Having served as a curriculum planner for a new school, one of my goals was to create units using project-based learning. This actively involved the students in assessing their understanding (mostly using rubrics) at various stages throughout a unit of study. At first students were reluctant to take responsibility for their learning because they were so accustomed to responding to assessments quoting back information teachers had disseminated in lectures and notes. Student-centered assessments really help the students advance their higher level thinking skills and consider why they are learning instead of just what they are learning. The opportunity to do pair-share with fellow students using the 3-2-1 strategy is also an excellent learning experience. It is important for the teacher to help students develop new skills using student-centered assessment such as setting goals, defining tasks, and predicting what will be learned. As students become more successful using student-centered assessment, their motivation to learn new things increases. However, for some students this type of assessment may be out of their comfort zone because they have never been allowed to think “outside the box.” It may take some creativity on the part of the teacher to help these students learn to assess themselves effectively.
I think that putting the students in charge of their learning progress is a wonderful way to encourage them to want to learn and to be more involved in classroom discussions and activities.
Some teachers have a difficulity moving into student centered mind-set. I found, at first, the student centered classroom is a little wild, but the classroom will run much smoother once the students understand what is expected from them and the sooner the teacher can tell them his/her expections for the classroom, the better the student’s will behave and they can get to the ‘serious’ business of learning.
intelessentials 
Having served as a curriculum planner for a new school, one of my goals was to create units using project-based learning. This actively involved the students in assessing their understanding (mostly using rubrics) at various stages throughout a unit of study. At first students were reluctant to take responsibility for their learning because they were so accustomed to responding to assessments quoting back information teachers had disseminated in lectures and notes. Student-centered assessments really help the students advance their higher level thinking skills and consider why they are learning instead of just what they are learning. The opportunity to do pair-share with fellow students using the 3-2-1 strategy is also an excellent learning experience. It is important for the teacher to help students develop new skills using student-centered assessment such as setting goals, defining tasks, and predicting what will be learned. As students become more successful using student-centered assessment, their motivation to learn new things increases. However, for some students this type of assessment may be out of their comfort zone because they have never been allowed to think “outside the box.” It may take some creativity on the part of the teacher to help these students learn to assess themselves effectively.
I think that putting the students in charge of their learning progress is a wonderful way to encourage them to want to learn and to be more involved in classroom discussions and activities.
Some teachers have a difficulity moving into student centered mind-set. I found, at first, the student centered classroom is a little wild, but the classroom will run much smoother once the students understand what is expected from them and the sooner the teacher can tell them his/her expections for the classroom, the better the student’s will behave and they can get to the ‘serious’ business of learning.