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Professional development has taught us...

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Professional development has taught us...

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That students must see a clear and deliberate connection between what is being taught and WHY they are learning it.  We must bridge our instruction to the individual learning of each student.  If the student can't see the "WHY" behind what we are teaching them, they will never fully appreciate and understand the topic.  With daily reminders of how what we're learning fits into the big picture of what we're doing for the year helps keep the students aware of why what we are learning is important and relevant to them.  We as teachers are responsible for connecting the learning of the topic to real-world application of the topic, making it applicable to their lives.

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Professional development sessions over the past two years have been focused on integrating connections in the classroom.  This begins with the creation of relevant focus questions.  Teachers use these as a way to highlight the "what" of the lesson's learning.  Teachers must then provide a bridge between the between the "learning" and the "doing" (e.g. activities, in-class work) in order to help students make connections to the material (i.e. getting them to engage within the classroom context).  Sometimes it is appropriate for teacher to integrate learning maps into the routines of their classes in order to provide a template or format for student connections. Also, teachers should use formative assessments in order to track student progress. Overall, these PD sessions here at Seneca Valley have been focused on providing deliberate and explicit connection opportunities for our students.(END)

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The professional development acquired over the last two years includes development of focus questions within our classrooms.  The purpose is to identify what students are learning and why.  This is important for both educators and students alike.  It permits educators to see purpose for each activity and links previous knowledge from other lessons.  Students are able to fully engage with thinking/brainstorming and reflect back to previous knowledge.  The purpose of the focus question is to help relate and engage each student to the content.  This enables them to relate to what they are learning and help them to actively engage with the learning.  This helps the learning to be focused for both the student and the teacher from the start of the lesson to the end.  Focus questions should be though out and planned ahead of time.  Research shows that students struggle with making connections.  Teachers need to facilitate the links needed to show the connections and experiences related to the knowledge.  In the end, it is important to have students show relationships through visual learning maps.

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The professional development acquired over the last two years includes development of focus questions within our classrooms.  The purpose is to identify what students are learning and why.  This is important for both educators and students alike.  It permits educators to see purpose for each activity and links previous knowledge from other lessons.  Students are able to fully engage with thinking/brainstorming and reflect back to previous knowledge.  The purpose of the focus question is to help relate and engage each student to the content.  This enables them to relate to what they are learning and help them to actively engage with the learning.  This helps the learning to be focused for both the student and the teacher from the start of the lesson to the end.  Focus questions should be though out and planned ahead of time.  Research shows that students struggle with making connections.  Teachers need to facilitate the links needed to show the connections and experiences related to the knowledge.  In the end, it is important to have students show relationships through visual learning maps.

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Over the past two years in our professional development sessions, we have been making a shift between writing standards for a lesson on the board that the students don't always read or understand and presenting questions to focus on instead. These questions create opportunities for the students (and ourselves as teachers) to pinpoint what the learning of the day should focus on. They also create discussions in which the relevance of the learning can be identified and reinforced for the purpose of using it in real-life situations. We have come to focus on "why" we are learning rather than "what" we are doing. We are continually improving how we use the focus questions before, during, and after our lessons to allow students of all ability levels to engage in the learning and reflect throughout the process.

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Over the past two years in our professional development sessions, we have been making a shift between writing standards for a lesson on the board that the students don't always read or understand and presenting questions to focus on instead. These questions create opportunities for the students (and ourselves as teachers) to pinpoint what the learning of the day should focus on. They also create discussions in which the relevance of the learning can be identified and reinforced for the purpose of using it in real-life situations. We have come to focus on "why" we are learning rather than "what" we are doing. We are continually improving how we use the focus questions before, during, and after our lessons to allow students of all ability levels to engage in the learning and reflect throughout the process.

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Dear school board member,

Over the past two years Seneca Valley School district has provided us with multiple opportunities to learn about how to get students to understand what and why they have learned. They have explained what an essential and a focus question is and how to use them in the classroom. The focus question provides relevance for the middle school student  and creates a context  to help focus the student to the learning. It also makes it easier for the student to recall what they have learned. The focus question also helps the student make connections to their own experiences.

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These past 2 years of professional development have given us multiple strategies that help to get the student more engaged in the learning process.  We want to engage the student not only in a thought process but actually put that process into practice.  We want students to be able to apply a process not only to tech ed. related problem,s but everyday problems. Focus questions allow for discussion about the topics and build a line of communication with the student that will be made in student friendly terms.  With concepts that are better communicated, students will be able to retain information and apply what they have learned more efficiently.

SVMS Engineering

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What did you learn today?

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8/23/16

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4/2016

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Why cant more students discuss what and why they are learning.

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What goes in, impacts what come out! Questioning Formative Assessment Closure Anything written that students don't understand, won't help. If they understand what the learning is, they are more likely reach the goal We must expicitly connect the learning to the instruction for them or provide them an experience to connect for themselves.

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1/2017

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1/2017