S C C
Student-Centered Classrooms
Mastery Cohort
Learn and apply simple shifts to go from a passive to active, empowered learning space in less than 6 months (Starting February, 2025)
Overview:
Dear aspiring Student-Centered Practitioner,
Want to transform your classroom into a hub of curiosity, innovation, and real-world impact but don’t know where to start?
The icons you see pictured here represent the 12 shifts for creating the conditions that will develop more reflective, empowered learners, and allow you to shift from a teacher of content, to a facilitator of learning. They are based on 15+ years of experience in teaching and leading learning experiences in some of the most renowned student-centered schools in the world (including High Tech HIgh).
I organized this accelerated mastery cohort certificate program to help you use these shifts to transform learning from a passive to active learning space in less than 6 months. You will unlock how to:
- Build the conditions for self-directed learning
- Grow learners that collaborate, communicate, create, think critically, and demonstrate other 21st century skills
- Shift your mindset from instructor to facilitator/coach
- Build a growth mindset in students through meaningful assessment and reflection
- Support students in using inquiry to connect more deeply and meaningfully to your content
After reading over the student-centered mastery cohort, if you think it’s a good fit, please apply above and I will be in touch shortly around next steps.
Co-Designed Learning
The design and implementation of learning experiences is co-constructed with student input, including resources, activities, assessments, and final products.
Pursuit of Interests/ Real World-Problems
Teacher establishes an environment where students are driven not by grades, but by ability to address real problems or challenges, incorporate their interests, and build competence. Learning goals and processes are explicit, c0-created and based on clear criteria with numerous opportunities for peers to receive peer, expert and teacher feedback on work.
Process-Focused
Facilitator provides multiple opportunities for students to reflect on work, growth and deeper understandings/questions with the help of peers, experts, and community members.
Critique and Feedback
Teacher creates an environment of continual feedback, where students, teacher, peers and experts provide continual feedback and coaching on student work, both in process of completion, and in the product of the learning experience. These include a number of tools for self-evaluation and assessment on shared learning goals.
Guided By Inquiry
Inquiry drives the learning process with relevant milestones to support it. Teacher provides processes, templates and activities to support deeper student inquiry and acts as a guide.
Real World Inquiry/Product/Service
In the process of the learning experience, students create relevant, professional work that alignes to their interests and serves purpose in the real world outside of school, with multiple opportunities for reflection and feedback.
Collaborative Work
Students have regular opportunities to collaborate throughout learning experiences, working interdependently, allocating tasks, and developing artefacts of work with other group members according to their strengths, and/or the community and for the audience they intend to serve. Teacher/facilitator supports and guide teams with protocols, processes, and resources to foster this collaboration.
Facilitated/Socratic Discussion
Socratic discussions, forums, and scaffolded learning allow students to develop deeper understandings and build on knowledge, skills, and perspectives within the overall learning goals. Teacher/Facilitator helps set up these discussions but takes a ‘back seat’ role, facilitating these discussions and activities from behind the scenes.
Student Questions
Students have ownership over their own learning through their own questions, interests and wonderings. Teacher/facilitator develops routines, protocols, forums and processes to extend and support it.
Relevant, Transdisciplinary
Skills and content work together across different areas of the curriculum to help fulfill the goals and big understandings of units and learning experiences. Teachers work together in a cross-disciplinary team to support students.
Authentic, Public Audience
Teacher helps students find authentic, public audiences for exhibition of student work, and during numerous stages of learning experiences and/or units of study. Teacher also helps students interact meaningfully with these audiences on their own with gentle guidance.
Community Impact
Student work and learning has a clear community impact that extends beyond the classroom to different parts of the school, community members, and beneficiaries. Teacher sets up experiential learning trips, parent mentors, platforms for sharing, experts and systems to help make make learning experiences more meaningful and relevant.
Who It's For
Student-Centered Teachers, Teacher Leads, Team Leaders, EdTech Coordinators, Instructional Coaches, Middle Managers and others wanting to develop student-centered environments
Commitment
Synchronous coaching meetings around each shift (Every 3 weeks- Seven meetings)
6 month commitment
Cost
$1,295 USD one time payment for the program if enrolling individually or $995 USD per educator for a 10+ person cohort enrolled by school.
Benefits
- Shift from classroom teacher to facilitator of student-led environments and learning experiences
- Learn how to build interdisciplinary skills and deliver cross-curricular content
- Learn how to connect curriculum to the community, host exhibitions and find real world audiences for student work
- Learn strategies to develop and guide student inquiry
- Gain confidence to effectively team and group students and differentiate the student-centered classroom
- Empower students to become self-regulated, independent learners
- Create emotional, social and globally aware citizens
Includes
- Seven cohort meetings for group coaching and strategy sessions
- Supplementary Course resources including training videos, case studies, and Kyle’s book “12 Shifts for Student-Centered Environments”
- Digital Portfolio Development and Review
- Expert facilitation and coaching from practitioner
- One free ‘mentor’ from school site to help support teacher growth
- Certificate for 24 Professional Development Hours
“Kyle’s ability to discern the needs of students, develop mission-aligned school goals, and empower teachers is truly remarkable. With a hands-on action-oriented approach, Kyle balances ideas and content, with self-discovery and group collaboration in an artful way that is unique and authentic. Educators don’t feel judged or defensive with Kyle because he has a way of building trust and unifying groups through common goals. He has been at the center of the conversation around innovative education for many years and his experience has given him time to test theories, see results, and measure effectiveness over time. He is a joy to work with and I am very thankful for the ways he continues to inspire my practice while boldy pioneering the future of education.”
Matt Neylon
Director of Visual & Performing Arts
The Mount Vernon School
Atlanta, GA
“Despite what some people may think, finding a learning cohort that you feel comfortable with being vulnerable in as well as being challenged by is not easy. However, I have found it in Kyle Wagner’s Coaching group. Since becoming a part of this community, I have connected to passionate educators whose voices represent teaching experiences from around the world who have opened my eyes to new perspectives and pedagogies, inspiring deep thinking and reflection with every meeting. During a time where the world is divided and isolated in so many ways, the cohort has provided a “soft place to land,” an opportunity to connect and dialogue with colleagues whose love for teaching transcends race, gender, and political affiliation. Due to the goals formulated within this dynamic group, my experiences in the classroom have broadened, and my desire to incorporate project-based learning into every facet of instruction has grown from a flame to a wildly raging fire which has ignited my students, the ultimate victors, to shine.” – Brett Carrier, Fifth Grade Language Arts Instructor
“When I had the chance to join Kyle’s online sessions at the end of last year, I never envisaged that online learning will soon become the only media of learning for the whole world! While admiring his vision and foresight, I thoroughly enjoy the sessions we have online. Kyle is inspiring, creative and resourceful. I love the way Kyle runs the sessions. We have routine and yet there are always something new. From the small tricks to do online sessions on how to organise learning experiences, there are so much to learn and explore. Book reading and discussion, talking to the great minds within our group, being helped and supported, feeling being re-educated, I feel I have learnt more in the past 6 months than 6 years! Most importantly, Kyle makes everyone feel valued and eager to learn – I think this is the most powerful message an educator could send.” – Yang Zhao, IGCSE Maths Program Coordinator
“As teachers, we’ve all had times when we feel unmotivated, when teaching becomes monotonous. Kyle’s coaching sessions have helped reignite my passion for teaching, encouraging me to continue to strive for a child- centred classroom. His genuine and meaningful coaching keeps me motivated on my teaching journey. Our group coaching sessions are a safe space where educators are encouraged to share, challenge and elevate one another. Kyle is key in igniting the groups creativity and promoting innovation. He has the ability to tune in to each individual and listens carefully to their needs. He spends time getting to know the educator you are and the educator you strive to be. Kyle has supported me to identify my strengths and we build on these together. His energy and guidance keeps me on track to be the best teacher I can be.” –
Rosie Westall,
Waldorf Teacher
Facilitator Bio
Kyle Wagner is the founder and lead consultant for Transform Educational Consulting, an organization that empowers forward thinking schools to grow and develop 21st century learners.
His work with building learner-centered environments and project- based experiences spans 12 years, three continents and over 15 schools. He has worked with successful public, charter and international schools in the Asia region including ESF, YCIS, IMS and ISB, HARBOUR SCHOOL and VTC. He is the former Coordinator of Futures Academy at the International School of Beijing, a program that uses interdisciplinary project- based learning to connect students to their passions and the world outside of school. His book “The Power of SIMPLE” documents this experience and helps provide simple, research- based strategies for developing students as 21st century problem solvers.
Kyle is also a former educator and project leader at High Tech High, the famous project-based learning school featured on the hit documentary “Most Likely to Succeed.” He holds a M.Ed. (Masters Degree) in Teacher Leadership with a thesis that focuses on developing democratic classrooms and distributed leadership models. When not writing or teaching, he is performing with his original band, participating in karaoke contests and traveling the world with his partner. He currently resides in Hong Kong where he spends time developing schools of the future while helping other school leaders build theirs.