
Learning for Themselves
Pathways to independence in the classroom
Author: Jeni Wilson and Kath Murdoch
Publisher: Curriculum Corporation 2008
Learning for Themselves
After reading the book, I can coclude that:
- Each student has their own way to learn and grasp information
- Each student has their own learning preferences
- Students are going to be more engaged in the lesson if teachers provide more opportunities for them to make a choice, take responsibility of their learning, and own their own learning
- When students are appreciated of what they have accomplished in their learning, they are going to be more well motivated and confident in the learning process
- It is our job as teachers to value the students’ learning by giving them opportunities to be independent students who are able to be more concious of what they do and dont understand, who are able to set goals and know how to get there
- Working independently involves THINKING, FEELING, DOING.
- As teachers we need to ensure that our lesson:
- enables the students to make choices
- has clear expectation and success criteria as guidelines and parameter
- provides students with suggested activities which is open minded and allow multiple outcomes
- enables the students to achieve higher order thinking
- enables the students to self assess themselves
- enables the students to develop their skills as well as their understanding
I have used some strategies in the book for my teaching, such as using thinker keys to learn about Puberty (take a look at the teaching idea page)
7 Simple Secrets
The book simple tells us about the 7 simple secrets: what the best teachers know and do. Here is the summary of interesting points that I’ve got from the book,
#1 The Secret of Planning
#2 The Secret of Classroom Management
#3 The Secret of Instruction
#4 The Secret of Attitude
#5 The Secret of Professionalism
#6 The Secret of Effective Discipline
#7 The Secret of Motivation and inspiration