Metaphor of sustainable learning

Sustainable Learning offers a complete approach to dealing with diversity in the classroom. It aligns a way of thinking about learning and classroom action with an ethic of care by equipping learners, teacher candidates and teachers with the capabilities to transform themselves and others, bearing in mind the wellbeing of the planet. For example, learners in sustainable classrooms care about:

resources and how they are used; relationships in the classroom, school and community environment; energy (personal energy for students and teachers and through the use and reuse of

physical resources); universal design and whether learning lasts; and, cooperation and meeting shared goals that improve outcomes for all.

Sustainable Learning uses the ATRiUM capabilities (Active learning that involves Thinking, Relating to others, Using iCT, language and symbols, and Managing self) and the 8 questions of the Responsive Teaching Framework as organising devices. It evokes a mindset and mind frames that position teachers and teacher candidates to cope in complex, contemporary learning environments.

Specifically, in terms of sustainable learning, Van den Branden (2012, p.296) summarised the findings of research that successfully improved the academic achievement of at-risk students with and without disabilities from disadvantaged and migrant backgrounds (e.g. Finn & Rock, 1997; Garcia & Kliefgen, 2011; Hattie, 2009; Marzano, 2003; Muijs, Harris, Chapman, Stoll & Russ, 2004, Tomlin, 2006). He found that the following features of teacher behavior and school and classroom milieu make a difference that endures:

Teachers stimulate students’ higher order thinking skills (from primary school onwards), crucially, the latter should not be put “on hold”;

Teachers should scaffold and actively guide the acquisition of complex skills and gradually increase student autonomy;

Students at risk should be presented with challenging and interesting content, with teachers having high expectations of the students’ learning potential;

Students’ existing knowledge and skills (including the students’ mother tongue skills) should be tapped as rich resources for new learning;

Students should be provided with personalized feedback and support catered to their personal needs with some students being granted more time to acquire key competencies than others;

The school should provide for a safe and secure environment for learning, characterized by good disciplinary climate, warm and positive student-teacher relations, strong investment in students’ well-being, self-confidence and intrinsic learning motivation;

New content should be related to individual students’ background knowledge and experiences;

Time available should be maximally devoted to academic content and the teaching of key competencies;

Language and literacy development should be stimulated across the curriculum and integrated with the teaching of interesting, challenging content teaching; and,

Meaningful, situated, holistic learning in context should be complimented with explicit skills instruction. Overall, the teacher should display a wide array of methodologies and formats to cater to different learning styles, including formats that stimulate cooperative learning and independent learning.

Graham, L., Berman, J., & Bellert, A. (2015). Sustainable learning: Inclusive practices for 21st Century classrooms, Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press. http://books.google.com.au/books?id= 2_N4BgAAQBAJ

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Table 6.1 Looking past the disability label: Using ATRiUM to identify student capabilities and learning needs

Active Learning

Access

Participation

Engagement

Communication

-physical access and mobility

-access to curriculum and assessment

-adjustments required to enable the student to take part, and make

contributions, on the same basis as other students

-a relevant, respectful curriculum for this student

-ability in speaking, listening, literacy, numeracy, ICT

Thinking

Knowledge and

understanding

Memory processes

Applying knowledge

-background knowledge and understanding of self and society

-cognitive development

-retention, recall and application of knowledge previously

encountered

-efficiency of working memory processes

-problem solving

-creativity and ability to transfer knowledge

Relationships

Social Skills

Communication

-peer group ‘norms’

-verbal and non-verbal communication

-cooperation and collaboration

-respect for others

-empathy and emotional insight

Using iCT, language and

symbols

Academic skills

ICT proficiency

Communication

-reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, representing

-mathematics including number and algebra

-organising and expressing ideas and responses

-attitude to using ICT

-opportunity to use ICT

-evaluation and filtering of information from e-sources

Managing self

Self-regulation

Attention

-focusing appropriately and ignoring distractions

-perseverance and persistence

-managing impulses

-intrinsic motivation and motivation to please others

Graham, L., Berman, J., & Bellert, A. (2015). Sustainable learning: Inclusive practices for 21st Century classrooms, Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press. http://books.google.com.au/books?id= 2_N4BgAAQBAJ

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Motivation

Behaviour

-self efficacy

-self regulation

Figure 5.5 Questions that support assessment within the Responsive Teaching Framework

PLANNING What legislative frameworks, curriculum, culture and community contexts, education system policies and procedures, school context, teacher registration requirements and physical environments do I teach within?

What frameworks do I need to consider?

What do I bring as a teacher?

What cultural competence, assumptions about learning, teaching skills and knowledge, assumptions about disabilities and learning difficulties and levels of responsive and reflective practice do I bring to my teaching?

What do my students bring as learners?

What cultural contexts, needs, interests, experiences, capabilities, prior learning and achievement, lived experiences do my students bring to their learning? What is the nature of the learning group they create? What do my students’ families/whanau bring to our learning group and to each student’s learning?

TEACHING & LEARNING What is the next step of curriculum intended learning outcomes, and ATRiUM capabilities development, in relation to what the students bring as a learning group and as individual learners?

What do I need to teach now?

How do I teach for all my learners?

What common and distinctive learning needs are evident within my class?

ASSESSMENT In what ways did each learner and the group respond to the instruction in relation to intended learning outcomes, unintended learning outcomes and factors that supported and hindered learning?

What did my students learn?

FEEDBACK What embedded feedback supported learning? What delayed feedback is needed now – with respect to the task, the processes of learning and self-regulation and to respond to these questions of the learners? (Where am I going?

What feedback supports my students’ learning?

Graham, L., Berman, J., & Bellert, A. (2015). Sustainable learning: Inclusive practices for 21st Century classrooms, Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press. http://books.google.com.au/books?id= 2_N4BgAAQBAJ

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How am I going? Where to next?)

EVALUATION & REFLECTION How effective was my teaching for the group and for individuals with respect to curriculum intended learning outcomes and ATRiUM capabilities development? What does this tell me about what they are ready to do next? How will I build on my students’ learning now? What activities can support consistent and maintained progress? Did feedback lead to increased effort and success?

How did my teaching support my students’ learning?

Table 7.6 Sustainable Learning: The 10 essential skills that guide differentiated instruction

Essential Skill Purpose1. Planning inclusively Structure and sequence content for your class using evidence-

based approaches

Build on established classroom routines that facilitate inclusion and differentiated instruction

2. Setting clear learning intentions

Guide the lesson and keep the focus on desired student engagement and outcomes

3. Using routine procedures Organise students’ efforts so that they always know that there are ways of asking for help; going on with related other learning activities if the set learning activity is completed; working in groups; contributing to collaborative tasks; pursuing a meaningful task when other work is doneBuilds from the important teacher skills of:

Giving clear instructions Showing what success looks like Managing transitions Providing appropriate feedback

4. Using flexible activities Prepare a number of activities that can assist in meeting the needs of all studentsEmploy the simplicity principle so that minimal adjustments are made and only when needed. Without this proviso there is the danger that some students will always be asked to complete easier and less challenging work

5. Probing understanding Use observations, assessment tasks and questioning to probe students’ understandingIdentify students who are having difficulty understanding the lesson and address their learning needs

6. Reteaching and extending Identify and address students’ learning needs including the need for reteaching to reinforce understanding and eliminate misunderstandings, or to extend students whose work shows mastery

7. Using ‘different’ ways Access a repertoire of teaching approaches and evidence/research-based interventions which can be used to ensure student learning

Graham, L., Berman, J., & Bellert, A. (2015). Sustainable learning: Inclusive practices for 21st Century classrooms, Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press. http://books.google.com.au/books?id= 2_N4BgAAQBAJ

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8. Adjusting ‘on the spot’ Address the students’ needs for differentiation as soon as they are identified

9. Following through with data

Assess and monitor student performance and the effectiveness of teaching practices

10. Reflecting and refining Reflect on all available data and the experience of differentiation to respond to the question, “Was this differentiated instruction effective?”Continuously refine differentiated practice so that it becomes natural, easy to implement and evaluate, and resource friendly

Graham, L., Berman, J., & Bellert, A. (2015). Sustainable learning: Inclusive practices for 21st Century classrooms, Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press. http://books.google.com.au/books?id= 2_N4BgAAQBAJ

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