Status of the Class: Examples of Structured Learning Environment

There's a delicate balance between giving students freedom to design their own learning and providing the foundations skills students need to be successful.  In order for that balance to be successful, we must have strong structures in place to support independent learning in relation to learning standards.  See below the examples of how this delicate balance is achieved.

Status of the Class:  In this chart, the teacher is tracking students progress over time, ensuring that they use class time effectively to accomplish the learning objective.

Conferencing:  Using "Status of the Class," this teacher is able to track the students she's conferred with to support their writing.

Visual Supports:  Kids move their clothes pins based on their progress in the writing process.  Students have a visual support for the work to do in the revision process:  No dead words, embed sensory details and dialogue, and ensure NTSSWTSW, No Two Sentences Start With the Same Word for sentence variety.

Poetry as a Mini-Lesson:  Students learn skills such as allusion by enjoying a contemporary poem and identifying the allusions illustrated by the author.  

Poetry Mini-Lesson Part 2:  To further their understanding of the concept, students add to the poem, mimicking the tone and adding their own allusion.

Using the Toolbox:  As students independently write in Writer's Workshop, they use resources to help them structure their writing.

Tracking Student Learning:  As students read independently, the teacher confers with them to determine the application of previously taught content-area skills to their independent reading novel.  This keeps content fresh and relevant beyond the initial instruction.

Point of View:  While reading independently, this student identifies the narrator's point of view, furthering her understanding of current instructional standards.

History as a Plot:  This simple interdisciplinary connection helps students visualize the story of WWI.