SESSION 1
THE NATURE OF LEARNING
PREPARATION GUIDE
Focus The focus of this session is to introduce participants to the basic philosophy of learning which guides both the design and the content of the Frameworks Course.
Equipment Needed Overheads
Videotapes
VHS Recorders and Monitors
Overhead Projector and Screen
Overheads needed:
OH1:1 The Structure of the Sessions
OH1:2 Course Overview
OH 1:3 Staff Development Model.
OH 1:4 Learning to Program a VCR
OH1:5 My Learning Experience
OH 1:6 Role of Language
OH1:7 The Conditions of Learning Applied to MY Learning
OH 1:8 Personal Reflections Questions
Time Allocated Session Time
Session Time: 150 minutes
Welcome and Workshop 10 minutes
Introduction to Session 10 minutes
Workshop 1 40 minutes
Workshop 2 40 minutes
Making Connections 15 minutes
Implications for Evaluation 5 minutes
Personal Reflection 10 minutes
Instructional Strategy 10 minutes
For Next Session 10 minutes
SESSION 1
OVERVIEW TO THE COURSE WELCOME TO FRAMEWORKS
15 mins
whole group Welcome participants to the Course. If they do not know each other it may be useful to take a few minutes for people to introduce themselves. If participants have not attended an Introductory Session, suggest that they later read the section in their Course Notebook on page 1. This information provides important background to the Course.
SETTING THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COURSE
Purpose The purposes of this Section are:
• to provide participants with the opportunity to share their
expectations of the Course
• to assess whether these expectations match what the Course
is able to provide
• to share with participants the expectations of the Facilitator
for the smooth and successful running of the Course.
SUBHEAD 1 Participants' Expectations of the Course
Ask participants to list their expectations of the Course in their Notebook on page ##.
Ask participants to share these with a partner.
List key points on chart paper.
Respond generally to the expectations indicating that those that you know the course will achieve or begin to achieve for participants. Identify any that you believe are unlikely to be achieved and suggest that you can talk to these with participants later.
SUBHEAD 1 Facilitator's Expectations of Participants
In order to maximize participants' learning it is important that the Facilitator makes explicit the expectations of the Course. List these on a chart and quickly share them with the group. These should include that all participants:
• attend all sessions
• be on time
• complete all readings and activities
• participate in small and large group discussions
• keep a learning journal throughout the Course
• be willing to share, to challenge, to take risks
• to provide support for each other and to act as a resource
• take responsibility for their own learning.
Emphasize to participants that:
• the success of this Course depends on their willingness to read, to write, to share and support each other
• each participant brings a certain expertise to the Course
• the Facilitator's role is to support the process of learning of the group, not to act as an expert
• they as a group become a community of learners.
INTRODUCTION TO SESSION 1
10 minutes
Session One will focus on the nature of learning. We will develop Our Learning Theory and examine that in light of the Conditions of Learning as espoused by the research of Brian Cambourne. The authors believe that teachers need to be able to articulate their beliefs about how their students learn and learn language.
SUBHEAD 1 The structure of the sessions
Show OH 1:1 The Structure of the Sessions.
OH 1:1
Structure of the Course
• Group Reflection
• Workshop
• Input
• Making Connections
• Implications for Evaluation
• Personal Reflection
• Instructional Strategy
• Between Session Readings
Point out that each Session will have the following elements:
• Group Reflection
A time for reflecting and sharing insights and ideas on the Between Session Readings and the Between Session Instructional Strategy.
• Workshop
A time for participants to be actively involved in considering their own understandings and beliefs.
• Input
A time for listening to the thinking and theories of others.
• Making Connections
An opportunity to recap for the learner the key points raised in each session. This section also points out the connections which participants should have made to the key points in other sessions.
• Implications for Evaluation
In each session participants are asked to consider the implications for evaluation in the classroom, as evaluation and teaching go hand in hand.
• Personal Reflection
This time consists of two parts, an individual response written in participants' Learning Journals, and small group discussion. Half the time should be spent by the group writing a personal response. The remaining time should be spent in small group discussion on the question, 'What does this mean for my classroom?'
• Instructional Strategy
Practical classroom Instructional Strategy are introduced. These can be used in the Language Arts as well as in the content areas. Details of each of the Instructional Strategies can be found in Theory into Practice. Participants are asked to try the Instructional Strategy in their classroom setting and bring along their findings to the following session.
• Between Session Readings
There are several readings accompanying each Session. These are found in the book, Theory of Others. They support and extend the main focus of each Session. Participants are expected to read these for discussion in the following session's Group Reflection time.
SUBHEAD 1Course Overview
Show OH 1.2 Course Overview
OH1:2
The Course consists of the following sessions:
1 The Nature of Learning
2 The Nature of Language
3 Language Processes 1 - Focus on Writing
4 Language Processes 2 - Focus on Spelling
5 Language Processes 3 - Focus on Reading
6 Assessment and Evaluation of Language
Show OH 1:3 Staff Development Model.
OH 1:3
INSERT MODEL OF STAFF DEVELOPMENT COPY C
Refer to this Model and say:
These components of the Course were designed so that we have the opportunity to make explicit our own personal beliefs about learning, about learning language, and about the processes involved in reading and writing and spelling. We will learn about the theories and beliefs of others and consider the implications of these for the classroom. Finally we need to consider how our personal 'theory' is reflected in our practices in our own classrooms.
Teachers who go through this process typically have two kinds of experience - intellectual unrest and affirmation of already held beliefs. Both of these kinds of experiences are necessary for teacher learning.
Sometimes the process of intellectual unrest makes us feel threatened when learning something new and we feel insecure about trying different things in the classroom. These feelings are very normal and each week we will support each other.
In keeping with this model our first workshop will focus on the inner circle, i.e. how we as learners go about the process of learning in the natural world, the world that exists outside classrooms.
WORKHOP 1 OUR LEARNING THEORY
40 mins
Introduction Much of the successful complex learning we do in our lives occurs outside the formal classroom. In this workshop we are going to examine the processes we go through as learners when we learn outside the classroom. We will also consider the role that we as learners play in this learning in relation to the role that others play; as well as considering the role language plays in this learning. By making explicit what we do naturally as learners we can begin to consider the implications for the classroom.
Purpose The purposes of this workshop are:
• to make explicit the process learners go through as they learn something outside the classroom
• to examine the roles of teacher and learner in this process
• to highlight the role of language in learning.
Procedure Ask participant to think about something they have learned recently.
Whole Group:
5 of 40mins We are going to consider the processes we go through when we are learning something new. Think of something that you have learned to do. It can be anything - perhaps learning to play a new sport or a musical instrument, learning to use a microwave, learning the background knowledge to teach precipitation in Science or learning to drive.
Show OH 1:4 Learning to Program a VCR
## THIS IS A NEW OH - SEE COPY 1A
Discuss the steps that a person might go through in learning how to program a VCR. Then direct participants to 'have a go' at their own.
Individually:
5 of 35 mins Ask participants to jot down individually the steps they went through to carry out this learning.
Think about the steps you went through, the attitudes and feelings you had at different times during your learning experience. Jot these down so we can share them in small groups.
Groups of 3
10 of 30mins Share learning experiences in groups of three or four.
Share your learning experience in your group. As you listen to each person's learning experience, try to identify the common components in the experiences. As well as looking for common phases in your learning processes, consider the attitudes and feelings that you may have all experienced. Jot these down and we will discuss them at the end of the workshop.
Whole Group
10 of 20mins
Draw groups together and ask each group to report back to the whole group.
On the chart paper jot down a consensus of the phases, attitudes and feelings that the groups have identified as being part of their learning processes. Try to draw these together into a joint model of learning. Entitle this Our Model of Learning.
Show OH 1:5 My Learning Experience
OH 1:5
INSERT COPY 1B
The questions on this overhead will help the discussion and draw together the model: Our Theory of Learning. Do not feel that the group must respond to ALL questions. Use them as a framework.
Refer to Our Model of Learning and discuss the part that language and literacy play in the learning process.
Role of Language
10 of 10mins
Show OH 1:6 Role of Language
OH1:6
##THIS IS THE OH1:4 IN OLD SESSION 1.
Point out that:
• Our Model of Learning captures the process that learners experience in the natural world
• this can be referred to as 'natural or experiential learning'
• language plays a significant role in the every learning experience that the participants discussed
• few learning experiences occur without the use of language, both written and oral
• language plays different functions in the learning experience
Discuss What does this mean for my classroom practice?
WORKSHOP 2: THE CONDITIONS OF LEARNING
40 Minutes
In the last workshop we explored the nature of learning. We briefly related this to the role that language plays in the learning and the implications for learning and teaching in the classroom. In this workshop we will focus on the conditions which operate to account for the learning that we experienced in the natural setting, that is, learning which occurs outside the school context. To highlight how these conditions operate we will use an example how children learn the oral form of the language of their culture.
Introduction
5 mins of 40
In this section we are going to watch and listen to Dr Brian Cambourne on video. Brian will outline The Conditions of Learning, a theory of learning often referred to as 'naturalistic', 'integrated' or 'experiential learning'. His research has highlighted that successful learning occurs in natural settings when certain conditions are in operation.
Purpose: The purpose of this section is to examine a theory of learning using young children learning to talk as an example.
Procedure:
Refer participants to the Conditions of Learning model on page** of their Notebooks.
Share the following points before viewing the video:
• there are certain common experiences in all the learning experiences we had
• these learning experiences are often referred to as natural or experiental learning, that is, learning which occurred outside a classroom setting
• this learning is as complex as school learning
• when we examine a complex learning achievement which occurs in a natural environment certain conditions can be identified
• Cambourne's research took learning to talk as an exemplar of a complex learning task.
• Certain conditions were found to be operating. These conditions can also be found in any learning task.
Show video.
20 of 35mins
Refer particpants back to their Notebook page** and ask them for any general comments.
5 of 15mins
Refer participants back to their own Learning Experience in their Notebook on page **. Ask them to apply The Conditions of Learning to their own Learning Experience.
Model using OH1:7
Show OH1:7 The Conditions of Learning Applied to MY Learning
COPY 1D
5 of 10mins
In groups share what they found.
5 of 5mins
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Ask participants to examine the grid on page ** in their Notebook and discuss with a partner.
##INSERT GRID IN NOTEBOOK THAT SHOWS THE COL AND WHAT THESE MEAN FOR THE CLASSROOM.
COPY 1E
IMPLICATIONS FOR EVALUATION
10 mins
Assessment and evaluation are taking place all the time at all aspects of the learning cycle. There are a variety of ways to respond and evaluate depending on the phase in the learning cycle. Self evaluation plays an equally as important role as evaluation from others.
Teachers who have this view of integrated learning agree that when these conditions are operating within their classrooms, they consciously use them to drive their evaluation also. For example, in a traditional classroom which is based on a view of learning that students need to memorize words by rote and rules, a misspelling is perceived as an error to be corrected by the teacher before the misspelling becomes a bad habit. The 'responsibility' is in the hands of the teacher.
In an integrated learning classroom, the 'error' is seen as an 'approximation' and thus as a valid attempt to achieve the conventional form of the word. It demonstrates that which the student is coming to know, is gaining control over, is struggling with. The teacher perceives the misspelling as an opportunity to teach the child, however it is the child's responsibility to learn the word. There is an important subtle difference here between correction and teaching. In this way evaluation drives instruction.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
10 mins
Introduction The process of putting thought into written language helps to clarify and reinforce what has been learned. A Learning Journal is a person's written record of his/her thoughts as s/he goes through a process of learning. As part of participants' involvement in this Course they are asked to begin a Learning Journal and keep it for the duration of the Course. In their Journals they should write:
• thoughts, questions or new understandings raised by each session
• reflections and responses to the Between Session Instructional Strategy and Readings.
Purpose The purposes of this time are:
to give participants the opportunity to write a response in their Learning Journal
to give participants the opportunity to discuss the implications of what they have learned for their classroom teaching
to provide feedback for both the Facilitator and the participant.
Procedure
Ask participants to date each entry. Tell them that they will be expected to share their entries with a ‘learning buddy’ and their Facilitator. Remind them that it is important for them to bring their Journal to each session so that they can refer to it in Group Reflection time and write in it in Personal Reflection time. They may also want to add things to their journal during the sessions.
In this first Personal Reflection participants need to link up with a ‘learning buddy’ within the group. Participants need to choose their own ‘buddy’. Point out that they will be asked to write for 5 minutes and at the end of the writing time they share their reflections with their buddy for 5 minutes.
Empasize that they are to focus on what they learned during the session rather than recount what they did in the session.
Point out that they are expected to continue making entries in this Journal throughout the Course. They should extend its use outside of Personal Reflection time and use it to reflect on the Between Session Readings and the Between Session Activities.
Suggest participants use the following questions as a guide for their writing.
Show OH 1:8 Personal Reflections Questions
OH 1:8
What do you think you learned in this session?
What might this mean for teaching in YOUR classroom?
Suggest that participants write these questions into their journals as they will provide a guide for their response to each session.
small groups Ask the group to stop writing after approximately five minutes and invite them to share their thoughts on the question, 'What does all this mean for MY classroom?'
INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY FOR THE CLASSROOM
10 mins
whole group
Introduction This section focuses on Instructional Strategies for you to use in your classrooms. All strategies involve the learner in learning language, learning through language and learning about language. They also involve the use of reading, writing, talking and listening.
NOTE TO FACILITATOR: It would be extremely useful during this section for you to show the class examples of class work that you and your class developed when using the Instructional Strategies.
There are three Instructional Strategies listed for this session: Learning Journals, Shared Reading K-2 and Shared Reading 3-8.
Refer participants to page** in their Theory into Practice book. Ask them the skim through the information on the Instructional Strategy, Learning Journals. Note how the Instructional Strategy is set out to help them carry out the strategy in their classrooms.
Point out that they will be asked to try at least one of these strategies with their students for the next sessions.
FOR THE NEXT SESSION
whole group
SUBHEAD 1 Between Session Activities
Introduction For the next session you are required to try at least one of the Instructional Strategies as outlined in Theory into Practice and read the selected articles in Theory of Others. Your experiences and reflections will be vital to the success of our next Session together.
1. Between Session Instructional Strategy (BSIS) 1:1 Instructional Strategy: Student Learning Journals, Theory into Practice, pages 1-7.
The aim of this activity is for participants to get their students thinking about and reflecting on their learning as well as gaining insight into their learning process.
Ask participants to begin Learning Journals with their students.
Point out that:
• they should first read the Between Session Reading on Learning Journals
• they will need to explain to their students the purpose of the Journals
• they should demonstrate the type of entries they would be expecting the students to make
• they should share their own Journals as a demonstration with their students.
Ask participants to bring in some samples of their students' early entries to share in the next session.
2. BSIS 1:2 Instructional Strategy: Shared Reading 3- 8, Theory into Practice, pages 8-21,
OR BSIS 1:3 Shared Reading K-2. Theory into Practice, pages 22-36.
The aim of this activity is for participants to immerse students in 'good' demonstrations of effective reading behavior.
Ask participants to try the Shared Reading instructional strategy with their class and to reflect on the strategy in their Learning Journal.
SUBHEAD 1 Between Session Readings (BSR)
Ask participants to read the articles listed in their Notebook for the next session.
Suggest they use the questions on page ** in their Notebook to record their thoughts in their Learning Journal.
Ask them to be prepared to share their thoughts at the beginning of the next session.
BSR 1: 1
Cambourne, B.
##COPY TO COME WHEN WE HAVE REWRITTEN THE READING
BSR 1:2 TO BE REPLACED WITH A NEW READING WHICH WILL BE A SUMMARY OF CAINE AND CAINE’S WORK ON BRAIN BASED LEARNING
COPY TO COME
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