What if your students took greater ownership of their learning?
What if they asked the questions, made meaningful choices, led discussions, gave each other feedback, and created work that mattered beyond the classroom? And what if your role shifted from directing every step to designing the conditions that made all of this possible?
10 practical online workshops to help you move from teacher-led to student-centered learning—one shift at a time.
We want self-directed learners. But how much of their learning are we still directing?
We want students to become curious thinkers, thoughtful collaborators, creative problem-solvers, and learners who can manage themselves. But in many classrooms, we’re still choosing the questions, designing the tasks, leading the discussions, giving the feedback, and becoming the audience for almost everything students produce.
Student-centered learning doesn’t mean removing the teacher.
It means changing the role of the teacher.
That’s what the 12 Shifts are designed to help us do.
Less webinar. More workshop.
This isn’t another online PD where you quietly listen to someone talk through a slide deck. Each month we’ll explore one area of student-centered practice, look inside real classrooms to see what it looks like in action, unpack the strategies and structures that make it possible, and give you time to apply those ideas directly to your own context.
You will also meet and exchange ideas with other practitioners experimenting with the same shifts.
Leave with something you can try, not simply something to think about.
Explore real stories and examples from student-centered classrooms.
Understand the teacher moves, structures, and strategies that made the shift possible.
Apply the shift to a lesson, unit, project, or challenge from your own classroom.
Exchange ideas, questions, successes, and challenges with other practitioners.
Build a more student-centered classroom, one shift at a time.
You don’t need to redesign your classroom overnight. Each month we’ll focus on one area of practice, giving you practical ways to experiment with the shift in your own context.
How can we involve students in designing what and how they learn—without abandoning the curriculum?
- Practical structures for inviting student voice into unit and lesson design
- Ways to connect student-generated ideas back to required curriculum standards
- A first co-designed learning experience ready to try with your own students
How can we design learning around meaningful questions—and gradually help students develop and pursue questions of their own?
- Protocols for building strong, open-ended questions that drive inquiry
- A framework for gradually handing question-development over to students
- A revised unit plan built around inquiry rather than content delivery
This workshop combines the two related shifts around inquiry: moving from content-led to inquiry-based learning and from teacher-led inquiry to student-led inquiry.
How can students use knowledge and skills across disciplines to understand and respond to the real world?
- Strategies for connecting skills and concepts across subject areas
- A lens for identifying real-world issues that naturally cross disciplines
- A transdisciplinary task or unit outline you can pilot with students
What happens when students have a reason to learn that extends beyond earning a grade?
- Ways to surface and build on students’ genuine interests and questions
- Structures that connect coursework to real-world problems worth solving
- A plan for giving at least one assignment authentic purpose beyond a grade
How can students use what they’re learning to create something meaningful for real people?
- Examples of student products and services created for real audiences
- Criteria for judging when student work is “real-world ready”
- A concept for a product or service your students could create next
How can reflection become an ongoing part of learning rather than an activity saved for the end?
- Protocols for embedding reflection throughout a project, not just at the end
- Prompts and routines that build students’ metacognitive habits
- A reflection cycle you can build into an upcoming unit or project
How can we move beyond simply putting students into groups and intentionally build a culture of meaningful collaboration?
- Structures that move groups from task-sharing to genuine collaboration
- Ways to teach and assess collaboration skills directly
- A collaborative protocol ready to use in your next group task
How can we move more of the thinking and talking to students while giving them the structures they need to lead meaningful dialogue?
- Facilitation moves that shift discussion ownership from teacher to students
- Socratic and discussion structures that work with your grade level
- A discussion plan you can hand over to student facilitators
How can students take greater ownership of quality, progress, feedback, and improvement?
- Protocols for structured peer and self-assessment
- Ways to bring outside and expert voices into the feedback process
- A critique routine ready to try with an upcoming piece of student work
How can student work move beyond the classroom—reaching real audiences and making a meaningful contribution to the community?
- Strategies for connecting student work to authentic, outside audiences
- Ideas for building lasting community or expert partnerships
- A plan for sharing student work beyond the classroom walls
This workshop combines the two related shifts around authentic audience and community partnership.
One shift can change a lesson. Together, the shifts can change how learning works in your classroom.
Make the shifts work in your context.
Student-centered learning doesn’t require the perfect school, the perfect timetable, or the freedom to throw out your curriculum.
Bring an upcoming lesson, a unit that isn’t quite working, a curriculum standard you’re struggling to make relevant, a project you’d like students to own more of—or simply a classroom challenge you haven’t solved yet.
We’ll use each shift as a practical lens for helping you redesign what you already do.
During each live workshop, you’ll:
- Explore examples from real student-centered classrooms.
- Experience practical strategies and protocols.
- Apply the shift to your own classroom context.
- Design something you can actually try with students.
- Share ideas and get feedback from fellow practitioners.
These aren’t theoretical shifts.
The 12 Shifts emerged from real educators experimenting with different ways to give students greater ownership of learning.
Ancient Civilizations had become one of Linda Amici’s most dreaded parts of the curriculum. Instead of deciding everything herself, she invited students to help choose the civilizations and questions they wanted to explore, while connecting their inquiries back to rigorous curriculum standards.
Six weeks later, students transformed the classroom into a museum filled with creations ranging from Ancient Greek clothing to reenactments of Persian War battles.
Instead of giving his Year 10 students the questions for a Modern China unit, Andrew Morrissey helped them develop their own.
Students investigated everything from sustainability in Chinese fashion to urbanization and the influence of social media on Chinese art. Andrew moved behind the scenes, creating the structures and process journals students needed to pursue those inquiries successfully.
At VIS Better Lab School, students don’t create work solely for their teachers.
They have developed proposals for government departments, exhibited projects publicly, and even run a student radio station—taking responsibility for interviewing, filming, editing, producing, and publishing episodes for a real audience.
At Bangkok Patana School, Year 7 learning has moved beyond individual subject silos through experiences connected to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Students explore issues such as inequality and local ecosystems, using knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines to investigate challenges connected to their community.
Different schools. Different ages. Different contexts. The same question: what happens when we trust learners to do more?
Don’t make the shifts alone.
One of the most valuable parts of this series will be learning from educators who are experimenting with the same ideas in different classrooms, subjects, schools, and countries.
Student-centered learning can be messy. The workshops create space to share what worked, what didn’t, what surprised you, and what you might try next.
Practitioners learning with practitioners.
Who is this for?
This series is for educators who want students to take greater ownership of their learning but need practical ways to make it happen.
- Elementary and secondary educators
- Classroom and subject teachers
- International school educators
- PYP, MYP and DP educators
- Project-based learning practitioners
- Instructional coaches
- Curriculum and learning coordinators
- School leaders supporting student-centered practice
You don’t need to throw out your curriculum. You don’t need to make all 12 shifts tomorrow.
Start with one. Try it. Reflect on what happens. Then make another.
Kyle Wagner
Kyle Wagner is the author of Where Is the Teacher? The 12 Shifts for Student-Centered Environments and founder and lead learning design coach at Transform Educational Consulting.
His own journey into student-centered learning began at High Tech High, where he discovered firsthand that putting learners at the center required him to fundamentally rethink his role as a teacher. He later coordinated Futures Academy at the International School of Beijing and has worked with educators and schools around the world to create project-based experiences and student-centered learning environments.
The 12 Shifts grew from that work and from the stories of educators around the world who were willing to experiment with what happens when learners are given greater ownership.
Choose how you’d like to join.
Join the workshop most relevant to your classroom right now, build your own mini-series, or experience the complete 10-month journey.
Why make all 12 shifts?
Because student-centered learning isn’t a single strategy. It’s a different way of thinking about who does what in a classroom.
Across the series, you’ll reconsider who designs the learning, who asks the questions, who leads discussions, who provides feedback, who sees the work, and ultimately who benefits from it.
Taken together, the shifts help move the teacher from being responsible for directing every part of learning toward designing the conditions in which learners can increasingly direct it themselves.
That’s why this isn’t a weekend boot camp. It’s a chance to experiment with one manageable shift at a time—and build on what you learn across the year.
Questions?
Can I attend just one workshop?
Can I choose several workshops?
What if I want five or more workshops?
Do I need to attend the workshops in order?
How do I pay?
Do I need to read Where Is the Teacher? first?
Will workshops be recorded?
What happens if I miss a workshop?
How long is each workshop?
What resources are included?
What age groups are these workshops relevant for?
Can school teams participate?
What might change if your students took greater ownership of their learning?
You don’t need to redesign everything at once. Start with one shift, try it with your students, reflect on what happens, and build from there. Choose the shifts you need—or join us for the complete journey.
10 workshops. 12 shifts. One more student-centered classroom.