Then when I read, researched and wrote a post about results driven education, I was reminded of the skills we need to emphasize as students navigate information resources. Students need to be able to "locate, access, analyze, evaluate and create knowledge."
After that, a recent parent memo reminded me that parents working outside of the information exchange might not understand or be up to date with current research skills and expectations as well as the vast, targeted information resources available.
What does this mean for the work we do?
It means that our work will travel parallel paths. One path will focus on discrete skill building. On this path we'll specifically teach, learn and practice skills associated with locating, accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating knowledge. These focus skills will be taught online and off in relatively short lessons with quick response; lessons that are repeated again and again with meaningful text and inquiry to build research skill and knowledge.
The complimentary path will be the project/problem base path--the path where teacher acts as a guide and activator prompting engagement, perseverance, practice and learning success. Integral elements of this learning path include the following:
Topic Choice: We must consider the broad topics we ask students to research with care and depth. The topics chosen must engage and excite children as engagement and investment are critical factors
Questions: Next we have to focus on questioning? Rather than content driven in this info age, we must be question driven.
Learning Path: After determining the essential questions, we should decide on learning paths. Questions that will lead these paths include:
- Why am I traveling this investigation path?
- What resources will we use?
- What websites, books and activities will best provide the information we need?
- How and when will we access these resources?
- When we access the resources, how will we collect the information, and what will we do with the information once we collect it?
- How do we plan to share the information we collect? What kinds of presentation will we create? Who is our audience?
- Where, when and whom should I look to for guidance and help as I navigate this learning path?
- What is the learning time line? When is the presentation due?
Presentation: What role does presentation play in this endeavor? How will we plan and share the presentation?
Reflection and Assessment: What worked, and what did not? How will this affect our next learning endeavor?
Recently colleagues and I revisited and revised a learning unit. We created a website to guide students' independent work. Now by employing the parallel paths above we'll teach in a tight, direct way for skill introduction and practice, and then provide time and guidance for student study, research and creation.
As we continue to build a learning environment that focuses on "learning to learn," I believe we will have to focus on the following questions.
- What are the best targeted, engaging, short lessons for teaching students specific skills related to information location, access, analysis, evaluation and creation?
- How do we create environments that foster teacher guidance and independent work to develop students' project/problem base learning? What tools, structures and routines will support these environments i.e. content websites, resource lists and links, share walls, recording studios. . .?
- How do we include the entire learning community in this shift with regard to idea exchange and education? Do we host family-educator-student coaching sessions? Do we discuss as a team where our proficiencies and needs are in this regard, then share our skills and knowledge with each other?
- In what ways do we assess success? Do we end the year with an independent project that students create mostly on their own and assess with specific criteria related to our teaching focus, then use the results to refine our work as well as communicate students' further needs to teachers in the next grade, parents and students?
