School Type: Public	School Setting: Rural
Level: K-9	School Design: Traditional
Content Presented By:
NEIRTEC, Northeast & Islands Regional Technology in Education Consortium
The Education Alliance at Brown University

Summary

The practice: Creating a Student-Centered Classroom

Each participating school has a lead teacher selected by CENIT staff who works with other participating teachers in the school to get them up to speed on using the new computers and software programs provided by CENIT funding. When schools open in August, teachers participating in the program begin to introduce their students to the new technology, giving them the opportunity to learn how to use it by taking part in technology-rich lessons in a variety of subjects.

At the S.U. Bartolomé Javier Petrovitch School of Cabo Rojo, where Eulalia Texidor Ortiz, a sixth, seventh, and eighth grade English language arts teacher, is the CENIT Lead Teacher, students feel comfortable sharing their personal interests and identifying their learning goals. Texidor Ortiz works closely with them to make sure they are actively engaged in using technology and in making decisions about which technologies best support their goals for a given project. Part of what drives the success of this approach is that Texidor Ortiz encourages her students to bring their personal interests into the classroom, often incorporating them into writing assignments and other projects.

The students, encouraged by the teacher, discuss in a group setting what topics they would like to write about for their assignments. Once this is done, the teacher, serving as a facilitator, guides them in ways that allow them to become better writers and better readers. Texidor Ortiz's focus is maintaining the students? high motivation level, and she achieves this by giving them control of their own learning environments.

• Multiple Learning Strategies
  Technology-enhanced lessons and activities should represent a variety of learning strategies that include active learning strategies, constructive learning strategies, authentic learning strategies, cooperative learning strategies, and intentional/reflective learning strategies.  
• Making Connections to Students' Lives  
• Reading and Writing  
• Supporting the English classroom through literacy development   

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This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu