Each student has a unique story to share.

By learning about the many aspects that make students

different, teachers are better able to meet the needs of each individual child in their classroom. Knowledge of
the Learner-Centered Principles (LCPs) allow this to happen. Student-teacher relationships have always been
the most important aspect of my job. How can we expect students to become life-long learners if we do not fill
them with love, hope, and excitement every day? As you explore my photo essay, you will gain some insight
into how I acknowledge the Learner-Centered Principles in my classroom.

The first artifact in my photo essay depicts my understanding of the nature of the learning process. These
“Read-to-Someone Resources” are used during the Daily 5 rotation, “Read-to-Someone”. During “Read to
Someone”, students are taught how to sit elbow-to-elbow and knee-to- knee with a partner. They take turns
reading books to each other and spend some time talking about their texts. Students are required to take
personal responsibility for their own learning because I do not lead this rotation. Students choose the questions
they’d like to answer with their partner and construct their own meaning through conversation. Students’ goals
are to reflect on their reading to ensure they are self-regulating their learning. These “Read-to-Someone
Resources” also allow for some student choice, which also ties into motivational and affective factors. Since the
resources range in difficulty, students can choose to start with simple questions and advance towards deeper-
level questions.
 Goal setting sheets are another way to enhance motivation. Goal setting sheets are completed and
discussed during one-on-one conferences. This coherent representation of knowledge is written by students.
We take our conferencing time to discuss the importance of sight words and fact fluency knowledge for future
learning. Students verbally reflect on what they are doing, or need to do, to meet their goals. By establishing
short-term goals, students are able to watch their progress towards their long-term goals of knowing all 100 of
their yellow sight words and all 50 of their first grade facts. As I’ve learned more about the LCPs, I’ve realized
that my students aren’t provided with any opportunities to make personal goals. I have the power to make goal
setting more meaningful for my students by allowing them to create goals that align with their personal
aspirations and interests as well.

Construction of knowledge is reflected in the strategy bookmarks that my students have recently
created. Making these bookmarks was a goal that I set in place after completing the first set of questions in my
reflective journal for this course. My students are currently working to use their bookmarks during guided
reading group and independent reading time. These bookmarks allow students to recall one decoding strategy
that they have mastered, while also allowing them to recall two strategies that they are working to master. Each
time they read a new book, they are able to transfer their prior knowledge of strategies to new reading
situations. My students will begin understanding that reading strategies aren’t just for school! Their reading
knowledge should be transferred to any reading situation.
 My next photograph shows what our Monday Morning Meetings look like. Each Monday, we meet as a
class for our Monday Morning Meeting. Here, students are willing and able to share about their experiences,
feelings, interests, goals, and anything else that they care to share. Motivational and emotional influences on
learning are addressed by taking the time to establish a safe place in our classroom. Students are more
motivated to learn because they feel heard, loved, and supported by each other. We look forward to this time
together every week.

Intrinsic motivation to learn is something that I believe needs to be sparked immediately in education.
We need our students to want to learn and to be curious to answer the many questions they have about the
world around them. Intrinsic motivation to learn is addressed through a PowerPoint that I created. This
PowerPoint illustrates a task that is relevant to students’ interests and reflects realistic situations. Word
problems are a difficult concept for first graders. For this reason, I choose to call them story problems. Students
are engaged by these higher-order thinking story problems because they are silly and personalized, but also
because they provide for student choice.
 Whether students are solving story problems, or simply turning and talking, they love working together.
In the beginning of the school year, my first graders learned what “Read to Self” looked like, felt like, and
sounded like. Afterwards, students were asked to work in partners to create a cartoon illustrating what “Read
to Self” looks like and what it does not look like. Social influences on learning are reflected through this
photograph because my students needed to effectively communicate with each other to evaluate the best way
to portray this new concept. While they were giggling and enjoying each other’s support through the activity,
they were effectively evaluating, collaborating, and creating.

Learning and diversity is a huge part of my classroom. We explore different cultures through our
“Cultures and Me” reading unit and through a Social Studies unit as well. My final photograph shows just a few
of the books that I use for daily “read alouds”. These texts are kept in our student reading corner/library so that
students have access to them as well. I ensure that the books students engage with portray a variety of people,
cultures, and languages. These diverse books are wonderful conversation starters for students, and are a way
for students to continue exploring the beautiful differences in the world. My Spanish speaking students are
especially engaged when helping me correctly pronounce Spanish words.