learning to learn

Learning How To Learn In our fast changing world, if you can’t learn, unlearn and re-learn you are lost. Sustainable and continuous learning is a given in the 21st Century.

We are attempting to explore issues of organisational learning and thus become a learning community. This involves us attempting to understand the creation of self directed and self motivated learning communities with a capacity to sustain our learning.

Learning How To Learn

Collaborative, relevant, deep and thoughtful learning does work, at all grade levels. Kids can operate productively together, just like adults do everyday in work places and other social situations across the country. Decades of research confirm that such instruction leads not just to higher student achievement on the customary academic measures, but to better social attitudes, stronger work habits and more persistence in school. (Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels, 2009)


Marzano – Factors Affecting School Achievement Factor Example School Guaranteed and viable curriculum

Challenging goals and effective feedbackParent and community involvementSafe and orderly environmentCollegiality and professionalism

Teacher Instructional strategiesClassroom managementClassroom curriculum design

Student Home atmosphere Learned intelligence and background knowledge Motivation

These factors can be thought of as different doors to enter which will continue our work of improving student achievement in different ways. Our choice of doors needs to be carefully made, and well matched to the strengths and needs of the culture and practices already in place in our schools.

Learning How To Learn Teacher Level Factors

It represents the blending of content and pedagogy into an

understanding of how particular concepts, problems,

issues are organised, represented and adapted to

the diverse interest and abilities of learners, and

presented for instruction.

PEDAGOGY Pedagogical content knowledge identifies the distinctive bodies

of knowledge for teaching.


Our Aim

Our aim from this process is that teachers and students will get to truly know each other. There will be an increased emphasis on students beginning to understand their strengths, skills, goal setting and determining how they may best learn.

The foundation for this learning will be a collaborative and engaging learning environment for all students.

Instructional StrategiesPossible aspects to be covered over

the Induction Program or included in an Induction Resource

MARZANO 9 INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

Identifying similarities and differences – A combination of varied teacher-facilitated and student-directed activities encourages students to inquire deeply and broaden their knowledge, with graphic organisers best represented in similarities and differences.

Summarising and note taking – Students are encouraged to critically analyse what is essential, make notes and pose clarifying questions, seek answers then make predictions.

Reinforcing effort and providing recognition – Teachers must reinforce the connection between student’s effort and achievement regardless of where symbolic recognition is more powerful than tangible rewards.

Homework and practice – Authentic homework provides the opportunity for students to extend and enhance their learning outside the classroom with teacher feedback. Homework should be personalised, with minimal parent involvement and students being well aware of the purpose.

Non-linguistic representations – Visual knowledge increases brain activity therefore physical movement and symbolic representation of information should be encouraged.

Cooperative learning – Organising students into cooperative groupings has a positive effect on their learning, with the consideration of groupings being composed with varying criteria.

Setting objectives and providing feedback – Student objectives provide feedback for learning where goals are personalised and differentiated to suit the needs of the students, with feedback aiming to be corrective in relation to knowledge levels.

Instructional StrategiesPossible aspects to be covered over


MARZANO 9 INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

E QUIP PROFESSIONAL LEARNING – LITERACY AND NUMERACY E5QuIP is the term we have adopted for professional learning in this region. The term encompasses Quality Instructional Practice which we believe will enable us to achieve our goal within the WMR Blueprint for School Improvement of becoming the most rapidly improving region in student learning outcomes in the state.

Furthermore, the term E5QuIP captures the scope of who we are seeking to influence – every student, in every classroom, by building the instructional capacity of every teacher and every leader, in every school – and references the e5 Instructional Model, a key Department strategy for achieving quality instructional practice.

Generating and testing hypotheses – Students should be encouraged and facilitated to generate and test hypothesis by using prediction and be able to justify their conclusions.

Cues, questions and advance organisers – Further learning is developed and enhanced by the use of cues questions, and advance organisers, with these tools assisting students to use prior knowledge and encouraging them to use higher order thinking.

Classroom Management Possible aspects to be covered over the

Induction Program or included in an Induction Resource

Essential agreements – Establishing Meaningful Essential Agreements = Democracy. Essential agreements should be positive instructions, few in number, owned by the students and applicable in a number of contexts. By including the students in the process of deciding upon essential agreements to govern and guide behaviour, teachers are able to do the following:

Ensure engagement as a result of the direct relevance to students daily lives Build empowerment by giving them ownership of the rules they need to adhere to Provide the experience of being involved in a collective decision-making process Generate evidence in the form of signed agreements, photographs and reflections

Attitudes/Values – Over the course of the first month of the school year, each class should become familiar with the school’s agreed values and therefore develop their classroom essential agreements. The age and level of student experience will determine the depth and complexity of these statements. Classes will determine their rewards and consequences, with the focus being on positive behaviours. The attitudes/values should be revisited regularly throughout the year.

Classroom meeting/circles – Daily class meeting should be held in the last 15-30 minutes of each day to give students and teachers the opportunity to discuss highlights or work through issues. The use of Quality Thinking Tools should be encouraged.

OTHER ELEMENTS FOR INCLUSION AND EXPLORATION:Restorative justice practises Tribes Classroom agreements and procedures

Curriculum DesignPossible aspects to be covered over the


Quality Learning – Students and teachers will be introduced to a variety of Thinking Tools to assist them working towards continuous improvement. Thinking Tools, including details of when and how to use them can be further developed at school based Professional Development sessions. Thinking tools are to be utilised on the Ultranet also.

The Thinking Curriculum – This covers the Learning Intelligences, understanding why, what and how we learn at school. A range of strategies for thinking and learning are included and can be further explored at school level professional development sessions…

Buzan Mind mapping DeBono’s Six Thinking Hats

D.A.T.T’s Art Costa’s Habits of Mind

Student Portfolios – Guidelines and support can be provided to assist teachers, both familiar and those not so familiar, to develop portfolios both hard copy and digital. The development of portfolios can begin the process towards Student Led Conferences. Portfolios assist students understanding of what they are learning, what they have learnt, and what improvements they, as learners, can make. Students have greater involvement in, and control over their learning. An important part of the Portfolio process is student goal setting.

Goal Setting – All students can be asked to set academic, physical and social goals, starting in year prep. Children will then be guided and supported to collect data as evidence to support their academic achievement of the stipulated goal/s. This data can be used by students as part of the Student Led Conference process.

Curriculum Design Possible aspects to be covered over the


OTHER ELEMENTS FOR INCLUSION AND EXPLORATION:

Assessment tools and strategies Inquiry models VELS standards Student tracking and conferring Project work Success criteria Reflecting on learning How students access new knowledge – MARZANO’s Nine Instructional

Strategies

Curriculum DesignPossible aspects to be covered over


How do students access new knowledge?MARZANO 9 INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

Instructional Strategy Specific Behaviours

Identifying similarities and differences

Assigning in-class and homework tasks that involve comparison and classification Assigning in-class and homework tasks that involve metaphors and analogies

Summarising and note taking

Asking students to generate verbal summaries Asking students to generate written summaries Asking students to take notes Asking students to revise their notes, correcting errors and adding information

Reinforcing effort and providing recognition

Recognising and celebrating progress towards learning goals throughout a unit Recognising and reinforcing the importance of effort Recognising and celebrating progress toward learning goals at the end of a unit

Curriculum Design Possible aspects to be covered over



Homework and practice Providing specific feedback on all assigned homework Assigning homework for the purpose of students practicing skills and procedures that have been the focus of instruction

Non-linguistic representations

Asking students to generate mental images representing content Asking students to draw pictures or pictographs representing content Asking students to construct graphic organisers representing content Asking students to act out content Asking students to make physical models of content Asking students to make revisions in their mental images, pictures, pictographs, graphic organisers and models

Cooperative learning Organising students in cooperative groups when appropriate Organising students in ability groups when appropriate

Curriculum Design Possible aspects to be covered over



Setting objectives and providing feedback

Setting specific learning goals at the beginning of a unit Asking students to set their own learning goals at the beginning of a unit Providing feedback on learning goals throughout the unit Asking students to keep track of their progress on the learning goals Providing summative feedback at the end of a unit Asking students to assess themselves at the end of a unit

Generating and testing hypotheses

Engaging students in projects that involve generating and testing hypotheses through problem solving tasks Engaging students in projects that involve generating and testing hypotheses through decision making tasks Engaging students in projects that involve generating and testing hypotheses through investigation tasks Engaging students in projects that involve generating and testing hypotheses through experimental inquiry tasks

Questions, cues and advance organisers

Prior to presenting new content, asking new questions that help students recall what they might already know about the content Prior to presenting new content, providing students with direct links with what they have studied previously Prior to presenting new content, providing ways for students to organise or think about the content

Curriculum Design Data Wise

All staff need to understand the importance of data:It is imperative that a variety of rich and purposeful data is collected, then analysed and used strategically.

Collection and analysis of current data needs to be a shared responsibility and viewed as an opportunity to gain insight into current teaching and learning practices. It enables all stakeholders to pose questions and focus on areas for improvement and future learning.

It is a reference point for professional learning and provides foundations for explicit teaching and assists in the development of purposeful learning programs.

OTHER ELEMENTS FOR INCLUSION AND EXPLORATION: School strategic plan Current and present AIP NAPLAN (over the life of the strategic plan) Data appropriate to year levels and pre-determined suite of data

Questions to Consider…

Have you invited your new staff to the school and do they know their new team?

Have new staff been given a mentor? Have they meet their team? Is the school open prior to the first three days? For new staff and graduates do you have an induction program that

operates prior to the children returning and the first 3 curriculum days? Have you got a plan to walk through the key and critical elements of your

school and what all staff will be expected to do? Will you coordinate opportunities for professional learning around the

teacher level factors? What elements do you consider to be important inclusions in an

induction resource?

learning to learn

Documents

learning community

thoughtful learning

continuous learning

engaging learning environment

students effort

school achievement

higher student achievement

work places