Episode Details

Where is the Teacher? 12 Shifts for a Student Centered Classroom

Kyle Wagner, the founder of Transform Educational Consulting Limited, has always had a bold mission since he became an educator 15+ years ago: Create transformational learning experiences that connect students' interests and passions to issues that matter in the real world. This bold mission has literally taken him around the world. From the design of living museums, model governments, and engaging project-based experiences as a Humanities Teacher in world renowned High Tech High in San Diego; to co-founding student-led programs and schools as a Program Director in China; Kyle has remained true to that mission, and vowed to share it with others.

His book, The Power of Simple, outlines the simple shifts classrooms and schools can make to allow for these experiences, and the conditions required to ensure they have lasting impact. Kyle currently resides in Hong Kong, where through workshops, coaching, courses and bespoke training, he has now empowered over 1,000 forward thinking educators worldwide to create more socially, globally, and emotionally aware citizens through project-based learning.

Show Highlights

• 12 shifts for student-centered environments.

• The difference between engagement and empowerment in education.

• The next step you need to take is to Implementation of inquiry-based learning.

• Importance of making small changes in the physical classroom setup.

• Formulate a big question to create an inquiry framework designed by students.

• Unpack the 3 key factors for motivation.

• Create magic with a mindset shift to scaffold learning for students with their own interests.

• Classroom transformations through peer-to-peer teaching.

"With inquiry, it's like when you take your dog off the leash for the first time and you haven't trained them to be off the leash, they're going to run off. But if you've gone through that process of like, 'Okay you're going to walk beside me first.' We're going to make sure that when the traffic comes, you're not going to freak out, then you slowly give them more opportunities where they can really formulate their own inquiries. They know what kind of interests are, they know how to ask deeper questions. And that's something that the teacher can support as a facilitator moving from that front of the classroom role."

-Kyle Wagner

Get the episode transcript here!

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