ENGAGING THE LEARNER

1. ENGAGING THE LEARNER THE SEVEN KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL TEACHING AND LEARNING Barbara Brann 2010

2. WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE ABOUT LEARNING?DO YOU HAVE A BELIEF SYSTEM ABOUT LEARNERS AND LEARNING THAT GUIDES YOUR PREPARATION AND DELIVERY?

3. The way we engage learners reflects what we understand and believe about learning and what we understand and believe about our students as learners.

4. The more we understand about learning and the learners we teach, the more likely it is that as teachers, we will promote the best teaching practices to maximize the potential of our learners.

5. COMMUNICATION • Involves a giver and receiver of information • Is dependent on both the speaker and the listener, the writer and the reader, the teacher and the learner. • If we want to successfully communicate our message to our students, we must take into account both how we present it and how our students receive it.

6. “If students are to learn desired outcomes in a reasonably effective manner, then the teacher’s task is to engage them in learning activities that are likely to result in their achieving these outcomes … It is helpful to remember that what the student does is more important in determining what is learned than what the teacher does.” (Shuell 1986)

7. “Good” Teachers actively engage learners are passionate about learning understand learning and learners as well as teaching theory, programs, curriculum and pedagogy teach what students need to learn cater for individual differences in learning as well as in skills acquisition

8. The 7 keys to successful teaching and learning 1 Familiar

9. Familiar We receive, retain and recall information more effectively when it is easily associated with prior knowledge. The faster the connection is made the more likely it is that the new information will be assimilated correctly.

10. Learning Problems • Students with learning problems have difficulty identifying the familiar information. • They are slow to make the connections. • Information does not link with existing information • Perceptions and interpretation of information are often “incorrect”

15. Familiar • Start with what they know: open the file • Pose questions that you will answer in the lesson or glean from reading material • Show students how to use mind maps, graphic organisers and coloured blocks to track the answers to questions posed • Always preview before and review later • Familiarise them with the format and structure of any reading material and texts you want them to use • Give them specific instruction in how to read the material

16. Using graphic organisers

17. Help with Reading: Stories and Novels • Gather the collective knowledge: “This story/novel is about … What do you know about …? Have you been to …? I will read the first sentence/paragraph. (Read) What would like to know about … (from the text) • (Do not ask what the student thinks it might be about) • Pose questions that will be answered in the text. Use coloured blocks as pegs to remind the student of the questions Is … (character) happy or sad to be there? Where does this story take place? What are … doing when the story starts?

18. Help with writing stories One day a girl was going out in her car. She saw a tree and she stopped because she wanted to sit under the tree. As she sat under the tree she found a necklace that was made from shells. She said, “What a pretty necklace. I will wear it.” So she put it on and she drove back home with the new necklace to show her family.”

19. Where are … found? What happens when….? What is a ….? • Help with Reading: Informational Texts • Gather the collective knowledge: “This text is about … What would you like to know about … ? • What do you know about …? Prepare a graphic organiser to record the students’ shared existing knowledge. • Write key words to be located in the text. • Pose questions that will be answered in the text. Use coloured blocks as pegs to remind the student of the questions

20. GATHERING THE COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE BEFORE READING OR WRITING TOPIC : BEARS ?

21. Using graphic organisers: Recording information from Reading Material

22. Ideas for recall and sequencing. • Use graphic organisers • Teach how to ask questions as the basis for writing. • Use coloured blocks to plan, process and show progress through the task.

23. The 7 keys to successful teaching and learning 2 Meaningful

24. Information 4 seconds Yes?Into active working memory Recognition? Too slow? lost through interference No? dropped Meaningful If the information makes sense and has meaning it will go into long term memory.

25. Meaningful “Information will not necessarily go into long term memory unless some meaning is made of it.” • Interest • Intent or purpose • Understanding • Prior knowledge Sprenger, M. (2003) Differentiation through Learning Styles and Memory

26. Learning Problems • Students with learning problems have difficulty connecting new information with existing information • They have difficulty making sense of unrelated bits of information. • Information is stored in unrelated ‘files’ • Concepts are often incorrect and therefore lack meaning

27. Open the file: “What do you know about this?” • Create graphic organisers • Use blocks, pictures and objects to assist recall • Make the information ‘real’

28. what where when effect

29. The 7 keys to successful teaching and learning 3 Predictable

30. Predictable In times of stress the brain seeks predictability Students are often under stress If we want our students to learn we must reduce stress

31. Learning Problems • Students with learning problems have difficulty understanding the sameness in areas of learning • Learning is often disconnected. • Information is unrelated and unpredictable. • Little or no transference of information

32. Predictable • Point out similarities of the new information to previously learned information • Set up rituals and procedures for tackling a task • Preview material – show the predictability of texts • Reflect on learning

33. The 7 keys to successful teaching and learning 4 Patterned

34. Patterned “In seeking to understand complex problems, we are often blind to the presence of patterns, which, when recognised lead us to the solution of those problems.” Herrmann, N. (1996) The Whole Brain Business Book.

35. Learning Problems • Students with learning problems fail to see patterns • Each learning task is a new one. • Each piece of information is processed individually and not necessarily related to known information. • Little or no transference of information

36. Patterned • Demonstrate connectedness of ideas and concepts • Explicitly point out patterns: demonstrate their predictability • Visual patterns – handwriting, spelling and maths • Time: patterns that occur across time • Position: patterns that occur because of lineal or spatial position • Procedural • Behaviour: if this … then that • Occurrences: this … always followed by that • Cause and effect: because of this … then that • Number: if this … then that

37. Recognition of VISUAL, AUDITORY and MORPHOLOGICAL patterns • station • nation • fraction • elevation • auction • inflation • election • action • evolution • rain • pain • paid • pail • brain • train • sprain • drain • at • cat • mat • sat • rat • flat • sprat

38. c a t r i ng • Completion and Substitution – show the patterns of spelling and sounds p a t b r i ng

39. Use junk and blocks to teach the processes of analysing and blending sounds in words

40. l i k e r u n • Making new words r u nn i ng l i k i ng

42. The 7 keys to successful teaching and learning Chunked or Grouped with like information 5

43. Chunked or Grouped “…the brain works primarily with key concepts in an interlinked and integrated manner…” “If the brain is to relate information most efficiently then information must be structured in such a way as to ‘slot in’ as easily as possible.” Buzan, T. (2001) Use your Head

44. Chunked or Grouped • Every bit of information is a chunk • When information is grouped into related chunks we can take in larger chunks. “The difference between an expert and a novice is that the size of the chunks of information are much larger for the expert.” Sprenger, M. (2003) Differentiation through Learning Styles and Memory

45. Learning Problems • Students with learning problems have difficulty chunking information. • Concepts and tasks ore often unrelated. • Chunks of information are small and often disjointed. • Memory space is often overloaded

46. Chunked or Grouped • Demonstrate connectedness of ideas and concepts • Show students the end product – don’t run your program like a car rally! • Use pictures, mind mapping and graphic organisers • Use rhythm to chunk information when reading • Use colour to group information • to enhance memory • to provide visual links • to stimulate the right cortical process

47. what where what kinds behaviour Crocodiles Crocodiles are among the oldest reptiles and they date back to the time of the dinosaurs. In Australia, crocodiles are found in the warm northern rivers and in the sea off the Northern Territory, and the north of Western Australia and Queensland. The Saltwater Crocodile lives in salty and brackish waters in the sea and rivers. The Freshwater Crocodile lives in fresh water rivers. Salt Water Crocodiles grow to be very big and can be very aggressive. They have strong jaws and can kill animals as big as cattle. Freshwater Crocodiles ….. What parts can you see? Use two words to describe the crocodile What can you learn about crocodiles from the picture?

48. The 7 keys to successful teaching and learning Rhythm presented rhymically 6

49. Rhythm Life is rhythmical • heart • movement • speech • Meaning - dependent on rhythm and stress • Fluency and comprehension in reading - dependent on rhythm and stress

50. The student said the teacher was lazy. The student, said the teacher, was lazy. The student said, “The teacher was lazy.”