STUDENTS FIRST 1. When creating and evaluating classroom procedures, keep the students in mind. What will pupils learn, how will they learn it, and how will they show that they have learned it? These questions are based on the learning experience's trajectory, with a focus on the learner.
In a recent teacher planning conference that I attended, for example, the discussion began with the teacher identifying the book that she would read to the class and the skill that she would model during the read-aloud.
While these are unquestionably significant aspects of the lesson, they place a greater emphasis on the teacher than on the learner. The questions above redirect the discussion to the lesson's goal, which is to educate students how to make responsible judgments by studying the book's characters and their actions. Students would make a storyboard after listening to the storey, depicting the events and the character's decision, as well as an alternate decision and various endings. The teacher's responsibility would be to guide the students through the read-aloud and modelling, as well as provide feedback as they worked in groups to complete the storyboard.
When you describe classroom situations through the eyes of a student, you emphasise the importance of learning and the learner. Adults' actions are now focused on how they will affect and help students. Students are aware of what they are learning and how they are learning it, allowing them to participate actively in their education.
2. Create a learning strategy based on assets. Students' assets are valuable qualities that they offer to the classroom. Some assets are academic, while others add to the classroom learning community through temperament, character qualities, experiences, and hobbies.
Biliteracy, for example, is a valuable skill. When native Spanish speakers learning English collaborate with other kids in the classroom to identify items in both English and Spanish, everyone learns a new language. When sitting with a student who is having a difficult day, an empathic student uses their asset to make their classmate feel supported.
When kids share their talents and abilities, it is critical that teachers acknowledge them. Recognition can take the form of a spoken, visual, or written signal. Every Friday, as a teacher, I sent a message home to one of my middle school students' parents. The note acknowledged the student's contributions to the classroom community as well as their progress as a learner or achievement in the classroom. I kept track of who received the notes and made sure that at least once a semester, each student's parents received one.
Students' academic assets are the abilities, methods, and background knowledge they bring to class. Teachers are building on students' assets when they use earlier learning as a starting point for education. Teachers can do this in a variety of ways, one of which is through the feedback they provide to their pupils.
Students should receive verbal and written criticism that details what they can do, what they need to improve on, and how to get there. Students gain considerably in their learning when they receive feedback that is clear, actionable, and corresponds to the stated learning targets; they hear the message that they are learners, and that learning is an active and ongoing process. Students can learn to self-regulate and manage their own learning with continual modelling and targeted instruction.
3. Shift the focus away from the issue of learning loss. Instead, concentrate on the learning process as a whole. Students may unknowingly be receiving the message that they can't catch up due to the emphasis on what they didn't learn over the previous year. Educators can handle this by being very familiar with the learning progressions of standards, which introduce new abilities while also reinforcing existing ones. Knowing how standards are linked can help teachers encourage students as they progress along the continuum and send a message to their pupils about the importance of a growth attitude.
A teacher can examine how the skill of providing evidence to support an argument improves over time by looking at the New York State English Language Arts standards, for example. Each grade-level standard specifies a different instructional focus:
Third graders back up a claim with evidence.
Fourth graders pay close attention to facts and details.
Clear reasoning and appropriate proof are used by fifth graders.
Despite the fact that the standards are grade-specific, the teacher can use them to modify instruction. Following the assessment of draughts, the instructor can differentiate instruction based on the standards' progressions. As a result, students participate in educational experiences that help them progress in their studies.
Students whose work demonstrates that they can back up their claims with specifics participate in an activity in which they sort sentence strips into three categories: argument, fact, and detail. Another group of students, whose work displays their ability to apply logic and evidence, participates in an exercise in which they score a list of evidence from most relevant to least relevant in terms of how effectively it supports an argument.
As a result, all students are working toward the same objective of learning how to utilise evidence to support an argument, but they are starting from various places. Students participate in differentiated learning activities that convey that they are all learning from a position of strength.
These steps can help you create a learning culture and increase collective efficacy. Students must always identify themselves as learners and feel a sense of belonging to a community that values all forms of learning.
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