The classroom learning community model is Decatur Public Schools’ latest innovative approach to incorporating student ownership, voice, and choice in the classroom.

 

The needs of today's 21st century learners are certainly different from years past. Today's learners are skilled multitaskers and learn best by interacting with others. They are experiential learners who learn through discovery rather than being told. They enjoy working in teams and want to be part of a learning community while collaborating, sharing and exchanging ideas with others. 

 

In August of 2022, more than 60 DPS educators from six different schools participated in the first two-day intensive Classroom Learning Community workshop to increase their ability to understand, integrate, and implement the eight components of the CLC model in their classroom.  Throughout the workshop, participants gained first-hand experience with the components as they formed their own learning communities, identified team norms, created a mission to guide their work throughout the workshop, and created a data center to monitor their own learning.  

 

Now that more than 60 DPS staff from Cohort #1 have successfully implemented the Classroom Learning Community model, the District will soon schedule the next round of CLC workshops for Cohort #2. Exciting CLC experiences are happening all around the District. Many teachers have commented that, with the help of the CLC model, this has been one of the smoothest, most rewarding beginnings to a school year.