Learning Labs

Learning Labs 2-page PDF overview Learning Labs are organized opportunities for teachers to engage in the work of teaching together. Learning Labs are designed to offer professional learning with our students in our classrooms and foster collaborative communities. Educators continue to learn from one another and develop shared practices. - University of Washington , College of

The steps of a Learning Lab are as follows:

Introduce: First, teachers, coaches, and principals engage in professional learning around particular content, a particular instructional activity, or “talk moves” that can help elicit student ideas.

Prepare: Next, the group plans and practices a lesson collaboratively, anticipating student thinking, considering the benefits and challenges of particular moves, and developing shared goals for the lesson.

Enact: Then teachers go into a classroom together and teach the lesson. Team members engage in the teaching together.

Analyze: After the classroom visit teachers analyze how the lesson went, considering what was learned about student thinking in relation to the content and how decisions played out in the classroom. Teachers also decide on some common instructional activities that they will try in their classroom. Through these common commitments, the learning cycle continues as teachers try common practices and learn from one another about how these plans play out in their various classrooms.