TEACHING

with ATL

IN MIND

Lance G King

Managebac Conference

December 2014

www.taolearn.com

ATL tab - an opportunity to share ATL resources world-wide

taolearn@xtra.co.nz

@TAOLearn

http://www.taolearn.com/mailto:taolearn@xtra.co.nz

Teaching with ATL in Mind

The key skills of the self-regulated learner

setting learning goals

planning out study, managing time well

asking good questions

generating self-motivation and perseverance

processing information effectively skimming, sifting, sorting, comparing, verifying, paraphrasing,

recording

overcoming procrastination, working to deadlines

reflecting on learning progress both process (how effective is my learning?) and content (what

dont I understand yet?)

learning from every mistake and bouncing back

making changes to learning processes where necessary and trying again

IB MYP ATL Skills Framework (could the DP use the same framework?):

ATL:

ATL Skills are not subject matter in themselves, they are a collection of the processes, skills,

techniques and strategies needed to learn any and every subject.

ATL Skills are not more content to be learned they are processes to be experienced and improved.

ATL Skills are a combination of:

Cognitive

Affective and

Meta-cognitive

- processes, skills, techniques and strategies

Cognitive skills - active information processing and retrieval strategies study skills

Organising and transforming information

Asking good questions

Taking good classroom notes

Using memory techniques

Goal setting

Reviewing information regularly

Time management

Organising the study environment

Affective skills - enabling the student to gain some control over mood, motivation and attitude

Persistence and perseverance

Focus and concentration

Self-motivation

Mindfulness

Emotional management

Resilience

Metacognition: a combination of

o Metacognitive Knowledge - students gaining awareness of the thinking and learning

strategies, techniques and skills they use at present

o Metacognitive Performance using that knowledge to improve performance, change

ineffective strategies, try new techniques, learn new skills

Are there Core Generic ATL skills?

universal

essential to the learning process

not age specific

they persist throughout the life of the learner as the most fundamental skills

they do not change in nature but may well increase in complexity with the age of the learner

ATL Core Generic Skills (numbers in brackets are from IB MYP ATL skill description framework) eg:

1. Time management classes, assignments, exam study (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d)

2. Listening accurate reception, following instructions (1.1a, 1.1b)

3. Note making - recording information accurately and personally (1.2i, 1.2j, 1.2k)

4. Concentration, focus, perseverance, persistence - staying on task (4.1a, 4.1b, 4.1c, 4.2a)

5. Group work and team work cooperation and communication (2d, 2f, 2g, 2h, 2i, 2j, 2k)

6. Goal setting and task management (3e, 3f, 3g, 3h)

7. Information search, retrieval, comparison, verification (6a, 6b, 6c, 6g, 6h, 6i, 6k, 7a)

8. Writing for different purposes essays, reports, creative writing (1.2e, 1.2n, 6f)

9. IT skills word processing, spread-sheeting, creating presentations (6j)

10. Gaining understanding - reflection, review, formulating questions (5e, 5f, 5g, 6e, 1.1c, 8d)

11. Learning from mistakes resilience, failing well (4.4a, 4.5a, 4.5b)

12. .

13. .

Are there key Core Generic ATL skill Step-ups across a students school life?

At the entry into the PYP?

At the entry into the MYP ?

Half-way through the MYP?

Entry into the DP?

At the completion of the DP?

Do students need to be taught those skills before they make the step-up or will they learn them after they

do?

Teaching Cognitive Skills explicitly through models, best practice - teaching strategies, techniques:

Define the parameters of the skill - characteristics, examples of high and low proficiency

Describe best practice in the field how do the best students do it?

Break each skill down into strategies and techniques

Teach them through practical examples

Allow for personal difference

Teaching Affective Skills:

1) Drawing out and transferring internalised strategies

Define the parameters of the skill - characteristics, examples of high and low proficiency

Remember a time when you were exhibiting this skill

Describe your experience in detail focusing on strategies and techniques

Practice using those techniques deliberately when next you need to exercise that skill

2) Explicitly as with Cognitive skills or

3) Experientially

Setting up experiences for students that bring about the development or use of Affective Skills like self-

motivation, resilience, perseverance, concentration, focus, leadership, bouncing back after mistakes and

failures

PE many aspects of Physical Education can be used to highlight the development of affective skills

Outdoor Education taking students out of the classroom can create opportunities for the

development of affective skills

Influencing a School Culture through Skill Acquisition

What gets the highest praise at your school?

Process or Outcomes?

What if high praise was meted out to process courage, determination, perseverance, resilience,

self-motivation.

How could that influence your school culture?

Self-Assessment

Novice

Watch

Learner

Copy

Practitioner

Do

Master

Teach

Can watch others

performing tasks and

using the skill

High levels of scaffolding

from teacher needed

Can copy others

performance of the skill

Medium level of

scaffolding needed

Can demonstrate the

skill on demand

Minimal teacher

scaffolding required

Can teach others the skill

No teacher scaffolding

required

Which also suggests a 4th Method of Teaching ATL Skills:

Peer teaching:

Use self-assessment to rank students as Novices, Learners, Practitioners and Experts

Ask the Experts if they could teach the rest

Provide learning opportunities across the class for:

o Watchers

o Copiers

o Doers

o Teachers

Teaching Core Generic ATL Skills - key questions:

When - is there room in the timetable where CG skills lessons can be placed?

How what is the best teaching method for each CG skill?

Who who will develop the model or method of implementation of each skill

Do you need to guarantee consistency of reinforcement of each CG skill in their classroom?

If so How?

As well as Core Generic ATL Skills are there also Subject Specific skills that students need?

Additional skills of:

Scientific literacy?

Mathematical literacy?

Creative literacy?

Artistic literacy?

Language literacy?

Technological literacy?

Physical literacy?

Are there key Subject Specific skill Step-ups?

Do they occur at the same points as the C-C Skills?

Which ATL skills are assessed already?:

In Languages researching, reading, writing, note making, key word summarising, paraphrasing

In Science creating research questions, researching, designing experiments, gathering and

analysing data, drawing conclusions, reporting findings

In TOK critical thinking?

In Maths logical, analytical thinking?

In the Arts creativity, imagination?

In Technology software management skills?

Practicing Self-Regulated Learning in the Classroom:

POSBGIL - Process Oriented, Skills Based, Guided Inquiry Learning designed to develop self-regulated (self-

managed, self-directed, independent, lifelong) learners through inquiry-based learning focused on teaching

the ATL skills students need to learn all their subjects efficiently and effectively.

Factors making POSBGIL possible:

a focus on the teaching of learning skills in the national curricula of 12 countries and across the IB

world

the proliferation of high quality school subject based websites

the ubiquity of internet accessible devices

the availability of high speed broadband

the high level of comfort your students have with the digital world

In a POSBGIL lesson teachers would:

focus on developing the ATL skills needed to learn the subject matter effectively

pose questions, outline problems, set challenges, give clear measurable objectives and time frames

allow students to work collaboratively in small groups

assign roles researcher, questioner, recorder, director

enable them to connect to the best subject based internet (and other) resources

facilitate their journey

Great websites for Teachers and Students:

www.taolearn.com/students.php - the Art of Learning website with links to many free sites to help

you design lessons and to help your students with their study including:

www.marktreadwell.com/Digital_Resources + www.marktreadwell.com/Image_Libraries - huge

libraries of digital resources for teachers

www.topmarks.co.uk - search engine for many great school subject websites

www.Udacity.com

www.Coursera.com

www.TEDed.com

Teaching Task:

Take an existing lesson and turn it into a series of questions, the answers to which will lead the

student to the conclusions you are after.

Find the web pages you would need to link up to design an internet based inquiry learning exercise to

enable your students to find the answers to the questions you propose.

Developing Resilient, Self-Regulated Learners

Challenge them to learn for themselves and to use failure as feedback

Teach them all the skills of effective SRL

Give them lots of opportunities to practice resilient SRL in the classroom

Build in systems of reward for resilience and for effective self-regulation

Make sure students reflect on the development of their own proficiency in SRL

Implementing the POSBGIL revolution will take courage use your courage strategy.

http://www.taolearn.com/students.phphttp://www.marktreadwell.com/Digital_Resourceshttp://www.marktreadwell.com/Image_Librarieshttp://www.topmarks.co.uk/http://www.udacity.com/http://www.coursera.com/http://www.teded.com/