Title

Pedagogy

Teaching Example

1. Student-centered

Constructivist - Make sure students are in control of their own learning. Teacher should be a guide and facilitator. Lecturing or delivering knowledge happens as needed and not a majority of the time.

What about differentiated learning? Do the bulleted items in the next cell address differentiation? 

• Inquiry-based. Students generate their own questions and seek their own answers.
• Students get a say in what they learn.
• Student choice taken into account. 
• Blog: The Power of Choice 
• Project Based (or Problem Based) Learning (PBL)
• Game Based Learning (GBL)
• Gamification
• DIY/Maker Spaces

2. Students as creators

Include questions and activities that students will respond to using the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Consider using Webb’s Depth of Knowledge instead or in addition.

• Students can choose how to show what they learn about a topic.

• Poster
• Website/Wiki/Blog
• Podcast/Vodcast
• Experiment/Lab
• Dramatic/Role Play
• Rap/Song 
• Game
• Written piece/poetry

3. Project-Based

Learning   

Students working on independent or group projects.

• Students choose their own topic and whether or not to work independently or in a small group.
• Project should have context and purpose.
• Does anyone use WebQuests? The way they are arranged is usually around a real-world problem and students look for solutions as they learn about the issue. 

4. Problem Solving

Students must be offered real world problems to discuss and examine from multiple points of view, in order to have an investment into their world and community.  

• Asking good questions
• be abreast of the stories that dominate and continue to plague our best minds.  
• (Problem Finding) In order for students to problem solve they should problem find first. 

5. Metacognition

Assessment as learning is supposed to be the largest component of the assessment pyramid.

• Students reflect on their learning, through journal work.  Get them to respond to questions about the connections between their learning and other areas of the curriculum, and also their learning styles, strengths and weaknesses.
• Peer evaluation
• Self Evaluation

6. Discipline

Each incident is treated as a learning process, where we remember that even in the area of self-managing their behaviour, students are learners. Our objective should be to help students develop their own strategies and coping mechanisms.

Furthermore, there should be that good classroom discipline begins with engaged students. 

• See the Restitution model of school discipline.

• http://www.realrestitution.com
• Students should experience their successes and failures not as reward & punishment but as information.   
• Lost at School by Ross Greene

7. Motivation

Motivation should be primarily intrinsic. Students can’t be motivated; rather, motivation must stem from engagement, learning, passion, and making an impact on the community.

Dan Pink on Motivation

Carol Dweck’s The Perils of Praise

• In a student-centered, problem-based environment, students can meet standards through solving real-world problems. This helps them to make a real difference in the larger community; motivation comes at least partially from seeing how their learning has benefited others.
• Inquiry Based
• Allow students to connect to other students, teachers, experts. Social piece to learning from each other and from others besides just the teacher.

8. Assessment

Summative assessment or assessment of learning should be the leanest, uppermost component of the assessment pyramid.

Assessment for Learning (or Formative Assessment or a Formative Process) followed by feedback to guide student learning. If learning is to be differentiated then so should assessment (feedback is different depending on where each student is).   

• Self and peer assessment should be the most prolific forms of assessment.  Formative assessment should be descriptive in nature, and should not be weighted towards a final grade in a numerical sense.
• Students should experience their successes and failures not as reward & punishment but as information.
• Art Costa's quote is priceless: We must remember that we assess kids so that they one day can assess themselves
• Assessment should determine what adjustments the teacher needs to make to help students learn. 

9. Critical Thinking

How do we help our students become critical thinkers?

• How about a mixture of #’s 7, 1, and 2??
• definitely need to let students problem solve. Students need to understand that this is a skill and it must be practiced.  

10. Enable Creativity

How do we educate all our students without squashing their creativity? Helping our students innovate!

Sir Ken Robinson - Do Schools Kill Creativity?

• Let students demonstrate understanding in ways that they come up with. Students might come up with “wacky” ideas, but if they can be safe and if they have a plan, let them try it!

11. Passion Driven

Attitude could be defined as the desire to go on learning.

Learning should be something kids get jacked about not glad to be just done. 

• If students are allowed to choose their own topics/take control of their learning, this will take care of itself. An example is demonstrated on #4 and #12.

12. Collaborative

Students communicate, critique, defend, negotiate, synthesize, and clarify ideas and approaches in small groups of peers with similar abilities in an effort to reach a common goal.

• Provide open-ended inquiry opportunities for students to investigate together
• Nearly anything creative will be more so in a well functioning group 

13. Reflective/Reflection

Should reflection go on the metacognition row?

• Same as #5??

14. Responsive

Lessons, units, days, moments structured based on the individual needs of the students or class.  Students are not forced into a convenient teacher mold, but teacher works around the needs and learning styles of the students.

• Does this fit # 1?

15. Relationships

Build relationships with students.

• Advisory
• Friend kids on Facebook (maybe just on a class account)

16. Dropping traditional practices that don’t work and keeping those that do work.

There is more and more research challenging how we grade students. Some say Standards-Based Grading is the way to go while others say abolish grading altogether.

Homework is another practice that is being challenged. Studies say that homework doesn’t really help students the way we think it’s helping them. It’s not until High School that students actually benefit from doing homework (maybe we need to let kids be kids and PLAY after school).

• How should we use lecture?
• How can we use video like the Khan Academy math lessons? Look up flipped classroom.
• How should we assess our students if we don’t use grades?
• Should we give homework in grades K-8?

17. Helping ALL students learn.

UDL (Universal Design for Learning)

“UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs.”

(A set of principles for curriculum development)