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March 17, 2022
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MODULE FOUR
Planning and Teaching the Whole Child
MODULE FOUR
Planning and Teaching the Whole Child
In module three, we learned about the essential components to fostering inclusive learning communities that are beneficial to all community members. We continue to reflect upon the learners in our learning communities. In module four, we will give thought to relational approaches, social and emotional needs and the impact each of these roles can have on academic learning, planning and teaching.
Objectives
Objectives
Describe the importance of knowing your learners (relationally, socially, emotionally and academically) and how this information will inform and drive your planning and teaching.
Demonstrate how to implement different forms of assessment.
Essential Question
Essential Question
How can I use formative assessments, observational assessments and relational connections to inform my instruction?
Module Learning & Activities
Module Learning & Activities
Gallagher-Mackay and Steinhauer (2017) argue that we need to be looking at the whole child and that our job as educators goes beyond academics. Each student enters their learning communities with different strengths, interests, needs and identities, educators need to be flexible and intentional when planning instruction to ensure that the learning opportunities they provide meet the social, emotional and academic needs of today’s diverse learners.
Relational Approach
Teachers are facilitators and students are the ones who are driving the topics for exploration and discovery. The teacher puts students in decision-making roles by allowing them to share their learning in a variety of ways, inviting them to express their ideas, thoughts, and learning through visual projects and orally. The teacher also models and affirms creativity by building upon students’ prior knowledge and diverse life experiences when designing lessons, providing interactive learning experiences, and examining the different ways that students demonstrate what they know, understand, and can do.
Social and Emotional Support
Social emotional learning (SEL) is defined on CASEL website (2018) as: “the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and managed emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions making.”
In order for our students to be successful academically, they need to have strategies to help them navigate through the social norms, expectations and how to build relationships in a school community. Providing our students with explicit and intentional SEL will not only impact their lives in our classroom but could have a ripple effect impacting their lives in our school community, at home and in the future.
Practitioner Resources
Schonert-Reichl, K & Hymel, S. (2007). Educating the Heart as Well as the Mind Social Emotional Learning for School and Life Success.
Halfon, N., Houtrow, A., Larson, K., & Newacheck, P.W. (2012). The changing landscape of disability in childhood. The Future of Children, 22(1), 13–42.
Model of Inclusive Practices
A model of inclusive education in practice should include students with and without disabilities that are based in a regular structure and benefit from the shared ownership of general and special educators. Inclusive practices should include:
A Student-centered Approach - Beginning with Profiles that help educators appreciate the strengths and challenges of learners with and without disabilities and the individualized accomplishments that can be attained.
A Schedule that accounts for the full range of needs in the class - where no student engages in “pull out” or alternative activities to the extent that disruptions in the daily schedule and in peer relationships do not occur.
A Curriculum that is rich and accommodating for all students - and when further individualized to meet the needs of a particular learner.
A Teaming Process in which support staff work in flexible, coordinated ways to strengthen the collaborative relationships among special and regular educators, parents and educators, and educators and the community.
A Classroom Climate that embraces diversity, fosters a sense of social responsibility, and supports positive peer relationships (Norman Kunc, 1992, as cited in Causton & Theoharis, 2014, p. 33).
Learner-Centred Assessment
Assessments are an integral part of daily instruction. "There's more to assessment than test scores. By assessing students' passions, learning styles, success skills, and levels of rigor, teachers can create a student-centered classroom" (Miller, 2015). We need to revisit the way assessment is approached to ensure it is reflective of the whole child. Students are more responsive when they feel that their teacher has faith in their abilities and is not focusing on their inabilities, value their life experiences and interests and believe that they are capable of amazing accomplishments.
Assessing Student Passions and Learning Preferences, Assessing 21st-Century/Skills, Formative Assessment of Content and Skills and Assessing for Instruction are forms of assessment that promote students’ physical, social-emotional, and behavioural well-being and achievement.
Practitioner Resources
Assessing Students' Passions and
Learning Preferences
Assessing students for their passions, interests and hobbies is a key component to creating an inclusive community. Each student enters the learning community with life experience, values and beliefs. Getting to know our students as individuals first, then as learners is invaluable to creating a student-centred learning environment. Encouraging students to explore passions and interests increases engagement, allows educators to differentiate appropriately and allows students to learn new things in different ways.
Examples
Conversations
Observations
Family, Guardians, Caregivers, Colleagues
Writing/Journals
Surveys
Learner Preference Self-Assessment
(Click here to return to Module 2 - Assessment can be found near the bottom of this module)
Learner Preference Card
Assessing 21st-Century Skills
“There is a pressing need to help young people develop as creative thinkers so that they’re prepared for life in a fast-changing world” (Berdoussis, 2018, p. 158). With society rapidly changing, we need students to become citizens who have the ability and confidence to think and act in creative ways. As educators, we play a critical role in shaping our future leaders. Today more than ever before, we need to take the necessary steps to ensure that our classrooms are places that embrace and embody a creative society. By assessing 21st-century skills, we can provide targeted opportunities and instructions that will allow our students to grow in areas more than knowledge or skills.
Formative Assessment of
Content and Skills
Formative Assessment can be used to assess students' understanding of content and skills. Data can be used to identify trends and provide evidence that can drive instruction. We need to be cognizant that formative assessments provide a snapshot of student learning at a specific moment and time. Teachers should consider using low-stakes formative assessment as an additional way to assess students' content knowledge and skills. Allowing educators to learn which concepts and skills need to be retaught, and which ones students have mastered. Students would have the opportunity to redo the assessment. Nurturing a safe environment that is more student-centred.
Examples
Student Work
Observations
Portfolios
Exit slips
Running Records
Self & Peer Evaluation
Flip Grid
Quiz/Polls (digital sites - Kahoot, Plickers, Jamboards)
Assessing for Instruction
"Truly, assessment can be a powerful force for knowing our students and creating a classroom that can meet their needs. We simply have to move past the baggage that comes with the term assessment and understand that it can mean a lot of things. We can assess for content and skills, yes, but we can also assess for passions, interests, success skills, and the like for the purposes of the right instruction at the right time" (Miller, 2015).
When combining each of these assessment pieces important data and information gathered should drive your instruction and fosters a student-centred inclusive learning community that meets the needs of the whole child. Resulting in higher student engagement, improvements in social-emotional skills, values student choice and voice and prepares students to become leaders in the 21st-century.
Examples of Instruction
Whole Group
Small Group
One-on-One
Think Aloud
Modelling
Independent Practice
“When teachers plan and implement culturally responsive daily lessons grounded in students’ lived experience, learning needs and culture, as well as research-based effective practices,
student achievement and well-being will improve” (HRCE, 2019).
UDL Principles and Assessment
In order to meet the learning needs of the whole child, it is important that take what you know about your learners and examine the three areas of the UDL framework (Why of Learning, What of Learning, How of Learning). When thinking about the form(s) of assessment you will use to to meet the learning preferences and needs of the learners in your community this information will help to guide your choice.
by Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at OU
The literature states that teachers may promote student engagement and support students’ motivation to learn by:
helping students set appropriately challenging learning goals;
creating learning experiences that students value;
supporting students’ sense of control and autonomy;
developing students’ sense of competency by helping them to self-monitor their progress; and
creating supportive learning environments where students feel safe and valued (National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, 2018, p. 133).
by Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at OU
by Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at OU
Credit: Ms. Graham, Rocky Lake Elementary
(Grade 5)
by Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at OU
by Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at OU
Reflection
Take time to reflect on the following question:
What forms of assessment will you implement to inform your practice and enhance student learning?
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