Five Essential Top Tips for Empowering Learners
Tip 1: Student Voice and Choice
Ensure that students have opportunities to:
Tip 2: The Learning Environment
Focus on the whole learning context (i.e. not just the physical environment, but also groupings, routines, lesson structure, classroom culture etc)
Tip 3: Focus on Well-being
Ensuring the learners have the opportunity not only to learn, but also to learn about learning
Ensure that students are involved - assessment FOR learning and assessment AS learning
Ensure that students...
Ensure that teachers use assessment information in order to know the impact of their teaching - data informed practice
Ensure that students have opportunities to:
- choose the goals they are working on
- choose their materials and resources
- choose how to demonstrate their understanding
- choose where they sit to experience learning or who they work with
- contribute their opinion often
- make decisions in the classroom
- provide feedback to the teacher ( and their feedback is honored)
Tip 2: The Learning Environment
Focus on the whole learning context (i.e. not just the physical environment, but also groupings, routines, lesson structure, classroom culture etc)
- enable collaboration, encourage discussion
- create a culture of trust and respect
- encourage responsibility
- flexible groupings
- working walls
Tip 3: Focus on Well-being
- Mindfulness - helping learners to direct their attention to their experiences, moment by moment
- Resilience - teaching the skills to develop perseverance, the ability of manage distractions and become thoroughly absorbed in learning
- Growth Mindset - building the belief that our abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work, creating a love of learning
- Failing well - encouraging learners to take responsibility for set-backs and view them as a leaning opportunity to make changes and have another go
Ensuring the learners have the opportunity not only to learn, but also to learn about learning
- Approaches to Learning
- inquiry structures and cycles
- processes, tool and strategies for reflection
Ensure that students are involved - assessment FOR learning and assessment AS learning
Ensure that students...
- are aware of their individual goals
- have the ability to assess themselves according to specific criteria
- can provide effective feedback to others
- are an integral part of the assessment process
Ensure that teachers use assessment information in order to know the impact of their teaching - data informed practice