The report focuses on a vision for New Zealand learning and what transformation of education could look like for New Zealand. In some schools, the transformation has begun. We need to focus on the six themes of future oriented learning and teaching to undergo the transformation.
They are personalised learning, new views of equity and diversity, new connections to the community (local, national and international) using knowledge to build learning power, lifelong learning for leaders and educators, and new roles for teachers and learners. Another earlier blogpost refers to these themes.
My mind keeps wandering back to page 15, table 3 in the report. "What we know about learning." The table heading is a statement, not a question. In other words, this is what we know about learning from the research.
I think the table provides a great basis for a reflective tool to check out how we as teachers are supporting learning. I have made up a form (see below) based on the table so you can do a self review.
- It would be great if you could answer all ten questions. That would allow you, and other teachers to view your responses.
- This form is completely anonymous and I see it as a way to think about the learning that is going on in your class, and learn from others as well.
- You are able to edit your responses.
If you are the first person here, go on, fill it out and allow others to learn from you, as well as reviewing your own performance as a teacher.
You are also welcome to make a copy of the form to use in your schools. Make a copy of the form here by going the the menu "File" and choosing "Make a copy" (You will need your own Google (free) account to do this).
The responses can be viewed at this link (which is also available at the end of the form)
For those of you who do not want to complete the form: here are the ten questions:
Are students in my class thinking? How do I know this?
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Am I providing experiences to draw on? Examples of this are?
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Am I supporting my students to build deeper knowledge by searching for different approaches to answers? An example of when I have not “given the right answer” is...
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Are my students actively engaged in processing new knowledge (is there a task which required them to engage and interpret the new knowledge?) The new knowledge is …. The task is ….
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Do my students want to learn this material? How do I know this? Is it relevant to them is there another way of learning the material which makes it more relevant?
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Do my students have control over the pace and goals of the learning? I have given choice to them when ….. The students can go back to the learning at …...time.
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Is there structure to the learning? When students are ready for the learning, have I resources and learning management systems that allow them to do this?
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Does the learning involve interaction with others? Do my students work with each other to create new learning? What evidence do I have of learning that happens with people other than myself? Do I enable connections for interactions to happen?
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Does learning happen outside the classroom and do I acknowledge it, and plan for it? In what ways have I enabled learning outside the classroom?
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How do I expand the intelligence of each of my students? Can I demonstrate ways in which learning has happened for students who thought they were “no good” at something?
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