Focus on the Learner

DAY 1 Monday, March 8 Download Handout

DAY 2 Download Handout

Overview:
HOUR 1

8:30 - 9:00
Name Tent construction & discussion
Learning Style Inventory completion and discussion

9:00 - 9:30
Lecture on motivation
Cooperative learning activity on motivation

HOUR 2

9:30 - 10:30
Choices for students with 4-skills activities

[Break 10:30 - 11:00]

HOUR 3

11:00 - 11:30
Cooperative learning and the basis of communicative language teaching

12:00 - 12:30
Group project creation

HOUR 4

12:30 - 1:30
Group project completion
Group Project presentations

HOUR 5

1:00 - 2:00
Summarizing & elaborating on group projects
Writing language learning histories (assignment)

Session A: Focus on the Learner (Monday March 8)
Monday March 8
Introduction of participants and presenter; goals for the seminar
1. Write notes on Jill's bio here:
Jill is from _____________ and has taught in ___________ and _____________. She likes _____________ and has ____________ people in her family.
Her goal for this seminar is:

2. Write your own short bio
I'm from ___________________________________________
I am teaching ___________________________________________
In my free time, I like to ___________________________________________
About my family: ___________________________________________
I came to this seminar to ___________________________________________

3. Find one person sitting near you whom you don't know yet. Talk with the person for a few minutes and share your bio orally (without showing this paper)

Write about this person:

Name:
Hometown:
Level this person is teaching now:
She/He likes:
His/Her goal for this seminar is:

4. Get together with another pair of teachers. Introduce yourselves and share your goals. Write one sentence which describes the goals of all the members of your group. Choose one person to write this on the board.

[COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRUCTURE: THINK - PAIR - SHARE]

Setting goals for our language learning and teaching

(Answers given by workshop participants are shown in italics)

What is the value in setting goals for an activity? It gives both teacher and students a direction in which to focus their efforts, allows for evaluation, and increases motivation

When do we need to set general (or long-term) goals?At the beginning of a term, a new unit, or the school year

When do we need to set specific (or short-term) goals?at the beginning of any activity

How often should we evaluate whether our goals have been met? It should be an ongoing process

Circle true or false for each question:

T F 1. I ask my students about their goals
T F 2. Some students have told me about their goals
T F 3. I suggest goals to my students
T F 4. My students adopt the goals I suggest to them
T F 5. My students have clearly defined goals

How do the students' goals align with the goals of University of Ruhuna English Teaching Programme?

a. Objective my students are meeting: Learning actively

What we do now in class that helps students meet this objective: Interactive classroom activity such as role plays, drama, speeches, debates

b. Objective my students are NOT meeting yet: Speaking English outside of class

What I would like to do in class to help students meet this objective: Discuss how this will help them to meet their long-term goals for using English professionally

Share this with a neighbor.
Can you suggest anything to help your neighbor's students meet the objective?

Now look at the list of more specific goals for each language skill.
Choose a language skill that you think your students need more help with. Write it here: _________________ . Then look at the goals for that skill.
Which ones can most of them meet now? Write some here;

Which one do you think would be most helpful to them as they use English in the future ? Write it here.

Now share your choices with your group.

Language Learning Theory Discussion:
Distinguishing between learning strategies & learning styles
What kind of learner am I? How do I learn best?
Research on learning strategies and styles.

Application exercise: Identifying learning styles
Take the Learning Style Survey. Refer to the results of your survey. Discuss these questions with a neighbor:
What kind of learner are you? ___________
What kind of learning style do you think describes most language teachers? ___________ Why?

Compare your result on this survey:
LEARNING STYLE INVENTORY

Then, check your score - whic is higher? are they balanced? If you are a VISUAL LEARNER, that is, you have a high visual score, then by all means be sure you see all study materials. Use charts, maps, filmstrips, notes and flashcards. Practice visualizing or picturing spelling words, for example, in your head. Write out everything for frequent and quick visual review. It is obvious you learn best when you SEE things… make it a point to see things.

If you are an AUDITORY LEARNER, that is, have auditory score, then be sure to use CDs, downloaded or online audio files. Sit in the front of the lecture hall or classroom where you can hear best and can review them frequently. Tape your class or lecture notes. After you read something, summarize it on tape or out loud. Verbally review spelling words, lectures or test material with a friend.

If you are a Tactual LEARNER, that is, have a high tactile score, trace words, for example, as you are saying them. Facts that must be learned should be written several times. Keep a supply of scratch paper just for that purpose. Taking and keeping lecture notes will be very important.

DAY 2

HOUR 1

How could you use a name tent like this in structuring classroom interaction?

Discussion of Learning Style Inventory

What is the most common perceptual learning style mode in this group?
How do you meet the needs of students with styles different from yours?
_____
Language learning motivation: how to stimulate motivation
A. Creating an environment that stimulates motivation

Erika Rehmke-Ribary (1997) recommends these specific classroom management methods that contribute to the development of intrinsic motivation:

Fostering Student Autonomy: provide choices, minimize pressure, allow alternative solutions

Understanding The Children: encourage originality, promote success, be aware of their interests

Engaging Curriculum: make lessons stimulating, create meaningful lessons, focus on learning

Creating Community develop rules together, allow rituals and celebrations, use positive feedback

Author of Punished by Rewards Alfie Kohn says:

“I sometimes talk about the three Cs of motivation. The first C is content. Far less interesting to me than whether a student has learned what he was supposed to is the question, "Has the child been given something to do worth learning?" If you ask me what to do about a kid being "off task"—one of our favorite buzzwords—my first response is going to be, "What's the task?" If you're giving them garbage to do, yes, you may have to bribe them to do it. If the kids have to endlessly fill in the blanks on dittos, you're not going to get rid of rewards or threats anytime soon.

The second C is community: not only cooperative learning but helping kids feel part of a safe environment in which they feel free to ask for help, in which they come to care about one another as opposed to having to be manipulated to share or not be mean. Some of the outstanding work on creating caring communities is being done by the Developmental Studies Center in Oakland, California. The third C is choice: making sure that kids are asked to think about what they're doing and how and with whom and why. You know, kids learn to make good choices not by following directions but by making choices.

You show me a school that really has those three Cs in place—where students are working with one another in a caring environment to engage with interesting tasks that they have some say in choosing—and I'll show you a place where you don't need to use punishments or rewards.”

Creating worthwhile content cooperative learning activity: In a group of four, decide how you will answer the questions below and report to the group. Use the Cooperative Learning Structures reference here for ideas on structuring your work as a group.You can choose to a) report orally b) report on chart paper, or c) something else your group decides.

Address the following questions:

1. What content is relevant to your students today? (What do they like to read or hear about outside of language class?)
2. How do you discover whether what you are teaching is relevant to your students?
3. What knowledge or skills will the students need ten years from now?
4. What can you teach them now that will still be useful in ten years?
   

Is there any way that one can predict what they will need? Consider the skill of typing – how has it evolved in the past 20 years? The difficulty you may have in answering the above questions points to the main reason for teaching critical thinking – it is a way of ensuring that students will be able to process the flood of information that will be a part of their everyday lives.

Hour 2

Exploration of motivation techniques
C. Empowering students
Every classroom activity represents an opportunity to give students choices: imagine a simple reading exercise. What choices can you give your students about how to engage with the reading? Complete the chart with more ideas for student choices.

Now imagine other exercises or pick them out from the texts provided and complete the table:

Students who are given a wide range of choices for how they learn become competent at seeking out their own opportunities to use English. A progressive teacher can structure ways to allow them to frequently share these with the class. How do your students practice or study independently now?

Hour 3

Cooperative learning and the basis of communicative language teaching

What are the theoretical foundations of cooperative learning?

Constructivist education
The concept of constructivist education is one that rejects the transmission approach where the teacher delivers information to the student. Rather, in constructivist classrooms, students actively create ways to interact with the material to be learned and apply strategies that help to connect new material to prior knowledge and deepen understanding and long-term retention. Students choose topics and activities in a constructivist classroom. These choices create challenges for the student, which in turn require the use of learning strategies such as elaboration. Elaboration leads to better understanding of material, provides practice opportunities, and helps to build a cooperative class spirit.

Critical thinking
Teaching critical thinking has become a priority in an age where we are assaulted with an overload of information. Students need the skills that will allow them to make judgments about the validity of information from the Internet and the wide range of media that are available. Part of critical thinking is understanding the attitudes behind the message and making a judgment about the intention of the speaker or writer. Responsible citizens of the global village cannot passively consume information – rather, they should always be questioning. It is this questioning that creates an atmosphere of curiosity and excitement in the language classroom.

Critical thinking…
is not a new concept: critical thinkers include John Dewey, Francis Bacon, and Socrates
is a habit of mind, but also a skill that can be taught like other skills, it is improved by thinking about how you do it: thus, thinking about how you think, or metacognition, is recommended to develop critical thinking skills involves always thinking about why something is being said, why things are done a certain way. It is this questioning that creates an atmosphere of curiosity and excitement in the language classroom. It also means a student can no longer be PASSIVE.

Learner autonomy:
The self-directed learner is an adaptable, life-long learner who will be able to meet whatever challenges the future presents. Learner autonomy is required when we move away from the teacher-centered classroom; individual responsibility for managing learning grows as the teacher allows more control of the learning process by students.

Zone of proximal development
Vygotsky (1978) maintained the child follows the adult's example and gradually develops the ability to do certain tasks without help or assistance. He called the difference between what a child can do with help and what he or she can do without guidance the "zone of proximal development" (ZPD).
The ZPD is the reason why group work is so important in the constructivist classroom. Peers with slightly higher levels of achievement can assist a learner more readily than the teacher, who is at a much higher level, and may not present the task or model the needed skill as clearly as a peer would. (Excerpted from R.G. Tharp and R. Gallimore (1988). Rousing minds to life (p.35). )

Constructivist Models of Education
Students need regular opportunities to do more than memorize what teachers and books tell them. For deep learning to occur, students need to deal with information and experience and put it together to make meaningful sense.

Teachers can help students acquire deep learning by:

• Listening to students' ideas and encouraging their questions.
• Encouraging students to actively participate in doing, discussing, and creating.
• Providing more than one source of information so students can see different perspectives and have many inputs.
• Encouraging students to compare and contrast ideas.
• Including writing so students can think through their ideas
  (http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at7lk6.htm)

What is cooperative learning?
Cooperative learning is an important part of the communicative teaching method. Working with classmates provides an opportunity to use the language and solve problems as well.

Cooperative learning is based on five basic elements - which form the acronym "PIGSFace"

Positive interdependence - "We're all in this together. Either we all sink (fail) or we all swim (succeed)". Your group has mutual goals, joint rewards (group bonus points), shared resources (one page with the assignment) and assigned roles (see below). Individual Accountability - Each student's performance is assessed individually (no group exams!). Group Processing - As you complete an assignment you will take a look at "How well did we do?" An honest assessment makes a winning team. Social Skills - leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication and conflict management Face-to-face Promotive Interaction - By default, you will promote each other's learning by helping, hearing, and encouraging.

            There are a variety of settings in which one can use Cooperative Learning. One kind of grouping, called Informal Cooperative Learning Groups, uses this as the starting point. For example, the teacher might "lecture" for a short period of time. Then she will ask you to turn to your partner and discuss a question she posed which relates to the material. In this scenario, each member of the pair must Formulate an individual answer, then Share their answer with their partner. Each person must Listen carefully to their partner's answer. Then the pair must Create a new answer that is superior to their initial formulation through the process of association, building on each other's thoughts, and synthesizing. She might randomly call on a member from several pairs to explain the answer before going on to another topic.
            A more structured task-oriented arrangement would use what are called Formal Cooperative Learning Groups. Now, the group has a specific size (4 to 6), a specific task (problem of some sort to solve) and each member has a clearly defined role. PIGS-Face applies very strongly here. In order to accomplish the group task, each group member must have a role. There are two general categories, work roles and group roles. These are discussed below:

Leader/manager - manages the group and ensured that the members are fulfilling their roles and working cooperatively.
Reader - If only one copy of the assignment is distributed, then one group member reads the instructions, out loud, to the rest of the group.
Recorder - Records group's answers and explanations along with other pertinent information. Also writes down the group's discussion and edits the group's report.
Technician/Calculator - performs all technical operations for the group including use of calculator, computer, etc.
Reporter or Spokesperson - restates (to the group or the whole class) the group's major conclusions effectively. The instructor accepts only the answer given by the Reporter (or sometimes the Recorder).
Materials handler: collects materials for the group (from central position) necessary to accomplish the task.
Encourager of participation - ensures that all members are participating.
Checker for understanding - ensures that all group members can explicitly explain how to arrive at an answer or conclusion.
Accuracy coach - corrects any mistakes in another member's explanations or summaries.
Skeptic - makes sure all of the possibilities have been explored by asking questions like "What other possibilities are there?" "Let's try to look at this another way." "I'm not sure we're on the right track."
Reflector/observer - Observes and reports on the group dynamics; keeps track of how well the group cooperates.
What roles would work for your students?

Practical application of theory: begin group projects on meeting individual learning styles, increasing motivation, or cooperative learning
Form a group with teachers from a similar level
Choose a lesson from your text or a typical lesson you teach.
Discuss how you can improve the way you teach by using cooperative learning or constructivist models, or learning styles.
Group project creation:With your group, create a sample presentation of an activity that incorporates the principles discussed in this session. Prepare to present it to the seminar group.

Hour 4

Hour 5

b. What was the most difficult concept for you to understand?

c. What activity was the most valuable to you?

d. Which activity did you enjoy most?

e. What is one question that you did not have answered to your satisfaction?
2. Form a group and share your answers with your group. Bring up one question to share with the group as a whole.

3. Writing language learning histories
Form a small group. Discuss the questions given below. Compare your experiences with those of your colleagues.
Write your own language learning history: (use notebook paper or the computer)
How did you learn English in Junior High and Senior High?
What positive and negative experiences did you have and what did you learn from them?
What are the areas that you still want to improve in?
What are your language learning plans and goals after this seminar?
What advice would you give to the teachers who cannot attend a seminar like this?

Glossary of terms

cognitive models of learning: learning is seen as an “active, dynamic process in which learners select from incoming information, encode it into long-term memory, and retrieve it when needed
information processing: study of the thinking processes associated with learning and remembering. Learning requires processing new information by organizing it, elaborating on it, and connecting it with new material.
metacognition: executive control over thinking processes; knowing about one’s thinking processes and understanding how to monitor and direct learning and thinking
schema theory: learning occurs as we make sense of life experiences according to our existing knowledge of the structure of a situation
constructivism: learners actively construct meaning using their background knowledge as a frame for relating to new information
social-cognitive models of learning: investigate the roles of interactions between individuals and group processes in learning.
self-efficacy: learner’s belief in their ability to succeed at a learning task
cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational strategies
self-regulated learning: effective learning which is aided by the learner’s application of cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational strategies
zone of proximal development: Vygotsky’s theory that students develop mature thinking by observing how teachers and other experts approach learning tasks and practicing expert processes with coaching from teachers or fellow students. The ZPG is the time when learners can achieve at a higher level than would be possible without the assistance of teachers or other more proficient learners.