflection, and community-building.
Students in a Modern Classroom will often work independently or in small groups, moving at their own paces and building mastery as they go. Educators, meanwhile, are freed up to build relationships, develop mastery alongside their students, and create more meaningful learning moments.
Effective collaboration doesn't happen by accident, though. In a self-paced setting, we believe three keys make it work:
1. Tasks Worth the Effort. There's no reason to collaborate on simple tasks — it's just as easy to work alone. As adults, we collaborate because the things we need help on are too big, too challenging, or too important to tackle by ourselves. Student tasks must be significant enough in scope that students see a real reason to ask others to contribute.
2. Freedom to Choose. Forced collaboration is burdensome. When students choose to collaborate, however, the true benefits of working together start to appear. Collaboration is most effective when it's most authentic — students who see a genuine reason to work together bring far more to the table than those who are simply required to do so.
3. Positive Reinforcement. Students may not instinctively choose to work together — they're often shy or hesitant to share ideas. As educators, it's incumbent upon us to encourage students to take the risk of collaborating, explain why it might be useful, and help students reflect afterward on the benefits it provided. We can't force mindsets to shift, but we can certainly spur them along.
Is there a place for whole-class instruction in a Modern Classroom?
Is there a place for whole-class instruction in a Modern Classroom?
Modern Classrooms are built on blended, self-paced, mastery-based learning. This means that students often work independently or in small groups, moving at their own paces and building mastery as they go.
This does NOT mean that Modern Classroom teachers should eliminate whole-group instruction altogether. On the contrary! When students have a default mode of learning that empowers them to develop authentic mastery, the strategic use of whole-class instruction can lead to even more meaningful learning experiences.
To get the most out of whole-class instruction, consider:
Starting each class with a short whole-class activity. Review content from a previous unit, share announcements or shout-outs, discuss the importance of academic skills (note-taking, asking questions, etc.), or explore what's on your students' minds. And if one day you don't have much to do as a whole class, just skip it! This time can be valuable for building relationships and classroom culture.
Plan whole-class activities well in advance. Let students know when they'll convene as a whole group, and what they must do in advance to prepare. This way, students will show up to the whole-class activity ready and eager to learn! Not only does this set a helpful marker for students in terms of deadlines, but it also gave them a bit of extra motivation: they'll learn more from the whole-class activity if they are ready for it. Chances are you'll enjoy it more too.
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