Peggy Grant , Ph.D., NCREL program associate/research, Center for Literacy talks about the challenge of a student-centered class.
Grant:
Teachers are not encouraged to be risk takers. And when you have a student-centered classroom, everyday is an accident waiting to happen. You walk in your room. I mean, when I'm going to give a lecture that I've given 20 times, and kids love it, it's very popular; maybe I've got a video, maybe I'm going to do a demonstration, but I -- then I can control everything that happens in that room---I know when I wake up in the morning, this is going to happen first period.
This is going to happen second period, and it's going to go exactly like I planned it. If I have a student-centered classroom, I don't know. Maybe Joey will forget his costume for the play. Maybe Susie will leave her computer disk at home. Maybe Mary and Joan will get in a fight over who's supposed to do what. I don't know what's going to happen. And it's very scary to be like that.
I think, that is -- that's another -- the main reason that a lot of teachers don't want to move to a student-centered classroom, because it's very scary. You can't control everything that's going to happen and, and you don't know what it's going to be, and it's just kind of -- for some people, it's kind of exciting, but for some people, it's just kind of terrifying.