10 January, 2015Lance Kingtaolearn@xtra.co.nzATL Implementation

Key points from 2013 - 2015 ATL implementation workshops

Having run 10 or more (very similar) ATL1 workshops in 2014 my greatest concern is that I am continuously re-inventing the same wheel. All schools seem to me to have the same concerns and the same key issues in the initial stages of implementation anyway - and in order to make everyones process more efficient I want to outline here all that I have learned in 2014 so we can all move forward together into Phase 2 of implementing a viable ATL Skills programme. Hopefully this document will help schools to take the first steps in the process themselves along the most efficient path.

I will however still be available for ATL1 and ATL2 one-day workshops in 2015 and also now offer a consultancy service for ATL implementation. I can be available to work with one school or one group of schools from one day up to a three months residency on site to help:- complete all planning and mapping of ATL skills- create a model of sustainable self-development of ATL skills- work with individual teachers on unit plans, lesson plans, teaching methods and delivery strategies through classroom observation and feedback- deliver ATL workshops for teachers, admin staff, students and parents as needed I see the whole ATL implementation process as following the model of experiential learning which itself is embodied throughout the IB from the PYP through the DP in both the inquiry learning cycle and the design cycle:

Inquiry Learning CycleExperiential Learning Cycle

One key feature of experiential learning is that it doesnt matter where you start as long as you complete all four phases but for the purposes of this discussion I am going to start the whole ATL implementation process at the Planning stage. Also because I am a simple thinker I am going to condense this cycle into four simple words:

For the PLAN section I am going to try to describe all the significant things I have learned in the last two years about mapping, planning, vertical and horizontal articulation, key skill step-ups, Core Generic and Subject Specific cognitive, affective and metacognitive skills and their respective teaching methods, formal assessment and self-assessment and feedback loops.

Then we can all move onto the DO section where we can actually start getting something done.

One thing I need to make clear before I start is that I am not an IB teacher or an official IB workshop leader, nor am I currently engaged by the IB to deliver my work. I have not sought nor received any sanction from IB Head Office for any of the ideas and thoughts I am presenting here and so I do not know whether my ideas are completely in line with current IB Head Office thinking. I did however design the MYP ATL framework as it appears in the most recent MYP Principles to Practices manual, I helped design the category 3 ATL in the MYP workshop and I was a major contributor to the document released on the OCC in Dec 2014 titled Approaches to Teaching and Learning in the Diploma Programme (pre-publication).

Once finished, I will be sending a copy of this document to both Robert Harrison and Malcolm Nicolson and will then pass on to you any feedback and comments they care to make.

All the people who initially receive this document are all people I know through my work in many schools and I welcome and will value any feedback you can give me on this document.

My aim with this document is to help all IB schools and all teachers within those schools to move forward on this ATL path but you need to be aware that the true focus of all my work has always been and will always be, what is best for students.

Introduction:One major mistake I made early on in this whole ATL process was calling the ATL Skills framework a curriculum. Please do not make this mistake yourself when describing ATL Skills to any of your colleagues. Unfortunately when (most, maybe all) teachers see or hear the word curriculum they immediately build a mental model of subject matter stuff to teach and then that idea leads them to the idea of assessment and they start to be concerned about two things :1) How am I going to teach this stuff when I know nothing about it?And2) How am I supposed to assess this stuff that I know nothing about?Both concerns tend to create unnecessary blocks and can even derail the whole ATL process before it starts. Both those issues are worth addressing but by starting with different languaging maybe we can get all teachers on-board with the ATL skills idea first. I would suggest you describe ATL as a framework or structure of the skills needed to be an effective learner rather than a curriculum.

The other key point I would like to make at the beginning is about the overall aim of the ATL programme. I see this very clearly as the development of self-regulated learners. What I mean by this is that I think the overall aim of the ATL programme is to give students all the skills they need by the time they finish school to be able to learn effectively and efficiently from any person or any information source, in any format, at any time, in any place, under any conditions, through any media, using any technology, for themselves or others and by themselves or with others. To have all the most important 21st Century skills of effectively thinking and learning at the highest level of proficiency, that is the self-regulated level, so they can be fully independent in all their learning should they want or need to do so.

For this paper I will be roughly following the structure of my one day ATL1 workshop the powerpoint slides for which you can access at http://taolearn.com/atl_resources/article161.pdf

The full MYP ATL Skills Framework is available at http://taolearn.com/atl_resources/article159.docx and has 3 levels of descriptors. I will be using the following words to differentiate between levels of ATL Skills descriptors:

Categories there are 5 Categories of ATL skills which are now promulgated through all three levels of the IB programme. They are: Communication Social Self-Management Research Thinking

Clusters these 5 Categories of ATL skills, at the MYP level, are then broken down into 10 Clusters:Communication 1. Communication - Interactive and LanguageSocial2. Collaboration Self-Management3. Organization 4. Affective 5. Reflection Research6. Information Literacy 7. Media Literacy Thinking8. Critical Thinking 9. Creative Thinking 10. Transfer

Practices the 10 Clusters of Skills are then broken down within each Cluster into over 160 examples of skills Practices eg. within the Organization Skills Cluster the first few skill Practices are:3. Organization3.a Get to all classes on time3.b Plan short and long-term assignments, meet deadlines3.c Create plans to prepare for summative assessments

I have numbered all the skill Practices to make it easier for teachers to discuss skills by using the same system to identify them, eg:

Self-Management (this is the skills Category)

3. Organization skills (this is the skills Cluster)

Managing time and tasks effectively

How can students demonstrate organizational skills?

a. Get to all classes on time (these are the skills Practices)

b. Plan short- and long-term assignments; meet deadlines

c. Create plans to prepare for summative assessments (examinations and performances)

d. Keep and use a weekly planner for assignments

NB: this whole ATL framework is not to be considered to be either totally exclusive or totally inclusive. It was designed to be a guideline only for schools to use to design their own ATL programme from. No-one will ever be required by the IB to teach all these skills practices or to include all the Clusters of skills in their planning. Individual schools and individual teachers are welcome to include more skills, to take out irrelevant skills and to modify this framework to suit themselves.

Justification:At some point early on in the process it will be important to demonstrate to teachers, students and parents that implementing a viable ATL Skills programme will help all three parties to achieve all their goals more effectively and more efficiently.a) Teachers are of course often very sceptical about what they may see as a new flavour of the month and sometimes suspect that a new initiative like this is actually a thinly disguised mechanism to get them to work longer, harder or to increase their assessment or accountability burden. It is very important that teachers realise that: Helping students to learn more effectively is what good teaching has always been, and will always be, about. Good teachers have always helped students to achieve subject objectives by focusing them on the processes they are using and how to improve those processes. Every teacher is already a teacher of ATL Skills the only real change with this programme is to try and make these skills more explicit more directly addressed in every classroom. Implementing an ATL Skills programme will not increase their assessment burden. There is no requirement from the IB at either the MYP or DP level (that I have seen to date) for the assessment of ATL Skills. There is good evidence to show that students at school often do not have good learning skills and also that the teaching of learning skills does improve academic (and social and behavioural) performance see my literature review for the evidence http://taolearn.com/atl_resources/article156.pdf Helping students to improve their ATL Skills will improve their classroom performance, help eliminate re-teaching and make teaching both easier and more effective Teachers do not need to be experts in the skills of effective learning, all they have to learn how to do is to make more explicit all the learning processes that are already happening in every classroomb) Students in my experience all students are very pragmatic, if they can see a direct benefit in improving a certain process or skill then they will do so without hesitation. Students need to be made aware of the skills that they use in all learning tasks and the skills that the best students in school have. They then need to realise that they could all learn the skills of the best students and improve both the efficiency and the effectiveness of their own learning. Once students realise that focusing on skills could make their learning easier, quicker and better they will be intrinsically motivated to improve those skills. I suggest using student surveys of skills at the MYP, DP and post DP levels to involve both present and past students in helping to design a programme of skills that they will see as being most useful for them. c) Parents they are the key players in this tripartite relationship. I think parents need to be made aware of a few key points: The secret for success for their children in the 21st century lies with skills, not content Skills programmes, teaching 21st Century Skills are presently being implemented in many countries, businesses and schools The IB is leading the way with a comprehensive skills based programme permeating all levels of the IB There is good evidence showing that many students today do not have good learning skills and that such skills can be taught use the data from my ATL skills literature review mentioned before Improving learning skills will also improve subject based and exam based outcomes and prepare their children well for the world beyond school

Process not Content:Teachers need to realise that ATL is not a subject in itself, it is a collection of the processes, skills, techniques and strategies needed to learn any and every subject. ATL skills are not more content to be learned they are processes to be noticed, experienced and improved.

From this point of view then, any lesson at all can be oriented towards the ATL skills students are using without taking away at all from the subject matter being taught simply by adopting a dual focus on both what the students are learning and the skills they are using to learn that subject.

An interesting exercise for teachers to go through is to think about any lesson they have delivered recently and write down all the learning skills students used in order to manage that lesson.They probably had to: Turn up on time time management skill Get themselves organised resource management skill Think about what was covered in the last lesson in this subject to get themselves up to speed for todays lesson information review and memory skill Listen to instructions, follow instructions, write coherently, research information, summarise key points, analyse information, draw conclusions, etc. etc. All skills that some students are better at than others but which all students can become proficient in given the right instruction.

The only thing I think we are doing when we implement an ATL skills programme in teaching is to get students to start to notice the skills they were using already and ask them to consider the possibility of working on improving those skills in order to make their learning more effective. But not separately from their subjects but while they are learning all their subjects to develop for themselves a dual focus on both what they are learning and how they are learning it.

ATL Skills Structure:I define any skill as a collection of strategies and techniques, harmonised for a common purpose which improves with practise.

ATL Skills are a combination of: Cognitive Affective and Meta-cognitive processes, skills, techniques and strategies

Cognitive skills - active information processing and retrieval strategies (what often get called study skills although I suggest you never call them that). The following are the cognitive skills that research has identified (John Hattie) as having the greatest effect on improving students learning: Organising and transforming information Asking good questions Taking good classroom notes Using memory techniques Goal setting Reviewing information regularly Time management Organising the study environment

Affective skills - enabling the student to gain some control over mood, motivation and attitude. The following are the ones I have selected for inclusion in the skills framework, mostly on the basis of them being teachable as well as significant for the learning process: Persistence and perseverance Focus and concentration Self-motivation Mindfulness Emotional management Resilience

Metacognitive skills - are a combination of: Metacognitive Knowledge - students gaining awareness of the thinking and learning strategies, techniques and skills they use at present Metacognitive Performance using that knowledge to improve performance, change ineffective strategies, try new techniques, learn new skills

The development of each type of skills can be achieved through different teaching techniques which will be explored later.

Planning and Mapping a place to start:If we look at all the ATL skills a child will need to succeed at school and beyond and the way those skills are gained through schooling I think we can group them into two groups Core Generic ATL skills those which every student in every class in every school will need in order to cope with learning in a school environment Subject Specific ATL skills those which are involved in the processes of thinking, data capture, information research, representation, manipulation and delivery specific to particular subject disciplines

And within any selected group of ATL skills we will probably have two sub-groups: those already taught and assessed - those ATL skills that are already incorporated into unit plans, are already taught within subjects and for which clear developmental stages have been identified those not yet taught or assessed the new stuff.

Core Generic ATL Skills:These are the ATL skills that apply to every student, that are essential to the learning process and not age specific. These are skills that persist throughout the life of the learner as the most fundamental skills and do not change in nature but may well increase in complexity with the age of the learner. For example research skills needed by students of all ages but research for a 7 year old looks quite different to research for an 18 year old same group of skills but big differences in the complexity of the skill practice.

There are many ways within your school that you could go about generating a list of your most important Core Generic ATL skills:1) Different year groups or subject groups of teachers could get together and consider possibilities and then compare lists, but I have found that this is usually an inefficient process which creates incomplete lists which often need to be modified later.2) Students can be surveyed at critical points in their school careers and asked what skills they have noticed they need at what points in their schooling, but often they dont know what they dont know and they are not aware of the skills they are using every day in classes at different levels3) You could start with a generic list like I have provided below and modify it as needs be.

I have made up a list of what I consider to be some of the Core Generic ATL skills. It is only a suggestion, a place to start. I have tried to make it as simple as possible, only focused on very basic skills that apply to all students. Please feel free to change the list, take some out, add in different ones, whatever suits your school, your students, your cultural environment and your country. I have grouped the skills under 11 general headings and added in brackets the skill descriptors from the IB MYP ATL skill description framework available with all these Core Generics highlighted (in yellow) at http://taolearn.com/atl_resources/article160.docx.

1. Managing time get to school on time, get to class on time, plan and timeline the completion of assignments, plan out study for tests and assignments (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d)2. Listening listen actively to others perspectives and ideas, follow instructions accurately, ask questions to facilitate understanding (2.i, 1.1a, 8.d)3. Note making take accurate notes in class, make effective summary notes for studying, (1.2i, 1.2j)4. Staying on task concentrate, focus, overcome distractions, persevere, persist with specified tasks (4.1a, 4.1b, 4.1c, 4.2a)5. Working well in a group listen actively, work collaboratively through different media, build consensus, negotiate effectively (1.1h, 1.1j, 2f, 2h, 2j, 2k)6. Being organised bring all necessary equipment to class, keep all notes and information well organised (3g, 3h)7. Setting goals - set academic and personal goals, plan strategies and take action to achieve goals (3e, 3f)8. Researching select appropriate information sources, collect, verify and record information, make connections, process data and report results (6a, 6c, 6h, 6i)9. Reflecting reflect on understanding of subject matter, changes in proficiency of ATL skills and effectiveness of learning strategies utilised (5e, 5f, 5g)10. Remembering use memory techniques and regular review of subject matter to improve retention and recall (3j, 6e)11. Learning from mistakes practice analysing and accurately attributing causes of failure, practice bouncing back after failure, practice failing well (4.4a, 4.5a, 4.5b)

Key Step-Ups:The next thing to consider is in the life of a student, are there key points when, because of changes to the nature of instruction, a students core skills need to step-up to a higher level in order for that student to succeed at that level?

For a full IB school most teachers seem to agree that there are at least 5 easily defined Key Step-Up points: At the entry into the PYP or junior school At the entry into the MYP or middle school Half-way through the MYP or middle school Entry into the DP or senior schoolAnd of course if the whole aim of the ATL programme is the development of self-regulated learners by the time they finish school then there will be one more crucial step-up point At the completion of the DP or graduationBut you may identify more skill step-up points and if your school is not a full IB school, you will need to generate your own key learning skills step-up points appropriate for your curriculum.

At this point it is worth doing an exercise with teachers groups:Core Generic ATL Skills Exercise:1) Form one group of teachers for each key skills step-up point made up of teachers who are very experienced at that level2) Take one Core Generic ATL skill 3) Get each group to map out the proficiency they would expect of their students in that particular Core Generic ATL skill at their particular step-up point. What would they expect a student at this point to be able to do with respect to that skill in order to be successful at that level?4) Put the results from all five groups (if you have five step-up points) together in a line and adjust the skill proficiency required at each point by consensus until there is a smooth flow of proficiency development required in that skill from the youngest to the oldest students5) Then move on to the next Core Generic ATL Skill and do the exercise again

The point of this exercise is to identify in practical terms what the use of any ATL skill looks like at different stages of a students life and to make sure for every skill there is a flow of development from low to high proficiency (from Novice to Expert - see Self-Assessment later) which meets the needs of teachers at every level of learning across the school.

When this exercise is finished you will have completed both horizontal and vertical articulation of all the important Core Generic ATL skills.

NB: I think the main point here is not to get too tied up in the description of the skills but try to move as quickly as possible to the implementation of the skills themselves. Rather than mapping out 10 or 12 Core Generic ATL skills across the whole school why not just start with one or two, but take them all the way to the implementation stage and get them happening in all classrooms. Then once the first one is established, come back and alter the map to suit what is really happening in the classroom and then move on and add on one more skill, and then another, and then another.

I think the most important thing at this point is to think small, just the absolutely most important skills first and only one or two and focus very practically on concrete examples of what proficiency of technique, strategy or skill looks like.-------------------------------------

I will give you one very simple skills mapping example I have worked with teachers on recently:

1.2.i Take effective notes in class.

Notice first that the skill isnt defined as just note-making which is a very general skill which could encompass making summary notes for studying, writing scientific reports, creative writing etc etc.It is just one ATL skills Practice as defined in the framework 1.2.i. Very clear and precise.

Step 1:Decide if this is an important skill for your students to have. One which all students need and one which it would be useful for students to eventually master completely.

Step 2: Decide by discussion with relevant teachers on a few models of note-making in class that would encompass all experiences students could have across the school in all subjects from the lowest to the highest levels. After much discussion the group I was working with decided on 5 models: Mind mapping, spider diagrams, THOrTmapping Linear notes headings, sub-headings, bullet-points Visual note making picture series, storyboard, cartoon strip, flowchart Cornel notes page divided 1/3 2/3, notes written on 2/3 side in class, summaries added in 1/3 column at a later date Annotation highlighting the minimum key words and significant concepts and ideas in printed text

Step 3:Decide on the key Step-up points for this skill - when in a childs life at school will they need to be able to take coherent notes in class in order to succeed, or when, if they werent able to do this would their learning be likely to suffer?Within the group I was working with they decided that each one of these 5 techniques was suitable for a different level of student and so they could be taught in a progression across the years: Year 4 - Visual note making picture series, storyboard, cartoon strip, flowchart Year 6 - Mind mapping, spider diagram, THOrTmaping Year 8 - Linear notes headings, sub-headings, bullet-points Year 9 - Annotation highlighting the minimum key words and significant concepts and ideas in printed text Year 11 - Cornel notes page divided 1/3 2/3, notes written on 2/3 side in class, summaries added in 1/3 column within 24 hours

Step 4:Decide when to teach each note making technique: If Visual note making is a necessary skill at Year 4 then maybe the best time to teach it is at the end of Year 3 or at the very beginning of Year 4?

Step 5:Decide who will teach each technique: Survey teachers and find out who already teaches these techniques within their normal teaching and when. If no-one does already at the right time, call for volunteers

Step 6:Get agreement from all teachers to reinforce the writing of classroom notes in their classroom using these 5 methods as the preferred methods. Get all teachers to understand at what points in a childs life they will be specifically taught each method.

Step 7:Print up a poster showing all 5 note making methods clearly, with Year level expectations and get one put up in every classroom.

Step 8:Get teachers to start teaching and reinforcing these methods.

One proviso. I would also make sure that teachers in every class, allow for personal difference. If a child can demonstrate that they have their own method for note making in class which is different from the basic five but works well for them and produces effective notes then they should be allowed to use that method. And maybe that method could even be included in next years round of strategies for everyone.

The aim of the exercise is not to become rigid about how we take notes at this school, the aim is to make sure that every student has been specifically taught and had reinforced some methods of note making which will serve them well in all areas of learning at school.

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Once some basic Core Generic mapping is completed for a few key skills the important questions to consider are:

1) Do we teach these skills as stand-alone ATL skills lessons or do we incorporate the skills teaching and practice into subject teaching.

The research by Hattie and others would suggest that the best way to teach any skills of effective learning is to incorporate the teaching of those skills into normal subject teaching. One thing to remember however is that if we are talking about very simple skills to begin with eg note-making in class then it will only require one teacher to teach it once and all other teachers to reinforce the same note making method in their own classes. The most important things are probably that all teachers are informed of what method of note-making is taught and when it is taught to their students so that after that point they can also reinforce the same method.

In support of teaching ATL skills through stand-alone lessons, this is the work I have been most involved in for the last 20 years. I visit schools as the outside expert and deliver lessons to students in the skills of effective learning without using their subject matter at all. My subject matter is the skills themselves. My courses have been taught to over 160,000 students to date in more than 200 schools in 20 countries and my results are good. I think I can confidently say that students can learn how to learn more effectively by being taught specific skills outside of their subject lessons but the onus is always on them to transfer the skills from my lessons to their own subject lessons.

In order to make my ATL Skills lessons available for schools to access and use with their own students I have created a mechanism to allow schools to have as many staff as they want trained in how to deliver my proprietary student learning skills courses. These staff can then deliver my courses themselves as stand-alone skills training courses within the school as often as they see the need for them. I call this option my Art of Learning Site Licence Programme and if anyone is interested in pursuing this idea they can get in touch with me directly.

I guess my thinking is that some Core Generic ATL skills can be taught directly as stand-alone lessons and then reinforced by teachers in subject based lessons and some are probably better taught through subject lessons. You will need to decide which lend themselves to which approach.

If you are going to try teaching some of these skills directly in a subject-free manner, the question then becomes one of timetabling. Is there room in the timetable to insert an occasional lesson focused on teaching ATL skills? I have seen some schools take the somewhat radical step of inserting into the timetable once a week a process-focused lesson in which the key questions asked by the teacher are: How are you going to learn all the stuff you have received from teachers in the last week? What are your problems? What skills can I teach you to help with that? These lessons can then be used as the platform to insert all the important skills for students which can then be reinforced by subject teachers in their own lessons. I have also seen other schools where ATL skills lessons are put into Homeroom classes or PHSE classes or Advisory classes. This may work well but unfortunately sometimes those are the places where much stuff that no-one else really wants to take responsibility for is dumped and students often dont take those lessons very seriously. The last thing we want is for ATL skills to be relegated to the same dark corner where sex education and other essential but distinctly unpopular topics are found.

I think we need to do what we can to raise the profile of ATL by making the skills of effective learning a hot topic of high importance that will help students to achieve success at school, rather than an add-on or a passing phase.

2) When are these Core Generic ATL skills best taught?

If you complete the mapping exercise as outlined previously for each Core Generic ATL skill then that exercise will identify the critical times for installation of each skill. I would suggest two things with regards timing:a) Earlier rather than later is a good idea. In order to master any skill children need to be first taught how and then have ample time to practice the skill to develop the level of mastery necessary to use that skill with competence.b) However, in my experience students are very pragmatic and if they are learning a skill for which they see no direct application in the near future they are unlikely to practice that skill and develop competence with it. A good example would be all the skills necessary to take tests and exams well making a study timetable, making study notes, overcoming test anxiety etc. If you teach these skills to students who have no imminent exam on their horizon they will not practice them. The best time to teach these skills is three months or so before their first major test or exam. Then they are intrinsically motivated to put these skills into practice and they will usually start using these skills immediately and build up their competence.

3) Who will develop the acceptable model of each skill and who will actually teach it the first time?

I would suggest that once the key skills are decided on that teachers are surveyed as to who has an interest in each one and also to find out who amongst the staff already teaches that skill in their normal subject. It is always intriguing to me to discover how much skills teaching is already going on in individual classrooms, simply because great teachers have noticed a skills lack and tried to fill it, and also how little is known about this skills teaching by other teachers. One advantage of an ATL skills programme may be to reveal a lot of hidden talent amongst your own staff.As in my Note-making example, the models of skills practice can often be formulated by committee and then the key considerations are to do with: Getting that model of skills practice out to and understood by every teacher so they can incorporate it into their own teaching, and Deciding who is going to teach it first?

Q. Who is the worst person ever to teach Time Management skills?A. The teacher who is consistently late for class.

You may well find that some teachers have a natural inclination towards some ATL skills and maybe they will become the best people to teach them. Individual teachers within a school could even take on responsibility for one ATL skill and oversee the development and promulgation of that one skill across the school become a Skill Champion!

Imagine being the Resilience Champion, the Collaboration Champion, or the Creativity Champion!

4) How will you guarantee consistency of reinforcement of each Core Generic skill in each classroom?

This is about making sure there is adequate provision for Professional Development for all staff in the implementation of each skill. But once again, if you start small, with just one or two skills to begin with, ones that are used in every classroom, and make sure that teachers are kept well informed as to: how the skill is going to be taught who is going to take responsibility for the development of the skill across the school when each skill will be taught to every student the models decided upon for the use of each skill in subject classroomsThen most teachers will be able to incorporate the same skill, in the same way, into their own teaching.

I would also suggest producing some visual resources outlining the correct use of each skill which can be put in every classroom for students and teachers to refer to.

Subject Specific ATL SkillsThese are the skills that are involved in the processes of thinking and learning specific to particular subject disciplines. The skills of: Scientific literacy Mathematical literacy Creative literacy Language literacy Technological literacy Physical literacy etc.

I think that planning and mapping of Subject Specific ATL skills is quite a different exercise to that of Core Generic ATL Skills and obviously needs to be done by subject specific teams. These teams need to consider: what the particular ATL skills are that students need in order to think and learn like a Chemist, Biologist, Artist, Geographer etc. outside of the Core Generic Skills the development of these Subject Specific ATL skills over the school life of a student and when each skill will need to be developed by in order for that student to cope with the complexity of the subject at each level where within the existing framework of the subject these skills are specifically taught at present and if not then at what points they need to be taught.

If schools are well down the track with creating Unit Plans then including ATL skills into those plans will have already happened and a lot of Subject Specific ATL skill mapping can be drawn directly from the existing Unit Plans.

ATL Planning: ATL skills often remain the same across the years but the complexity of the use of each skill may well increase The skill is identified in the ATL section of the unit planner and the complexity of the use of the skill is specified in the ACTION section of the unit planner The increasing complexity or changing context of the use of each ATL skill is defined by the learning experiences and the summative task The skill is manifested through the successful completion of the summative task

If the school has the right software, the extraction of all ATL skills from Unit Plans can be a very simple exercise.

I have recently been introduced to Managebac and their on-line system for designing and building Unit Plans across IB programmes. Once Unit Plans are created, through this system it is now possible for teachers to draw out maps of ATL skills vertically and horizontally, by programme, by year group, by subject disciplines and by objective strands. I encourage teachers to check out the Managebac system and see if it will work for your school. I have found the Managebac team to be very understanding of issues facing IB teachers and very responsive in making changes to make their software work more effectively.

As with the Core Generic ATL skills it is important not to get too bogged down in the mapping and planning of Subject Specific ATL skills but it is more important to focus on the development of maybe one or two critical skills and make sure they are being addressed by teachers in a coherent flow across the years. The aim of Subject Specific ATL skills is to complement the Core Generic ATL skills development to produce effective learners competent in the specific thinking needed in specific subject disciplines.

Once the initial map of key Subject Specific skills is developed the same questions of Who, What and When need to be thought through in the same manner as for the Core Generic ATL skills.

Assessing ATL Skills:First establish which ATL Skills are already assessed within the current programme: In Languages researching, reading, writing, note making, key word summarising, paraphrasing In Science creating research questions, researching, developing hypotheses, running experiments, gathering data, analysing data, drawing conclusions, reporting findings In TOK critical thinking In Maths? In the Arts? In IT? In PE?

Then consider, is it necessary to have measurable standards for all ATL skills?

This is a very important question because I am seeing a lot of effort, in many parts of the world, being put into creating sequential frameworks of age appropriate ATL skill standards that children can be measured against to determine their ATL progress in much the same way as their Maths proficiency or their Biology or Languages understandings might be measured. The problem with this approach is that if ATL is a collection of skills of effective learning then in assessing ATL what we are attempting to assess is the efficiency and effectiveness of leaning itself. And the process of effective, efficient learning is a very complex amalgam of the influences of many skills, techniques, strategies, aptitudes, attitudes, understandings, motivations, environment, culture and context. It is very difficult (I think virtually impossible), to objectively and externally measure improvements in the effectiveness (and efficiency) of the learning process. I think only the student themselves is in any position to measure this at all by maybe noticing an improvement in the end result of them understanding, remembering and applying their subject based understandings more effectively than previously though having applied a collection of useful ATL skills.

Of course some ATL Skills are measurable, do lend themselves to objective measurement and many are already measured within standard curriculum subjects.Eg. 1.1.d. Use appropriate forms of writing for different purposes and audiences It is perfectly reasonable with this ATL skill for a teacher to define appropriate in terms of age appropriateness and to generate standards to suit and measure against them.

But for many ATL skills there is no simple objective measure and what I am seeing in some areas are standards being produced for assessing ATL skills which are something like:1.1.f Use a variety of media to communicate with a range of audiencesLevel 1 occasionally uses a variety of media to communicate with a range of audiences Level 2 - usually uses a variety of media to communicate with a range of audiencesLevel 3 often uses a variety of media to communicate with a range of audiencesLevel 4 always uses a variety of media to communicate with a range of audiences

Unfortunately what is being measured here is not an improvement in the individuals skill proficiency it is an increase in their frequency of use. They are not the same thing. Increasing proficiency means getting better, more capable in the execution of the skill not simply more frequent in the use of the skill.

My point is that just because some ATL skills can be measured and are measured does not mean that they all need to be measured and assessed. The last thing ATL needs to be is another assessment burden for teachers.

I think the best way to assess a well-structured ATL programme is to use student self-assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of their own learning based on their practise of useful ATL skills in their own learning of their school subjects.

To help with this I have developed a simple four level structure of assessment of skill proficiency which runs from the Novice to the Expert where the increasing levels of skill proficiency can be simply described as Watch, Copy, Do, Teach (with thanks to Barclay Lelivre at NIST).

Self-Assessment:NoviceWatchLearnerCopyPractitionerDoExpertTeach

Can watch others performing tasks and using the skillHigh levels of scaffolding from teacher neededCan copy others performance of the skillMedium level of scaffolding neededCan demonstrate the skill on demandMinimal teacher scaffolding required Can teach others the skillNo teacher scaffolding required

I have then taken the Do section of the rubric and broken it into three subsections I call Practicing, Getting there, and Got it! This then makes up a simple format for students to use for self-assessment of ATL skills.

ATL SkillNoviceLearnerPractitionerExpert

WatchCopyDoTeach

WatchCopyPracticingGetting thereGot it!Teach

General ATL Skills Development Process decide on the ATL skills to focus on make the skills clear good description of the skill, examples of high and low proficiency have students self-assess skill proficiency analyse class results for general skill deficiencies develop lessons to bring all students up to the same skill level build skill practice into subject lessons encourage students to regularly self-assess proficiency up to mastery level

I think the focus for teachers needs to be on teaching students the particular ATL skills that will help them to learn their subjects well, not on assessing the degree of inculcation of those skills.

If we teach our students the techniques, strategies and skills they need to learn their subjects more efficiently and more effectively they will practice those skills and they will use those strategies simply because they work, not because they are going to be assessed or tested to see if they have learned those skills.

Requirements for Reporting and Accreditation:You have probably seen the next piece on assessment and reporting requirements before but it is worth reiterating in case some have not:

The Message from the Top:In March 2014 Lisa Nicholson, Aloha Lavina and myself conducted the first official IB Category 3 ATL Development workshop at NIST in Bangkok. As part of the preparation for that workshop we were in touch with Robert Harrison (Head of MYP Development) and he was able to give us some clear answers to comon questions from schools about ATL especially around issues of assessment and planning. The following are his answers to some FAQs:1) Should I give students ATL grades? No.2) Are schools required to give parents/guardians feedback about student development of ATL skills?No, but some schools find this to be a useful component of a standard or alternative reporting cycle, at least for some ATL skill clusters. Where possible, team-level conversations about the development of individual students ATL skills can promote a more holistic approach to assessment and reporting. To increase student ownership, some schools promote students self-evaluation of growth in ATL skill development, with an opportunity for teachers to comment on the students reflection. Portfolio assessment can also be used to demonstrate growing competence from novice learner practionioner expert.3) Does the MYP require schools to report on students ATL skills development?No.4) Is it good practice to provide students with feedback about ATL Skills development?Yes, meaningful formative feedback can bring about lasting change. The long term goal of the MYP ATL is to help students grow in their ability to monitor their own learning and manage themselves (alone and in a community of practice)5) Do schools have to develop a detailed scope and sequence, or formal curriculum map for teaching ATL skills?No.6) Is it necessary to plan for teaching, assessing and reporting on all 5 IB ATL skill categories? No, but these categories provide a useful organizing tool for managing the horizontal and vertical articulation of ATL skills.7) Is it necessary to plan for teaching, assessing and reporting on all 10 MYP ATL skill clusters? No.8) Is it necessary to plan for teaching, assessing and reporting on all 140 skills listed in the MYP ATL framework? No.9) Can we still use the detailed student learning expectations (and previous work on the vertical and horizontal articulation of organisation, collaboration, communication, information literacy, research, thinking and transfer) that we developed as part of our previous work to support approaches to learning as one of the MYPs former areas of interaction?Yes, many SLEs track very clearly into the new skills framework. The introduction of MYP ATL skills clusters offers a good opportunity to reflect on and update existing documents, plans, activities and curriculum review processes.10) Do we have to provide documentary evidence of horizontal articulation of ATL skills?No, but at evaluation and authorisation, schools must be able to identify resources for and commitment to collaborative planning that includes opportunities for both horizontal and vertical articulation of the curriculum. 11) Is horizontal articulation of ATL skills required? Robust horizontal articulation (year level planning across subject groups) will include discussion about ATL skills that cross disciplinary boundaries.12) Is there a specific IB format for the required ATL planning chart? No; evidence that shows how the school has met this requirement may take many forms. The chart exists as a record of important conversations and commitments in the past as well as a revisable blueprint for the future. It is meant to be evidence from a lively process not an overly-complex tool that is onerous to create, difficult to use and sits unused on the shelf or as a digital asset.13) Can I use my schools LMS or curriculum planning software to create an approaches to learning planning chart.Yes14) Can my school develop its own Approaches to Learning chart? Yes! Using your creative professionalism, please pursue the objectives for vertical and horizontal articulation of MYP ATL skills. Refine your approach with other schools and networks. Then share your work with the wider MYP community on the OCC and in IB professional development workshops. We have much to learn from each other.15) Is it OK simply to copy another schools ATL planning chart and make it our own through some simple modifications? A strength of the IBcommunity is its willingness to share information and experience in formal and informal networks. School examples can provide inspiration and possible models to follow. However, it is the development of context-specific horizontal and vertical articulation, ATL charts, subject group overviewsand MYP unit plans that creates effective and authgentic learning environments.

Keeping in mind that these answers only apply to the MYP and things may be different at other levels, what I take from these answers is, to summarise: It is important to consider the ATL skills to be focused on in your school and to have discussions on how ATL skills are going to be promulgated, taught and developed both across any year group subjects and in consideration from year to year. It is important to create a plan for ATL skill implementation and teaching. It is not important to measure, assess, grade or report on ATL skill acquisition or proficiency.

Teaching ATL Skills:All ATL skills can be taught in a great deal of different ways but the significant distinction in teaching methods that I make is between teaching Cognitive and Affective ATL skills.

I think that with cognitive skills we can propose a model for students to use, we can point them at the best practice of the best students in the world, we can directly train them in proven strategies and techniques, we can give them exercises to demonstrate the skill and we can help them to practice and practice until they get it right. A basic, explicit, installation pedagogy.

Teaching Cognitive Skills:1) Define the parameters of the skill engage students in a discussion about what the characteristics of the skill are, how could you tell that someone was an expert in this skill, what would they be able to do that someone who was not very good at it would not be able to do, what are practical examples of high and low proficiency in this skill?2) Describe best practice in the field what are some of the models, techniques, strategies that people who are good at this skill use, how do the best students do it? Try asking those students in the class who are good at it how they do it. Get senior students in to explain how they do it.3) Break each skill down into a straight-forward series of steps, strategies and techniques.4) Teach your students through practical examples get them to practice the skill in simple situations or on simple subject matter first until they feel they are gaining some mastery of the skill and then move them onto more complex content or situations.5) Allow for personal difference if someone can come up with a different way to achieve the same skill that works as well or better than the prescribed way, it would be good to allow them to do it their way.

Eg. Time Management Six Steps to Managing Assignments:1) Buy or make a full year planner, put on it- whole school year with all semester/term dates & holidays- all test and exam dates- all assignment due dates2) Doing assignments break each one down into steps:a) as soon as you get an assignment mark the due date in your phone calendar and later transfer that date to your year planner b) time-line every assignmentWhat are the stages of completing an assignment?I. Research - finding the information 25% of the time?II. Processing the information reading 25%?III. Planning the piece of work sequencing ideas5%?IV. Doing the writing40%V. Proof reading, making corrections and handing it in? 5%c) Mark on your year planner when you need to have each stage of each assignment completed 3) Overcome procrastination by treating each stage as a deadline due in the next day4) Create To Do lists each week5) Update your To Do lists regularly cross off everything done as soon as it is done6) Make your year planner a living document

A very simple series of steps that can be taught in a very short time to any group of students. Each step will need some explaining and some examples but it is a simple process, easily understood but often not made explicit. Best introduced the first time the students have an important assignment to complete where the deadline is actually serious. If we make the deadline a flexible point and we allow students to hand in work late and still get marked or if we continually allow students to re-submit assignments then we will not be teaching them time management. We will be teaching them procrastination. And they probably already have that skill. Teaching Affective Skills:Affective skills (things like perseverance, resilience, concentration) can be taught the same way as cognitive skills using installation strategies but I have there are other ways as well which I think are more effective. These are methods which rely more on an extraction pedagogy than on installation.

a) Drawing out and transferring internalised strategies1) Define the parameters of the skill as with cognitive skill teaching but first get very clear about the definition of the skill (use a dictionary) because there are sometimes only subtle differences between affective skills and they often overlap eg. What is the significant difference between perseverance and resilience? I see the key characteristic of resilience as being getting back up each time you fall down (physically or metaphorically) whereas I see perseverance as being characterised by keeping on keeping on no matter what. The two often go together but they are not the same. Having defined it then engage students in a discussion about what the characteristics of the skill are, how could you tell that someone was an expert in this skill, what would they be able to do that someone who was not very good at it would not be able to do, what are practical examples of high and low proficiency in this skill?2) Then ask students to remember a time when they were exhibiting this skill. This can be done as a straight memory exercise or with eyes closed as a visualisation exercise. 3) Get them to describe their experience in detail, in writing. Focusing on sensations, images, thoughts they remember from that time, ways of talking to themselves, strategies and techniques they employed then.4) Once they have a description of how they manifest this particular skill the teacher needs to set up an experience for the students where they can deliberately practice this skill.5) The more they practice it the more aware of the skill they become and the better at it they become.6) Then when they need it they are able to do it on purpose.

b) ExperientiallyTeachers can also sometimes set up experiences for students that bring about the development or use of Affective Skills like self-motivation, resilience, perseverance, concentration, focus, leadership, bouncing back after mistakes and learning from failure. PE many aspects of Physical Education can be used to highlight the development of affective skills Outdoor Education taking students out of the classroom can create opportunities for the development of affective skills In these situations it is most important for the teacher to simply notice instances of the manifestation of the skill and draw attention to it, maybe asking a student to think about how they did it to make it more explicit.Eg. I noticed in that basketball game that you got knocked down several times but each time you got straight back up again and joined back in with great energy. Do you know what that is called? That is resilience. How did you do it? Did you notice what you said to yourself or what you imagined that helped you to get back up again straight away? That is a great skill and all the students in your team could learn from your example

The point with this type of extraction pedagogy is that it implies for the student several things that I think are very important:1) I (as the teacher) dont know the best way to do this skill2) Everyone already know how to do it and does do it sometimes3) Everyone does it differently4) I cant teach you how, all I can do is to help you to understand how you do it for yourself and then help you to practice it until you get really good at it.5) Once you are good at it you will have that skill as a resource you can call on any time that you need it.For more information on teaching all the Affective Skills please see http://taolearn.com/atl_resources/article148.pdf

One last method that could be used is to have students teaching students. According to Hattie this method can produce the highest levels of learning improvement for students.If you go back to my self-assessment rubric, you could try:1) Defining the skill as before2) Then have students self-assess their proficiency in that skill into Novices, Learners, Practitioners and Experts3) Ask the Experts if they could teach the rest4) Create learning opportunities within the class for: Watchers Copiers DoersWith the aim of moving them all up one level.The only real problem with this method is that students who are very proficient in a skill do not necessarily want to teach others or are simply not very good at it. If you can get a proficient student to teach others effectively this method can work well.

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Please let me know if this was useful for you and what questions you have.I welcome any feedback.Email me directly at taolearn@xtra.co.nz

The piece I havent covered here is on developing metacognition which I will write next.