In her first year of learner-active implementation, Mary has worked with her 3rd graders to foster independence and responsibility. Read on to learn about her exciting classroom!

About Mary

Mary has been a teacher at the Ho-Ho-Kus School for 14 years and has taught 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade.
She also has two daughters - both of whom attend Ho-Ho-Kus as well!

How she is implementing the learner-active, technology infused classroom:

Mary has implemented the following structures in her classroom:

• Scheduling
  
• Differentiation of instruction through benchmarks and minilessons
  
• Problem-based learning
  
• Technology infusion: Internet, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Word, Graph Club

Click here to see an example of an activity sheet Mary used to "train" her students to schedule their time.

Click here to see an example of an activity sheet Mary used as students became more adept at scheduling.

Click here to see the task statement for Mary's "Third Grade Newsletter" unit.

Click here to see an example of the newsletter created.

Mary's students completed an online WebQuest on the Solar System. Click here to go to the WebQuest.

What are the biggest challenges in teaching this way?

Mary struggled to "let go" of the idea that she as the teacher must always do the scheduling for the children. Moving from "It is math time" to allowing the children to decide when math will take place was an adjustment, particularly for a goal-directed, high-achieving person like Mary. However, she has found that allowing the students to schedule has allowed her a greater flexibility - so even if she has an assembly right during the middle of the traditional "math period," she knows math can take place later on in the day's schedule!

Mary works hard to keep on top of the organization and management of her classroom. Because the students are in different places in different times, all materials and instructions must be where they need to be—or else progress can come to a standstill! Similarly, she spent a great deal of time at the beginning of the year to set structures and procedures at the beginning of the year for the students.

Mary was also concerned as to how to include special needs children that leave the room for instruction. However, when she moved away from math at a certain time, she found that these "pull-out" students could simply schedule different activities from their checklists. She schedules benchmarks to make sure they happen when these students can be in the classroom.

Training the students to be effective in this setting was also a challenge. Though the students love it, they had not experienced learner-active structures like this before. They were concerned with questions such as "Can I finish?" and "How long do things take?" Mary makes sure to spend plenty of time debriefing the process with the students and receiving their feedback.

What are some of the benefits you have seen for your students?

When students schedule their time, Mary notes that everyone finds success. In a traditional setting, all of the students work on a task at the same time - leading students to compare their progress to others, many times leading to feelings of inferiority or being "behind." When students do different things at different times, that comparison is less common. In addition, because "less capable" students will schedule some tasks before other students, they are able to become experts on those tasks and activities - helping them to feel a measure of success that they might not have felt otherwise.

Differentiation can be done more effectively and more sensitively with this model. Using minilessons, Mary is able to provide remediation as well as to challenge advanced learners. Recently, one student was so advanced in math that she was able to teach him some simple algebra—sparking his interest and motivation even more. Because students are all working on their own list of activities—the remediation and the enrichment are not "obvious" and do not make students feel inferior in comparison to others. As a result, the stress level in the class is much lower than in previous years.

Mary also observes that students have taken on so much more responsibility, including the initiative to complete assignments at a high level. Motivation has become intrinsic as students take ownership of their own work.

Time on task has increased as transitions in the classroom are completed more smoothly. Children get their own materials and turn in their own assignments independently throughout the day.

Picture Gallery
Click on a thumbnail to see snapshots of the learner-active, technology-infused structures in Mary's classroom.

As a result of this classroom structure, Mary is able to spend lots of quality time with each student. During this class period, Mary conferenced with several students about a writing piece (see left). Also, if any student needs help, they can sign up to receive individual attention on the class "Help Board". (see right).