Hot chocolate is brewing, icicles are waiting in the wings for their moment to sparkle, and teachers are counting down the days to winter break. As the sun sets on 2023, I'm pondering the power of engaging our students proactively in 2024. When the weather turns colder, get a cozy December fire of learning blazing in your classroom with a reminder of some tried and true strategies. So, in honor of the generic ease of filling a post with an end-of-year countdown, here are my top four ways to put students at the center of the classroom when you return in 2024. Number 4: Standing and Thinking vs. Sitting and Getting The cult craze surrounding Peter Liljedahl is nothing new. In the last few years, he has inspired scores of teachers to fundamentally change the way they run math classrooms. While the education pendulum of ideas is always swinging, there are enduring ideas in Liljedahl's work that create classrooms where students are always responsible for thinking. First, a thinkin...