The Responsive Classroom
MEETING THE NEEDS OF YOUR CHILD
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Parent Engagement Evening
Guardian Angels Catholic Elementary School
February 26th, 2015
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Tonight's Learning Goal
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What do you remember about
Your days in the classroom?
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What did your school and classroom look like?
What did it sound like?
What did it smell like?
How did you feel going to school?
How did you feel coming home from school?
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Are you thinking, 'Well, it was good enough for me,
so why do we need to change things?'
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Well, was it good enough for you?
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What do you notice about today's classrooms compared to the classrooms you were taught in?
Our Classrooms Today
Using tablets Jan 2015
One Of My Favourite Engaging Experiences
Co-learning with the Grade 2s and Grade 6s
Tablet Buddies
Our Math Classroom Today
A math gallery walk
giving feedback about the day's math lesson
Using music to remember
How To Plot Coordinate Pairs Correctly On A Grid
Plotting Coordinate Pairs Song
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If your child can't learn the way we teach
then we need to teach the way they can learn
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Why have A 'Responsive Classroom'?
Why for teachers?
- Students are engaged and excited to come to school
- We know our students better and what they are really capable of
- Less discipline issues
Why for students?
- 'I know where to get answers when I'm stuck on a question'
- 'I get to learn the way I like to learn'
- 'I like coming to school'
- 'Yoga balls and bean bag chairs are way more comfortable than regular chairs'
Why for parents? (What teachers think you think -
but we need to hear from you!)
- You won't see as many textbooks or worksheets
- You won't see as much 'kill and drill' homework
- There is a place for every child to demonstrate their learning
- You are hopefully hearing, 'Hurry up everyone, I don't want to be late for school!'
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The Responsive Classroom is what is done to meet the
needs of your child
to promote their best learning
We can look at the classroom in different ways:
1 - Physical Layout
2 - Strategies and Practices Used Within the Classroom To Deliver The Content
3 - The over-riding philosophy of our attitude towards learning -
A Growth Mindset verses a Fixed Mindset
What does this 'responsive classroom' mean:
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One - Physical Layout of the Classroom
...often work isn't even done in the classrooms
...but when it is, the layout and furniture should...
Reflect what the students need to learn
- And that is not the same for every student and every student may chose many different things throughout the day to meet their needs
If they need to move, give them a yoga ball as an option
- If they are reading and want somewhere cozy, try a bean bag chair
If they like to stand
- Try a standing desk
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Two - Strategies and Practices
Used Within the Classroom To Deliver The Content
Learning Goals and Lesson Goals:
- Giving each learning opportunity a specific focus, helps the overall understanding of the concepts being taught
- Learning Goals are simple and can be broken up into lesson goals that can be achieved in a shorter period of time. Example
Learning Goal: We are learning to represent, compare and order whole numbers.
Lesson Goal: We are learning to use base ten blocks to show numbers in different ways.
- Learning Goals look like - 'We are learning to...'
- Students can refer to them throughout the lesson to help them if they get lost or confused
- Students can use the learning or lesson goal to assess their own learning
Success Criteria
- Using student friendly language, this allows students to know clearly what they need to do or what they have done to demonstrate success
- Success criteria is directly linked to the learning or lesson goal
- Success Criteria look like - 'I can... or I will...'
Inquiry Based Learning
- Having the students discover and ask deep questions about the content based topic that appeals to their curiosity and then demonstrate that understanding in a variety of ways
- Knowledge building opportunities that require students to reflect on and share information they learned
Guided Groups
- Using smaller groups helps reinforce daily learning and gives supported opportunities for practice
- While this has been common practice for many years in the primary grades (grades 1-3), it is now being used at all grade levels for all subject areas
Math Manipulatives
There are more ways to solve math problems than calculators and pencil and paper. These are called math manipulatives, they help us to visually represent our math problems.
This is a visual representation of a pattern
with a constant and a variable
These are examples of the questions your child
may be asked about that pattern
This is how those answers could be displayed
Accountable Talk
Purposeful Talk - Strategies that will promote and sustain student learning conversation in the classroom.
How To Get Accountable Talk Started In Math
- I agree with you because...
- I disagree with you because...
- Can you explain how...
- So I hear you saying that...
- Your strategy reminds me of...
- My Strategy was to...
- To add on...
- I wonder if...
- How did you...
- What would happen if...
3 Part Instruction
- Used in a variety of subject areas
- Part 1: Activate Student Thinking
- Part 2: Hands-On, Investigation Task
- Part 3: Consolidation of Student Learning
Co-created Anchor Charts
- A reference poster in the classroom that is created using teacher and student voice
- Used as a reference tool to highlight key vocabulary, examples
Direct Support
Working with a student one on one allows a teacher to:
- Give intensive support of learning
- Conduct interviews as a form of assessment
- Just simply get to know the student better
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Three - Our Attitude Towards Learning
Growth Mindset Verses a Fixed Mindset
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Could you find a way to learn
in a Responsive Classroom?
Could your child?
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Talk to us!
What did you learn today?
What did you find tricky?
What can we do next time?
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Please create a hashtag #
that describes the presentation
or something memorable from the presentation
1 - Create a 'Twitter' name
for example @AwesomeGAParent
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2 - give feedback about tonight's presentation
Let's Try the Accountable talk STARTERS
- I agree with you because...
- I disagree with you because...
- Can you explain how...
- So I hear you saying that...
- Your strategy reminds me of...
- My strategy was to...
- To add on...
- I wonder if...
- How did you...
- What would happen if...