Instruction in the NTN model centers authentic, complex thinking and problem-solving through high-quality, relevant, project-based learning. This enables students to experience deep, contextual, shared learning, as well as acquire and demonstrate proficiency in college- and career-ready outcomes. To support a more equitable learning environment, the NTN model uses Learner-Centered Practices and a culturally sustaining approach. Schools can implement Learner-Centered Practices in silo or in tandem with PBL. NTN Comprehensive Guide to Project-Based Learning

Project-based Learning (PBL) and problem-based learning (PrBL) methods ensure that learning is complex and authentic and to, in turn, help students develop the targeted outcomes. Projects center around authentic tasks that are provided before instruction to create a need to learn the relevant standards. Projects are driven by student inquiry, which fosters engagement and ownership, allowing students to engage in deeper learning. Project-Based Learning

Learner-Centered Practices enable the shift from a teacher-centered approach to a learning partnership between teachers and students. These practices encourage equitable collaboration and discourse, idea generation, diverse voices and perspectives, complex thinking, and problem solving. Two examples of NTN’s Learner-Centered Practices are: 

• Chalk Talk: Allows students to articulate, expand on, and revise their knowledge, helps students brainstorm and use written communication skills to connect with and gain insights from each other. 
• Card Sort: Is a hands-on way to give students space to provide their own reasonings; it promotes self-assessment and can also serve as a formative assessment.

These versatile practices can be used to introduce new material instead of lecture or direct instruction. They can also be used as formative assessment, a way to review material, or an optional activity for remediation. 

Culturally Sustaining Approaches enable educators to build a shared understanding of student cultural assets and build students’ knowledge, skills, and mindsets – including their ability to critically examine systems (and system inequities) and engage in positive change. Equitable instruction requires intentional and explicit asset-based student-centered practices that critically analyze local and global issues from a variety of perspectives while leveraging student assets in the classroom. The NTN Model’s instructional and cultural components are designed to use student voice and data about their experiences to equip educators with the information needed to engage in culturally sustaining practices.

The NTN model is student-centered. As such, all students share responsibility in their own learning. This takes on many forms including allowing students to give and receive feedback on work in order for reflection and revision to occur. A student-centered classroom uses assessment to inform instruction and emphasize learner growth and intrinsic motivation. And lastly, student-centered assessment prioritizes asset-based feedback to further build on learner strengths and support growth in knowledge and skills over time. Two examples of NTN’s purposeful assessment practice are:

• Running Rubrics: Using a rubric to capture conversations about progress helps students understand criteria for the task and what next steps they might take, so that students take charge of their own learning. Running Rubrics also help students who are working towards mastery take action on feedback in a project or assignment.
• I used to think…Now I think: A formative assessment that helps students reflect on their thinking about a topic and explore how it has changed and encourages students to develop their reasoning abilities.

The NTN model fosters a school-wide culture of belonging, care, community, and growth for adults and students. This type of culture helps ensure that students and teachers alike have ownership over the learning experience and school environment. In order to build a student-centered classroom, students must feel safe, supported, and valued as contributing members of the classroom community. Not only do relationships between student and teacher need to be a priority but also peer-to-peer relationships must be cultivated. School communities who actively commit to cultivating a supportive and inclusive culture create opportunities for all students to explore and sustain their cultural assets and identities and foster a learning community focused on collaboration and student voice. 

NTN’s culture reflect the following key shifts in the learning environment:

• Adopting an Asset-Based Mindset through self-reflective practices helps learners shift from a deficit-based mindset to examine the deeply held beliefs, behaviors, and practices that influence their perspectives, work and interactions with others.
• Cultivating a Learning Community helps shift power dynamics from a teacher-centered environment to a learner-centered environment, where each learner is an active contributor in the community.
• Restorative Discipline practices help shift traditional discipline practices to those that center humanity and prioritize social, academic, physical, and emotional well-being.
• Social-Emotional Well-Being practices help shift toward processes that empower learners to self-regulate their emotions and manage their thoughts and feelings to return to an integrated brain state.

Culture practices are required to create the kind of community that is supportive and inclusive for all students. Two of examples of NTN’s culture practices are:

• Co-Creating Community Agreements: Generating active cooperation, collective sense-making and equitable inclusion of voices. Ensuring each and every student has an opportunity to co-create shared processes for engaging in learning is a key component of equitable learning environments.
• Community Circles: A ritual and routine that involves learners collectively connecting, reflecting, and developing social and emotional learning skills. When used routinely, community circles support the cultivation of belonging, care and community within a learning environment.