1.3 New Student & Teacher Roles

In a personalized learning environment, students and teachers take on new roles. Teachers are still essential, but in different ways. They’re empowerers, scouts, scaffolders, assessors, and community builders.

Teachers are:

  • empowerers.
  • scouts.
  • assessors.
  • scaffolders.
  • community builders.

This is personal, close-in work. And often it better meets students’ needs, improves relationships, and deepens learning. By adopting new roles, we help position students to lead. They find purpose, feel heard, and claim a seat at the table.

Food for thought

For more about those shifting roles, check these out!

Now tell us

Feel like sharing? Grab a slide in this presentation and share some of your thinking. Your thinking could help someone make the shift they always wanted to. And we’d love to hear it, too!

  • What roles do you play most often?
  • How might you shift your role to support student self-direction?

Let’s go:

In chapter 2, we’ll look at how PLPs aren’t just for the teacher.