TeachingTheWholeChild

Setting tasks that ask for a variety of solutions

Appropriate feedback has been found to be critically important in improving student outcomes.

Praising efforts towards the production of quality work, and its achievement

Students are encouraged to maintain a portfolio of assessable pieces of work. Whilst the portfolio would contain some compulsory whole class pieces, students could make decisions about other pieces to be included, such as a selection of writing.

Encouraging students to follow interesting and open lines of inquiry

Engaging with rich tasks that link the learning to a variety of aspects of real life

Using a variety of methods to assess student understandings at various points in a unit, including open ended questioning, checklists, project work, problems, practical reports, role plays

Developing students' capabilities with generic software such as spreadsheets, design tools and communication technologies

individual support

Ensuring assessment incorporates a range of levels of thinking (comprehension, analysis)

Varying the structure and delivery mode across a range of teaching sessions

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences

a variety of reporting modes for assessment

the teacher, when circulating, comments of the work in progress and provides additional assistance and clarification as necessary

Probing student understandings and perspectives early in a learning sequence to help plan subsequent teaching sessions

establish students knowledge, beliefs and skills as part of planning

Extending consideration of key ideas over a number of teaching sessions,

classroom strategies that acknowledge gender, personal and religious differences

Students evaluate the success of an advertising campaign seen on TV or heard on radio and then develop their own advertising campaign tailoring it for a target audience.

Relating current learning to work done in previous teaching sessions

Regularly using popular media such as magazines and television, or popular fiction to introduce or challenge ideas

Providing opportunities to review prior ideas and compare them with current understandings.

Students are asked to repeat work that is clearly not up to a standard of which they are capable.

establishing a tradition in class whereby students talk about instances of new ideas connected to their lives and communities

high proportion of open ended questions

Using higher order thinking tools when planning activities to allow for multiple entry points and to develop higher order thinking skills such as synthesis, evaluation etc.

Assessing student work against prior achievements rather than against other students' work

Explicitly linking new ideas with the language and perspectives students' bring to the classroom

providing choice to cater for the range of those needs

relevance for other subject areas and drawing students' attention to such relevance

Links outside the classroom might include: Visiting speakers and practitioners Online collaborative projects Student projects that draw on community resources Displays in local shopping centres Entry of students into competitions Reports in local newspapers Family collaborative learning evenings Excursions Local environmental community action projects

Incorporating contemporary technologies into learning sequences in ways that are meaningful for students

Providing stimulus materials that challenge students' ideas and encourage discussion, speculation and ongoing exploration

Acknowledging effort as well as ability, both publicly and in personal feedback.

Time is provided at the end of a session for teachers and students to reflect on progress,

The teacher constantly monitors student responses and adjusts strategies according to this:

Unresolved student questions are kept on a notice board and referred to as a unit progresses

Using parents with special expertise to provide input or support in a topic

Establishing what students know already and providing the opportunity for students to build on prior knowledge in manageable steps.

Rich assessment tasks are devised that are authentically embedded

open ended aspect that allows students to work at different levels

A variety of modes of presentation, publication and distribution.