Meet Every Learner's Needs

Classroom-tested strategies to inspire true student learning

Meet Every Learner's Needs delivers research-backed techniques to transform classrooms into dynamic learning environments in which all students are appropriately challenged—and appropriately supported—every day.

Based on teacher and Modern Classrooms Project cofounder Robert Barnett's experience training thousands of teachers worldwide, this book provides a methodology for K-12 educators to design lessons and courses that respond to individual learners' unique needs and help every learner develop authentic understanding. This approach has empowered educators and students in all grade levels and content areas, everywhere from underperforming inner-city public schools to elite international schools, across all fifty states and over 150 countries.

The book includes highly practical tips and templates, which busy teachers can use to provide better instruction immediately. Throughout the book, readers will learn how to:

• Make direct instruction accessible and engaging to all learners
• Develop strong personal relationships with and between learners
• Create efficient learning experiences that give learners ownership and autonomy
• Share this approach with their colleagues and communities

Meet Every Learner's Needs will leave readers both inspired and empowered to redesign instruction in their classrooms and communities. It will help educators, administrators, and parents take immediate action to create learning experiences that help all students truly succeed.

Acknowledgments xv

About the Author xix

Foreword xxi

Learning Objectives 1

Introduction: The Fundamental Challenge of Teaching 3

Part 1 Redesigning Lessons 17

The Challenge of Lessons 19

Step 1 Digitize Direct Instruction 27

Step 2 Get Learners Working Together 45

Step 3 Sit Down With Your Students 55

Step 4 Require Mastery 67

Part 2 Redesigning Courses 85

The Challenge of Courses 87

Step 5 Help Learners Set the Pace 95

Step 6 Develop Sustainable Systems 111

Step 7 Track and Communicate Progress 123

Step 8 Inspire Students to Excel 137

Part 3 Redesigning Instruction 151

The Challenge of Instruction 153

Step 9 Prepare for Launch 163

Step 10 Build Buy-In 175

Step 11 Empower Your Colleagues (Should-Do) 191

Step 12 Shape the Conversation (Aspire-to-Do) 201

Conclusion: Change Starts Every Day 215

Notes on Research 225

Notes on Teacher Tips 229

Index 231

Robert Barnett is a former teacher and the Co-Founder of the Modern Classrooms Project. He taught math, computer science, English, social studies, and law, from the middle-school to university levels, at public and private schools in the United States and abroad. He hopes his own children will learn in Modern Classrooms someday.

“Meet Every Learner’s Needs is a must-read for educators. It is a practical guide to reshaping classrooms and education and the world!”
—Wendy Kopp, Founder of Teach for America and CEO and Co-Founder of Teach for All

Make instruction more effective—and more fun

Do you ever struggle to teach students who seem lost or bored—or who aren’t in class at all? This is the fundamental challenge of teaching: different learners need different things. But there is a way you can reach them all.

In this engaging, inspiring, and highly practical guide, former teacher and Modern Classrooms Project Co-Founder Robert Barnett explains how you can create lessons and courses that help every student succeed, no matter what or where you teach—and how you can inspire your colleagues and community to follow your lead.

Drawing on research, personal experience, and the insights of Modern Classrooms educators worldwide, Meet Every Learner’s Needs provides simple, actionable steps to keep every student appropriately challenged—and supported—every day. You can take these steps right away! You’ll feel happier and more effective, and your students will flourish.

This book’s evidence-based strategies have helped thousands of teachers and learners achieve their true potential. If you believe every young person can succeed, this book will empower you too.

Praise for Meet Every Learner’s Needs

“This is the best book I have ever read on classroom instructional delivery. Every teacher should understand these methods and techniques!”

—Rex Bolinger, Ed.D., former Indiana High School Principal of the Year and National Milken Educator

“Educators have the greatest role to play in reshaping the world, by fostering students’ agency and connectedness and their problem-solving and critical thinking skills so they can shape a better future. The question is how to do all this given all the challenges of teaching. Amazingly, Robert Barnett has developed a way to support all teachers to transform their classrooms so that students are leading and learning every day. Meet Every Learner’s Needs is a must read for educators. It is a practical guide to reshaping classrooms and education and the world!”

—Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America and CEO & co-founder of Teach for All

“Every parent and educator I know is continuously thinking about how we can modernize classroom instruction and make it more effective and interesting for our students. Robert Barnett’s book is a road map towards how we can rethink our classrooms while building a love of teaching and learning. If you are a teacher thinking about ways to make a difference, this book is for you.”

—James Lane, CEO of PDK International

“Whether you’re a classroom teacher or a school or system leader, you’ve been tasked with what can often feel like an impossible mission. Fortunately, Meet Every Learner’s Needs equips you with a practical toolkit to transform both what you do and how you do it. You’ll discover strategies to maximize your skills, time, and relationships with students, while minimizing frustration—ultimately leading to deeper student engagement and learning.”

—Deborah Gist, former district superintendent and state education commissioner

“The Modern Classrooms Project is a breakthrough education model that leverages the power of technology in the classroom while honoring—and amplifying—the authentic teacher-student relationship that is always at the heart of both student success and teacher satisfaction. Meet Every Learner’s Needs is a remarkable primer on how the Modern Classrooms Project model works to transform classrooms, students and teachers by focusing on efficacy and equity to ensure all students succeed and empowering teachers to stay and thrive in the profession. This book should be widely read by both educators looking to meet the learning needs of all of their students and education policy makers seeking innovations that work and should be replicated nationwide.”

—Michael Brown, co-founder of City Year and Principal, Public Purpose Strategies

“Meeting the needs of every student has been a challenge for teachers forever, and the Modern Classrooms approach may finally have a solution that really works. Barnett's practical and inspiring book explains how any teacher, in any school, can redesign instruction to ensure that every student achieves their potential. This method has worked for educators around the world, and with the help of this guide, it can work for you too.”

—Jennifer Gonzalez, Editor-in-Chief, Cult of Pedagogy

“Barnett describes in detail an approach to the ‘Modern Classroom’ teaching model which is mind-blowing, but well worth the time of an educator who wants to get better. He explains how to accelerate EVERY student, from wherever they are and at a pace they can handle, a method that has never occurred to me in the 40 years I have been writing about teachers but—startling to me—makes great sense.”

—Jay Mathews, Washington Post education columnist

“Fully customizing instruction is a near impossibility in traditional classroom models. Yet with a different instructional design, so much more is possible—for students and educators alike. This book provides an essential blueprint for making that shift at the classroom level. It is essential reading for educators everywhere.”

—Jeff Wetzler, co-founder of Transcend, former Chief Learning Officer of Teach for America, and author of Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You

“Meet Every Learner’s Needs is equal parts inspiration and revelation. It tells the win-win story of how self-paced learning turns children onto achieving and helps disenchanted educators rediscover why they were drawn to teaching.”

—Hugh B. Price, former President and CEO, National Urban League; author of Achievement Matters: Getting Your Child the Best Education Possible