Student-Centered Strategies With Today’s Kids in Mind 

In 2022, 87% of American public schools reported that the pandemic negatively impacted the social-emotional development of their students.

The challenge presented by post-pandemic students

A common refrain I hear from teachers (both at my school and across the nation) is that post-pandemic students are…different.  

Specifically, teachers report that today’s students:

• lack many of the skills needed to effectively work in groups
• seem disinclined to be curious about intellectual topics
• prefer simple worksheets over tasks that require analysis and creativity

These professional observations are supported by data.  In 2022, 87% of public schools reported the pandemic negatively impacted the social-emotional development of their students.

In addition to slowed social-emotional development, academic achievement has also taken a hit.  Math and reading scores are lower, with math scores experiencing the most significant dip. 

Teaching and learning suffers 

Naturally, the combination of low academic skills and social-emotional immaturity negatively impacts teaching and learning.  Teachers are covering less curriculum.  Student work is of poorer quality than in the past.  Teachers are seeing higher levels of chronic absenteeism and missing work than in the past.  

In addition, mounting evidence indicates that social media and student cell phone use only exacerbate pandemic-related problems.  

A student-centered approach with today’s kids in mind

No educational philosophy or strategy will instantly solve the aforementioned societal issues.  Instead of a quick fix, this article aims to offer hope and a few ideas to match your teaching to “the modern student”.

Related reading:  “The Practical Limitations of Student-Centered Teaching”

Here are four student-centered practices to address student social-emotional development and increase academic rigor in the classroom.

As teachers observe a loss of social skills among students, the temptation is to lean into direct instruction.  The result is fewer opportunities for students to collaborate.

4 student-centered strategies that are easy to implement  

Strategy #1: Increase student talk time.

Student-centered teaching hopes to shift the focus away from the instructor. Look for opportunities to decrease your talk time.  Increase the time students are discussing an academic task.

How to do it:

1. Revamp a lecture so that it incorporates more student activity.  See this article for ideas.

2. Have students answer each other’s questions rather than you providing all the answers.  If no one in a group knows the answer, place the question into the communal bowl to be answered by the entire class at the end.  

3. Change an individual activity to a partner activity.  Partner work offers a ton of options.  One idea: after students complete a task, they explain the concept to each other and then present it to another group.

4. Instead of always focusing discussions on your questions, shift to a Socratic format.  The students create and ask the questions.  (This takes practice — scaffold students as they create their questions.)  Do as little talking as possible during the discussion.  

5. One habit we see with teachers is to comment on or praise every correct answer.  Although the intention is good, it increases teacher talk time.  A simple “good” or “excellent” following a student’s response is often all that’s needed.

Strategy #2  More student collaboration.  

Student-centered practices focus on partner and group work.  Ideally, students work together to find answers as opposed to relying on the teacher for the answer.  

Group work encourages both social-emotional development and academic growth.  To a greater degree than in the past, secondary teachers have to teach students how to work in groups. 

How to do it:  

1. Start by getting students accustomed to working together through quick, low-stakes activities such as “Turn and Talk”.  After a brief discussion, ask students to share their partner’s response with the class.

2. To address high rates of absenteeism, assign group work that is done only during class and not meant to be presented.   

3. With larger group assignments, have students plan out who is responsible for each section.  The group should create a timeline for completion.  This keeps things somewhat independent but also requires discussion about the assignment, how to break it up, and their expectations for one another.  

Get students accustomed to working together through quick, low-stakes activities.

Strategy #3: Look for opportunities to give students a choice.

Student-centered practices emphasize giving students more choice in what they learn, how they learn, and how they demonstrate learning. Increase student choice and voice.  You’ll generate more student buy-in, interest, and curiosity.  Hopefully, this will correlate to a higher-quality product in the end.

Consider providing options, but also allowing students to pitch an original idea to you. 

How to do it:

1. Provide options for deeper exploration  A history unit on “The Sixties” has opportunities to research protest songs, the Vietnam War, the women’s movement, or socio-economic changes.

2. Create a theme for your unit. Students choose an element of the theme to focus on.  For example, if the theme is “The Blues” they could choose Picasso’s blue period, the musical genre of the blues, or how blue lighting impacts a stage production.

3. Provide a choice in what overarching question they would like to focus on for a particular unit.  For example, a Biology unit on the body and brain may come with the following: 

• How have advancements in prosthetic engineering created competitive opportunities for disabled athletes?
• What is the evolutionary effect of the current obesity epidemic?
• Can you determine the life expectancy of people based on their athleticism?

4. Learning product options: formal essay, recorded presentation, case study, research or lab report, photo essay, multi-media presentation, creative written format (poetry or prose)

5. Provide options for groupings when appropriate.  Students may work independently, with a partner, or in a group.  Adjust expectations and requirements as needed.  Consider asking students to submit a proposal form for approval.

Strategy #4: Teacher-initiated reflection and metacognition.

Student-centered practices emphasize increasing the metacognition and reflection of students.

More opportunities to reflect on what they have learned and how they know they have learned the information.  This tends to lessen the focus on grades and points. The ideas below are all scaffolded for you to implement at your own pace based on student needs.

How to do it:

1. Use exit tickets to have students reflect on what they know well from the lesson and what they are still struggling with.  

2. Student reflection after large assignments. Questions can include:

• What did you struggle with the most on this assignment?
• How did you overcome those struggles?
• You were able to choose XX for this project.  How did that impact your motivation, effort, or interest in this project?
• What part was most interesting to you?
• Was your time management effective?
• What would you do differently next time?

3. Provide students with a rubric with more categories than you plan to grade.  Students choose, for example, four out of six categories they want you to grade.  (To keep grading streamlined, all categories should be worth the same.)

4. Provide students with a rubric but have them decide the number of points for each section.

5. Have students design a rubric.  They determine the success criteria before starting the assignment (this is best done in groups after they have had a lot of practice with rubrics.)

Amanda Melsby has been a professional educator for 20 years.  She taught English before working as an assistant principal and later as a high school principal.  Amanda holds an Ed.D. in Educational Practice and Leadership and is currently a dean of teaching and learning.