Student Centered Instruction is so Rewarding!

So today I was missing a few students, but I had students today that I didn't have yesterday. I had plans to show a video clip about the black death, and play a jeopardy game as review for the test tomorrow. I had to scale back those plans when I realized that half the class (two students) didn't show up for Thursday or Friday and missed a lot of instruction. I spent the first class reviewing the vocabulary and giving them the quiz. For the second class I did the same exercise I did with the boys on Friday. Let's see how this works with the girls. A another huge success. Instead of passively writing the notes these students were searching the textbook for the answer to a series of questions on a topic and presenting that information to their peers. They did a great job, I was so proud of them. I think they enjoyed teaching each other. This method of instruction seems to help them with retention as well. At one point one of the girls said to the other, "you're so smart," after she made her presentation. It is so valuable for them to demonstrate their knowledge. It is also rewarding. Why should I stand in front of the class and tell them the content as they sit there passively. The next step I want to eventually go with these students is to have them write questions about information that is not included in the text, especially if they are curious about the answer. I can have them fond the answer on the internet or through another source. They can start to learn how conduct research.