Independent learners Creatively creating independent learners
Feb 22, 2016
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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