Thai teachers learning from Chinese students; Collaborative self-determination

‘S’ scale Strand 3: Listening, Viewing and Speaking Standard

S5.

• Pupils respond appropriately to questions about familiar or immediate events or experiences [for example, ‘Where is the ball?’, ‘What are you doing?’, ‘Is it yellow?’]
• They follow requests and instructions containing at least two key words, signs or symbols [for example, ‘Put the spoon in the dish’, ‘Give the book to Johnny’].
• Pupils combine two key ideas or concepts
• They combine single words, signs or symbols to communicate meaning to a range of listeners [for example, ‘Mummy gone’ or ‘more drink’]
• They make attempts to repair misunderstandings without changing the words used [for example, by repeating a word with a different intonation or facial expression]
• Pupils use a vocabulary of over 50 words.

S6.

• Pupils respond to others in group situations [for example, taking turns appropriately in a game such as ‘Pass the parcel’]
• They follow requests and instructions with three key words, signs or symbols [for example, ‘Give me the little red book’].
• Pupils initiate and maintain short conversations using their preferred medium of communication
• They ask simple questions to obtain information [for example, ‘Where’s the cat?’]
• They can use prepositions, such as ‘in’ or ‘on’, and pronouns, such as ‘my’ or ‘it’, correctly.

Class assessment of student voices

2. What is self-directed learning?

Historically, a lot of our instructional practices – even those aimed at fostering self-determination – have been very teacher-directed,” Shogren said. “Teachers are in charge of the learning, setting the goals and what students are working on. We’re really interested in making it more student-directed and having students be involved in the process of setting goals related to their learning, but not necessarily changing the content of what they learn. Students are often going to be learning the same things.”

In self-directed learning (SDL), the individual takes the initiative and the responsibility for what occurs. Individuals select, manage, and assess their own learning activities, which can be pursued at any time, in any place, through any means, at any age. In schools, teachers can work toward SDL a stage at a time. Teaching emphasizes SDL skills, processes, and systems rather than content coverage and tests. For the individual, SDL involves initiating personal challenge activities and developing the personal qualities to pursue them successfully.

3. Life Planning Education

The Education Development Bureau (Hong Kong 2014) has produced a policy document for all schools entitled ‘Guide on Life Planning Education.’

‘Life planning is an ongoing and life long process for personal fulfilment with different foci at different stages of the student’s life-time. At the schooling stage, life planning education plays a significant role in fostering student’s self-understanding, personal planning, goal setting, reflective habits of mind and articulation to progression pathways’…….. it connects with the school’s curriculum components and equips its students to make wise choices according to their interests and abilities.’

This is a very helpful definition because it gives us some important guidelines;

• It is on-going
• Life long
• Involves life planning during schooling
• Involves personal fulfilment
• Connects to the school curriculum, but ‘planning’ is not a subject
• Requires personal understanding
• To make wise choices
• According to personal student interests and abilities

Life Planning Education is ‘a deliberate process to plan one’s life holistically, including major life domains such as work, learning, relationships, and leisure; and to engage actively in steps for implementing these plans in one’s own social context’ It goes way beyond the classroom.

This is a very helpful definition because again it gives us some important guidelines;

• It is a deliberate self-action
• That covers work, learning, relationships, and leisure
• Implemented in one’s own social context

4. Strategies for Supporting Progression in Choice-Making Skills

4.1 Any grade level: Choice-Making Skills

• Allow students to choose from a variety of learning activities. For a book report, choices could include preparing an oral presentation, a collage, a computer presentation, or a skit based on a portion of the book.
• Encourage students to choose their own materials for a project. For a research report, students could choose Internet articles, magazines, books, or personal interviews as their resource materials.
• Let students choose where they take part in an activity. When working on a project, give students the opportunity to work at their desk, on the floor, or in the library.
• Teach students to make informed choices and provide students with the necessary information to do so. If students are choosing their schedule for next year, provide them with a description of each course option or have them visit the class.
• Encourage students to indicate preference through a variety of methods such as nodding yes or no, touching a symbol, or pointing. Give students the opportunity to point to what they want to eat in the lunch line at school rather than choosing for them.
• Choice making should become a daily routine across school settings. Provide choices during recess (four square, basketball, or kickball) or during art (painting or drawing; colored pencils or markers).

4.2 Choice-Making Skills Elementary

• Create permanent choice aids, such as pictures of recess activities or songs to sing in music class, to help incorporate choice into everyday activities.
• Incorporate choices into activities that are not academically related, such as letting students choose who they want to sit with at lunch or snack time or what they want to eat.
• Respect a refusal to participate; it is also a choice. When students refuse to participate or accept a predetermined task, they are communicating their preference. Try to find out what is causing the refusal. An understanding of the reasons for a refusal can allow adults to offer more desirable choices.
• Let students choose to do their work individually, in groups, or as a whole class.
• Create choices related to time, which can also build on important sequencing skills. Let students choose to do an activity before or after lunch, during recess, during free choice time, or before school or after school.
• When appropriate, allow students to choose when to take a break from or end an activity.
• When safety is not a concern, allow students to make mistakes and learn from natural consequences.3 Students with significant disabilities may need more intentional instruction on reflection and evaluation of choices and how they can lead to negative results. For example, if students choose to linger in the lunch room, they will miss recess time.
• If you have two or more activities planned for the day, let your students choose which one to do first.
• If there is flexibility in the schedule, let your students choose what subject/unit they want to work on next.

4.3 Choice-Making Skills Secondary:

• Talk to your students about a choice they have made: how it affected themselves and others, whether it was a good or bad choice, and if they should make that choice again.
• Show students a list of available classes and have them help choose some or all of their own classes for the upcoming semester.
• Give students a list of extracurricular clubs based on their interests and have them choose one or more that they would like to join.

5. What are problem-solving skills?
The ability to effectively respond to and generate solutions for challenging situations that arise.

5.1 Why are they important?
Learning to effectively solve problems allows for increased competence and independence in school and the community. It also increases the ability of students to safely navigate different environments.

5.2 Strategies for Supporting Progression in Problem-Solving Skills

Any grade level: Problem-Solving Skills

• Teach a problem-solving plan, Consider this problem: a student forgets the combination/key to his or her locker.
• Help students identify an opportunity in which they want to try something new or increase their independence. Include ideas on how the student can respond when a challenge arises. If a student is learning to independently access his/her locker and forgets the key, who has a spare key?
• Help students assess which strategies may be best to address a challenge. If a student doesn’t have a key to his/her locker, kicking the locker may get the student into trouble. Conversely, going to the office to request a key is more appropriate.
• Help students reflect on the choice they made. Did it lead to the result they wanted? Would other strategies have worked better? What can they do next time?

The “IDEAL” problem solver:
I = Identify problems and opportunities
D = Define goals
E = Explore possible strategies
A = Anticipate outcomes and act
L = Look back and learn …… Often Sometimes Never

5.3 Problem-Solving Skills Elementary:

• Use a sequence of pictures to teach a problem-solving plan for a specific situation, such as bullying on the playground. Encourage children to draw out the steps of a problem-solving plan or bring in their own pictures to illustrate the plan.
• Read a story about a problem, and have children discuss the problem, come up with solutions, and think about outcomes.
• Have children brainstorm solutions to a particular problem and design an invention that would help solve it.
• Teach children how to use problem-solving skills when someone hurts their feelings or engages in name-calling.
• Give students practice using and applying a problem-solving process in class with teacher-generated and student-generated scenarios.

5.4 Problem-Solving Skills Secondary:

• When encountering a problem, encourage students to reflect on what happened or what they did the last time that same problem occurred. For example, if a peer hurts their feelings, they can think about a strategy they used the last time that someone hurt their feelings. Did they talk to a teacher? What was the outcome? Perhaps the teacher mediated a discussion between the two students.
• During transitions to a new building (i.e., fifth grade, eighth grade), take students to the new school to begin getting acclimatised to a different environment and expectations. Consider opportunities for problem solving, such as learning how to navigate the building. Consider building some extended school year time into the summer to work on learning the new schedule, building layout, and expectations.
• Practice unique problem-solving scenarios that might come up in the work place, such as completing tasks on time, talking with a co-worker, change taking place at work, and budgeting.
• Create a “wheel of fortune” with different difficult situations in each section (i.e. bullying on the playground). Have students think about how they could confront and control each problem so that it results in a positive learning experience. This will also help teach students that they are in control of their reactions and the situation.

6. What are goal-setting and attainment skills?
Identifying an objective to achieve and developing a plan to reach that goal.

6.1 Strategies for Supporting Progression in Goal-Setting & Attainment Skills
Students will have many goals throughout their education. By breaking goals down into several manageable steps, they become more accessible, making long-term goals more achievable. Learning goalsetting skills helps students become more independent and proactive.

6.2. Progression in Goal-Setting & Attainment Skills Any grade level:

• When helping students set goals, encourage them to think about the process of achieving their goals rather than just the outcomes. They can write or draw the steps of their process. For example, if students are working toward making enough money for a new pair of shoes, have them estimate how many hours of work it will take to reach that goal.
• Help students make manageable goals that they can meet in a certain amount of time, such as a 45-minute class period, a day, or a week.
  • Empower students to set goals related to their own learning, such as how many pages they will read during a set period of time or how many words they will copy for spelling.
• Help students create “road maps” that mark both their short-term and long-term goals. Have students develop and illustrate their maps to personalize it and make goal setting fun.
• Teach a simple method for goal setting and attainment

6.3 Progression in Goal-Setting & Attainment Skills Elementary:

• Students often can understand an abstract concept like goal setting if it is paired with a visual example, such as a poster, collage, or scrapbook. If a student’s goal is to finish homework on time, help create a collage with pictures representing time, such as an alarm clock, and pictures of homework examples. Encouraging students to add pictures of what it will feel like to have the homework done on time (smiley face) will help increase motivation. Displaying these visuals can reinforce and encourage students.
• As the goals are completed, a sticker of the student’s choice may be placed on the sheet, positively reinforcing the student’s behaviour of working to accomplish the goal. At the end of the week, a larger reward may be given if all goals are attained.
  6.4 Progression in Goal-Setting & Attainment Skills Secondary:
• Encourage students to identify activities that will help them work toward meeting their goals, such as applying for apprenticeships and internships, joining a school or community club, going on job shadowing and mentoring days, participating in service-learning projects, and attending open houses and job fairs.
• Have students identify a goal for what they want to do after high school, such as getting a specific job. Create a folder with information related to the goal (e.g. job requirements) and a checklist of steps needed to reach the goal (e.g. meet with career counselor, get a job application, etc). Reward students when steps on the checklist are completed. If there are several students with similar goals, start a club for them to work together on these goals.
• Help students formulate goals they would like to include on their next IEP and indicate how they plan to achieve those goals by listing their likes, dislikes, and areas where they need support.

7. Technology Enhanced Learning
When integrating the above approaches to pedagogy, the use of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) is an essential supporting management tool. Technology Enhanced Learning adheres to the basic tenets of face-to-face teaching, e.g. clear aims, specific learning outcomes, valid and reliable evaluation and assessment but with additional flexibility through the use of technology. It differs from E-learning, also known as online learning because it is not restricted to the provision of predetermined fixed electronic programmes of study. Whatever the technology or mode of delivery, learning should be the key objective, and pedagogy rather than technology should drive the decision-making. In addition, when TEL is linked with self-directed learning and life planning education, it encourages the student to redefine the scope of the curriculum content, the range of learning materials and indeed the ownership of the learning process

Environment

Appendix two

A Taxonomy for Self-Directed Learning

1. This taxonomy below is written from the student’s perspective and indicates the different levels of thinking we should encourage with the student.
2. This requires the teacher to think completely differently about their approach to teaching and learning. This requires a huge paradigm shift in teacher thinking. The workshop will challenge each member to practically rethink.
3. Technology Enhanced Education has a unique role to play in developing Self-Directed Learning because it allows the student to use technology to learn what they need to learn, it is not the use of computers for teacher led activity.
4. Only when this is in place can we implement Life Planning Education. Life Planning Education is a new approach for all students and is encouraged by the world education group, UNESCO. The student is the owner of their learning needs.