After attending the workshop on Independent Learning, I realized that we are not far off with what we are currently doing in our studio. Something that I would caution the presenter about is going back to the Teacher creating loads of slides or documents which takes hours to make. So I took from the workshop what I could.
A reminder that independent work should not be new learning, but the consolidation of work already learned.
It should be relevant to their learning needs.
It can be individual, with a buddy, or a small group of 3 or 4.
Teach students how to solve problems: not interrupting teachers when teaching groups, possibly ask 3 before me, however, it will be better if they don't have to ask the teacher at all. All students are experts and they should be able to help each other without interrupting the teacher.
The facilitator had weekly contracts that she created. Basically a choice board. What I did like, was the Morning tea ticket out. Students have to have read and entered into their reading journals in order to be able to go to MT. The other nice idea was to add a house point value to each task completed. (However, I am cautious of not creating an admin heavy job for teachers). She keeps Fridays as catch-up days on contracts.
Work that is expected in the contract has been taught prior. There is an exemplar in the modeling book with clear expectations. This will help with keeping work to a high quality.
This looks like it was a really practical toolkit. It’s great that many of the slides created offer open ended activities with choice. The house points idea is great and I wouldn’t imagine it would really create more admin as wouldn’t you be checking and marking students work in some way anyway?
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