A brief from McREL’s Expert Teaching Series
Research on effective teaching and learning confirms that thoughtfully designed unit plans and lesson plans can help all students learn more deeply, especially when teachers shift how they think about and approach their lesson planning, moving away from a teacher-centric perspective and toward a student-centric one. A teacher-centric perspective focuses mostly on planning the sequence of actions the teacher will undertake to present the lesson, whereas a student-centric perspective considers what students will need to experience, and when, in order to spark their initial interest in learning, help them build and retain their new knowledge, and support their learning the content deeply.
In classrooms worldwide, we’ve seen that this simple shift in focus often leads to a breakthrough moment for many teachers, one that lifts them to becoming expert practitioners. That’s likely because as teachers consider what’s happening in students’ minds while they’re teaching, they become more intentional with their practice. They understand not just what strategies and activities to use to help their students learn, but also when and why to use various strategies for specific student needs at specific times for maximum effect.
This brief 4-page overview offers a basic background on planning for student learning and provides a few suggested next steps for school leaders and teachers interested in navigating this shift in practice.
