Independent learners

Creatively creating independent learners

Starter• You will be working in groups of three

completing different task. • Person 1 – go the library and research

Australia• Person 2 – read the article and make

notes. • Person 3 – use the article as basis to

start your planning of a presentation on Australia.

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Context• Independent learners are the last piece

of the puzzle

• We have created a dependency culture.

• Emphasis on product rather than process of learning.

• Applies particularly to A Level but consider applying the principles in KS3 and 4.

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What is independent learning?

Students taking increasing responsibility for:• identifying their own ‘need-to-know’• searching for relevant information and

gaining knowledge on their own• learning on their own with minimum

supervision• actively seeking ways to solve their own

problems and difficulties• assessing their own learning to see if their

needs-to-know are metCre

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The advantages of creating independent learners

• Better utilizes class-contact time• Promotes active student learning• Caters for differential student needs• Helps students learn how to learn• Encourages students to take

responsibility for their own learning• Prepares students for lifelong learning

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Promoting independent learning:

Is Not: • simply abandoning ‘lectures’ and telling

students to learn on their own• placing the responsibility for learning

entirely on the students

Is About: • a different way of helping students learn• facilitating and supporting students to

learn increasingly on their own

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What does effective independent learning look like?

• Pupil teacher interaction is still essential• Planning by pupils is still important, they need

clear deadlines and outcomes. • The learning process is as important as the

content. • Offer students choices, be flexible.• Independent learning does not necessarily mean

individual work - pair/group work is just as important.

• Variety• Support and encouragement

Creative ideas

• Thinkers keys• Learning maps with a outline of the

activity.• Structured note taking – give them sub

headings to make notes on. • Give them lesson plan – get them to plan

a present a 20 minute lesson. • Write a sheet on how to do a great

presentation or PowerPoint. • Create your own wiki or website.C

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Teacher’s Toolkit

• Use your copy of the Teacher’s Toolkit to identify one activity that you could use in your lesson to encourage independent learning.

• Plan/discuss how you would use one of the ideas in your lesson with the person next to you.

Thank you for listening

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Starter• In the middle of your table is a image. • By yourself, write as many questions as

you can think of when you see the image. 1minute

• Discuss and decide as a group, which question you would most like answered. 1minute

• Write down ways in which you could find the answers out to these questions as a group. 2minutes

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CLOSE

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Making students feel ‘safe’

• Start small, introduce changes gradually and progressively

• Clear instructions on tasks;• What,• How, and• When• Ensure availability of help• Regular feedback on progress

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