I left a school in 2009 that was working a lot with graphic organisers to scaffold learners. My Year 4 class were not independent, but they knew we would use a graphic organiser and could suggest relevant ones to try from the examples we used. We also experimented with SOLO Taxonomy (Biggs and Collis, 1982) with the resources developed by Pam Hook and Julie Mills. We were already on a pathway to becoming self regulating in our single cell classroom.
I believe that a lot of schools are trying to develop self regulated learners, especially as students do need to be more self regulating in an innovative learning environment in order to work with larger groups of students on the more robust and individualised programmes that we as teachers are encouraged to put together.
In my school we have two major learning areas in which we are trying to improve our practice: Mathematics and Literacy. In both areas we want to improve student achievement, and not just for priority groups such as our Māori boys. For both learning areas, there are key factors which will help us in our venture to improve student engagement and achievement. One is teacher content knowledge and the other is pedagogy. We need our teachers to move from teacher centred to learner centred classrooms.
There isn't one definitive model of self regulated learning. In fact, the research literature I have read indicates that every context is different and requires different solutions (Blackmore et al., 2011, p.33).
I want to ask teachers what they use and I want to ask students what their teachers do to help them be independent learners. Specifically I will get information from:
- teachers at my own school to see what examples of "best practice" we can all hook into in our single cell school
- teachers in other schools, both single cell and innovative learning environments as I want to see how different schools encourage self regulated learners - and if they do
- students in my own school (an intermediate in Rotorua, year 7 and 8) to find out if and what teachers scaffold with them to help them own their learning.
- motivation to learn
- controlling emotions
- goal setting and monitoring
- group and team work
- self awareness of ability and progress (self-assessment)
References:
Biggs, J. B., & Collis, K. F. (1982). Evaluation the quality of learning: the SOLO taxonomy (structure of the observed learning outcome). Academic Press.Blackmore, J., Bateman, D., Cloonan, A., Dixon, M., Loughlin, J., O’Mara, J., & Senior, K. (2011). Innovative learning environments research study. Report.
Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (Eds.). (2011). Handbook of self-regulation: research, theory, and applications. New York: Guilford Press.
I wonder if teachers might identify how they access support and resources when planning and integrating the development of self regulation skills with their students. I also wonder what teachers do for the students that don't respond in the same way as others in the class when learning to be self regulators. There are those that need additional support and have developmental or cognitive delays. Is self regulation a priority for all teachers? What impact does this have on the tamariki they work with?
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in knowing more about your findings when you are done.
Thanks for stimulating my thinking. What I'm trying to do is to find out what it is that I can best scaffold teachers with - so how I can help with support and resources.
DeleteSecondly, if a larger group of students can develop self regulatory skills, teacher have more time to work with those who "need additional support and have developmental or cognitive delays".
I do think self regulation is a priority and have yet to be convinced of otherwise. However, I know even teachers who need to be made to do things so that they take risks. It's the metaphor of pushing them into the pit to make them think about what they need to climb out. Thanks for making me think about that.