There's no doubt about it -- Modern Classrooms are different from what most of us caregivers experienced as learners. Of course, different doesn't mean bad!
If you are a caregiver whose child is in a Modern Classroom, here are a few things you can do to help your child learn:
Watch the teacher's videos
Ask your child's teacher how to access their Learning Management System (LMS), where all videos and other content should be stored. If there isn't a special way for parents to access it, simply ask your child to log in!
Once inside, explore the class as a learner. See how the teacher explains things, and how the class flows from one lesson to another. If your child struggles to understand a particular concept, watch the video yourself! If you understand the teacher's explanation, help your child do the same; if not, see if you can find other videos on the same topic. There's a lot of good stuff out there.
Then, the next time your child gets stuck -- it happens to all of us! -- you'll know exactly how to support.
Monitor progress
One of the challenges of self-paced learning for many students - and one of the most important skills they will acquire in a Modern Classroom - is staying on top of what they need to do each day in class. Modern Classroom educators try to make this as clear as possible, with pacing trackers and suggested deadlines, but it's ultimately students who are responsible for their own learning progress.
To support your child in staying on track, ask how they are doing! Are they ahead of pace? Or catching up?
What's the next thing they need to do - and where can they find out if they aren't sure? Asking these questions doesn't just help ensure that your child is progressing; it also helps your child get better at managing themselves. So ask!
Emphasize perseverance and self-advocacy
We truly believe that any student can learn in a Modern Classroom -- even if it's hard! Our students agree, too: a survey by researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that, compared to their peers, students in Modern Classrooms were significantly more likely to agree that they can complete challenging problems without giving up.
Of course, grit isn't built overnight. It takes time for students to become confident problem-solvers, and often they'll fail before they succeed. When this happens:
Encourage your child to keep trying!
Encourage them to ask for the teacher's support when they need it. Eventually, and with enough effort, your child can master anything.
Discover the theory behind Modern Classrooms
Chances are that your child's teacher has taken our free online course, or the Virtual Mentorship Program that supplements it.
Sign up for our free course yourself! If you want to understand the reasons why your child's teacher has adopted Modern Classroom pedagogy, we encourage you to take the course for yourself! You can sign up for free, and explore as much or as little as you like. You might even be able to convince your child's other teachers to take it too...