Literacy & Learner-Centered Education
Literacy is the mainstay of a learner-centered education—It empowers us to think critically, express ourselves clearly, and participate thoughtfully in an ever-evolving world.
At The Village School, our learner-centered pedagogical approach invites us to see students not as passive recipients of knowledge, but as active architects of meaning, identity, and ideas. It’s a shift that engages the whole learner and what they bring to our community; their voice, emotions, character and individual experiences.
I feel uniquely grateful for my role as reading specialist at TVS. I am able to use best practices in building a strong foundation by following the Science of Reading, while also collaborating with colleagues on how to provide authentic opportunities for learners to put these skills to use. For Spark learners that may be done through purposeful read-alouds and guided discussions. For Discovery students, there are a multitude of opportunities to develop critical thinking and communication through our project-based learning approach. I am continuously astounded by the depth of conversation I hear when poking my head in during Civ and Writers Workshop.
This past session in Discovery, we started small group book clubs. Yes, I am able to pepper in skills I see they could use some help on; greek and latin roots, dictionary skills to help those new to the Vocab badge, etc. But what we are also working on is building a community of readers. Building excitement around books and openness to share our thoughts and ideas as we dissect a chapter. Making connections to ourselves and the world around us. The power of reading extends far beyond the classroom, shaping how we see and understand the world. I recently came across a TedTalk by Lisa Bu about how books helped expand her mind and gave her access to different points of view. As each learner at our school comes to understand themselves and their values, we’re all able to share our unique perspectives—enriching our collective understanding.
I hope that you were able to listen to Caroline Powell’s recent podcast on learners discovering their identity. What a beautiful thing we are creating at The Village School with our humentic (human + authentic) learning. Where we value helping learners discover who they are, not only through our academic pillar but also by learning to do, be and live together. As we head into a season of gratitude I am thankful to be a part of this village as we reimagine what education can be.
