Teaching and Learning Forum No 4: The complexity of teaching and learning

St. Leonards College promises…. An Education for Life

This is the commitment we make to our students and their parents. as a college to our students and their parents.

What does this actually mean ? BUT What does this actually mean ?

What does it mean to be Educated for Life? Knowledgeable Confident Self-Managing Balanced Principled Caring Ethical Healthy Reflective Collaborative Thinker Risk-Taker Communicator Community Minded Open Minded Curious Creative and Imaginative Persistent Committed Humility Aware and respectful of self, others and the world in which they live.

Implications for the classroom teacher How do teachers work towards developing these capacities and dispositions in all of our students, while at the same time ensuring the learning of discipline content, skills and understandings and preparing students for high stakes tests?

DEVELOPING EXPERTISE IN A WORLD OF INCREASING COMPLEXITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY To teach well in this complex world requires teachers to build multiple types of knowledge :

The first… content knowledge; … and the most basic is … as teachers guide students toward more complex investigations, it is critical that they have deep knowledge of their discipline.

The second is… … pedagogical knowledge … ranging from: rudimentary questions of classroom management to the creation of authentic and stimulating classroom experiences, designing effective lessons and learning opportunities, developing formative and summative assessments, and building a classroom climate of trust, support, and challenge.

…pedagogical content knowledge … The third is… …pedagogical content knowledge … specific knowledge of how to teach a particular content area. This includes knowledge of the likely steps learners will need to take to reach understanding in a domain, likely misconceptions they will have, and ways to remedy these misconceptions. Understanding the nature of feedback and providing this in a timely manner lies at the heart of addressing such misconceptions.

…knowledge and understanding The fourth is… …knowledge and understanding of human development… key to understanding what kinds of classroom experiences are likely to be appropriate and engaging at specific ages.

…knowledge of cultural contexts … The fifth is… …knowledge of cultural contexts … critical for developing instruction and relationships that are respectful an nurture wellbeing in all students.

different types of knowledge, It is the interplay between these different types of knowledge, as they unfold in action, that will impact on the efficacy of the teaching and the power of the learning experiences for students

building expertise over time Is this level of multifaceted expertise achievable? Certainly not, if we work alone or if we expect to achieve immediate success BUT Certainly possible, if we work together and adopt an authentic and long term view of building expertise over time

Development and growth for teachers can succeed when it is Professional Learning Communities Development and growth for teachers can succeed when it is “sustained over time, focused on important content, and embedded in the work of professional learning communities that support ongoing improvements in teachers’ practice.” Linda Darling-Hammond

Getting the focus and balance right… Just as important as… creating powerful learning opportunities, developing curriculum scope and sequence, marking exams and moderating student work samples, reporting to parents on student learning, and embedding powerful wellbeing practices, So is… the opportunity for teachers to learn collaboratively, in an authentic professional learning community, with a focus on examining the efficacy of our practices we that, over time, we can build individual and collective capacity and expertise

Opportunities to transfer theory into action TRIADS Opportunities to transfer theory into action Developing teacher expertise in all of these areas requires a model that allows for teachers to: translate knowledge and research into action in the classroom, receive feedback on their efforts, is sustained over time, and provides regular individual and collegial opportunities to address, examine and explore solutions to problems of practice as they play out in the classroom or as they are observed in student thinking and learning.

This afternoon is an opportunity to progress our TRIAD work further