Teaching for effective learning

3.1 Teach students how to learn

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What have you done to make them curious?

Are they wondering?

Do they have time to come to terms with emerging ideas?

Do they feel excited about what they are learning?

Are they thinking about how this fits into their life or their future life?

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How have you asked them to take risks and learn for themselves?

Have you made the substance clear so they are not in the dark?

Can they follow what you are saying and develop it?

Are they able to think ahead?

Have you suggested challenges they could try?

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Have you noticed their effort and commitment?

Have you noticed their good behaviours and thinking patterns?

Can they tell you what they are doing well?

Are you noticing their effort which may be different from yours?

Have they got a life balance?

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Have we all shared how we learn and go about something?

Do you provide opportunities for sharing?

Online?

Informally?

Formally?

Are they reflecting about how they learn and do things?

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Have you explained how their physical development is affecting how they learn?

Some children grow faster than others

Some have growth issues with peripheral skills, fine motor skills, hormonal activity, building muscle…

Do you mention sleep and good nutrition?

Do you know the age range differences and capacities?

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How have you developed a variety of learning modes?

Students love videos. Do you incorporate short videos into your lessons?

Do you allow for students who cannot write easily and quickly?

Do you have visual and mental stimuli?

Do you allow for the artistic approach?

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Do your students have a clear picture of their learning strengths and weaknesses?

Can they approach others to get a clear picture about their strengths and weaknesses?

Do they worry if they find a learning gap?

Do they seek out help and advice and get it?

Do they have tangible evidence of their learning curve?

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Have you helped them to appreciate the input of others?

Do they know whom to consult for help and information?

Do they have plenty of options for getting help from others?

Do you talk about how they can get good information and discuss issues with others?

Do they realise a problem shared is a problem halved?

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Do your students know that sharing is empowering and consolidates learning?

Do they have a way of sharing their ideas and knowledge?

Do they have ways of sharing their achievements and finished products?

Do they know that teaching others will help them learn?

Do they have opportunities for publishing their work?

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Do you help students with time management and organisation?

Do you do a walk through of time planning for any given assignment?

Do you show them how to make it easier on themselves?

Do you discuss as a class the best practices for tackling something?

Do you have group brainstorming and problem solving sessions?

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Have you helped your students develop a personal learning network?

Do they know what a personal learning network is?

Do they know the best people to put into one?

Do they develop safe online opportunities for developing a learning network?

Do you discuss how to approach experts and expert sources?

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Scaffold their thinking

Teach strategies for creative thinking

Offer ways of thinking through a task

Encourage reflection so they can see what they have achieved and what they need to improve

Constantly encourage them to do their best and offer little challenges along the way.

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How do you help your students learn critical thinking?

Strategies include Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences,Costa’s Habits of the Mind, de Bono’s six thinking hats, Bloom’s Taxonomy and Thinker’s Keys.

There are concept webs, thinking tools , feedback sandwiches, polls, mind maps, word fields…

‘ scaffolding tools ’ and ‘thinking tools’ are what you search for.

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Have you helped your students to be lifelong learners?

Will they be able to see the reason for this learning in the future?

Have they learned sufficiently well enough to know the applications of what they are learning?

Do you discuss real life opportunites for using what you are teaching them?

Can they extend what you have taught them and build on it?

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