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The P.O.R.T.A.L.S. Meta Lesson Plan

Introducing the Idea of Lesson Planning

 

Introduce your students to the idea of creating Lesson Plans for learning.  Talk about how you plan for a lesson.  Share the P.O.R.T.A.L.S. Lesson Plan Format Part A.***  Provide examples from lessons you have already taught.  Generate a topic for a lesson plan that would be of interest to middle schoolers.  Working with them, fill in each part of the lesson plan.

 

Next (after you feel as though students have a good sense of the lesson plan format), introduce the idea that they will “write” their own lesson plans based on the next lesson you will introduce.  Show them the form for P.O.R.T.A.L.S. Meta Lesson Plan Part B.  Explain/discuss/remind them of the meaning of meta/metacognition.  Help them to see that this lesson plan (part B) will help them to be more metacognitive, more self-directed, more in charge of their learning.

 

Walk through several examples for Part B, using a mythical student or volunteer student.  Point out that all learners have both strengths and challenges in learning. Have students work in small groups to fill in their own sheets.  Circulate and offer feedback.  Come back together as a group and talk about what is in a lesson plan and how they can learn to learn by recognizing their strengths and working through their challenges.

 

Periodically use the PORTALS META Lesson Plan PART B at the introduction of a new unit and when you think a lesson may be particularly challenging.

 

***The formats for Lesson Plan Part A and Lesson Plan Part B can be seen/downloaded from

http://explorience1.pbworks.com/w/page/57916601/PORTALS%20Lesson%20Plan%20Part%20A

Charts do not copy well on this blog.

 

Examples of Part B will be forthcoming.  See _________________________ link! on the Explorience1 Wiki.

 

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One example of a Meta Lesson Plan Format

A Meta Lesson Plan incorporates meta learning into each element of a lesson plan. It prepares students to enter into a learning partnership, where participants have complementary roles.  Here is one example.  Of course, teachers can design their own planning format and emphasis meta learning in whichever elements are relevant to a particular lesson.  In subsequent blogs we will suggest meta learning ideas for each element of a lesson plan, starting with Goals & Objectives

 

Teacher’s   Role

Student’s   Role

Goals   & Objectives

*Provides Big Picture*Tentative Itinerary*Rationale: Why these G   & O *Responds to big pix,   itinerary, and rationale.

Knowledge   of Students

*Student input on strengths   and challenges (S&C) for this plan*Conveys and encourages a “growth” mindset *Student can articulate S   & Crelative to plan.

Content

*Essential Content for this   unit^Concept Map of Topic Domain

^Assessment of Prior   Knowledge

*Retrieves and assesses Prior   knowledge at concept & map level.

Instructional   Activities

*Offers & tests variety   and choices of*Activities

*Multiple Representations   and Media

*Flexible time/timing

*Explains/models   “operations”

*Understands, assesses and   communicates preferences about Instructional Activities

Resources

*Offers variety &   choices that are readily accessible*Seeks suggestions from   Learners *Makes and evaluates choices*Suggests resources

Assessment

*Frequent and Predictable   use of Formative Assessment with informative feedback and opportunity for   “correction” or re-do*Clearly values “mistakes” *Seeks and uses feedback*Is prepared to “correct”,   “redo” or make different choices.*Suggests, creates, uses own   assessment

Action (Outcomes)

*Offers Choices for Demonstration   and Dissemination of learning*Has catalogue for preview *Shares ideas for Demonstration   and Dissemination of learning*Makes choices

Follow   Through & Follow Up

*Opportunities for follow   through and follow up that will enhance/support generalization^will offer opportunity   for  student to pursue topic/expand   task *Anticipates and plans for   generalization*Pursues topics and tasks of   interest.

Reflection

*Reflection on student   accomplishments and challenges; *Reflects on plan*Updates knowledge of   student(s) *Takes a meta stance   relative to planning, monitoring, and evaluating learning; and makes   appropriate changes in learning choices & strategies.

 

 

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Creating a Meta Lesson Plan

I’m trying to create a “relatively” simply lesson plan format using the P.O.R.T.A.L.S. framework in order to help learners become more metacognitive.  Here’s what I have so far….

 

^Goals/Objectives (Purpose)
  ^Outcomes  (Action)
    *Sources/Rationale
^Teacher Role(s) (Teamwork)
  ^Knowing the Learner(s)
  ^Instructional Strategies
      *Procedures/Activities (Operations)
      *Resources/Materials
      *Monitoring, Feedback & Assessment
      *Reflection
^Learner Role(s)
  *Partnership with Teammates
  *Managing Own Learning (Self-Management)
  *Operations
    *Understanding Goals (Purpose), Content (Laying a Foundation), Instruction (Operations)
    *Making Choices
    *Monitoring & Reflecting
    *Practice/Application/Extension (Remembering) (Action)
^Content (Laying a Foundation)
^Resources
^Follow Through and Follow Up (Action)
—————————————————————————————————————
For each of these lesson planning categories, I plan to offer some suggestions for how a teacher might make the lesson more likely to increase the learner’s metacognitive skills.
More to come…
For now, it’s the weekend off.  Lucky me.
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A Learning Journey Framework: Somebody-Wanted-But-So

Start with a Simple Framework
Somebody-Wanted-But-So, the basic structure of a story, provides a framework for thinking about Learning Stories.   It is a way to highlight the seven learning skills.
Somebody-Wanted-But-So offers learners and teachers a common framework for analyzing what is and is not working in learning.
To become confident self-directed life-long learners,  kids need a framework to use when they run into learning problems or situations beyond their current level of competence.
***********************************************************************************************
Here’s how Learners  can tell their story:
Somebody:  The (Self-Managed) Student and his/her Teammates are working in a particular learning situation with particular learning tasks.
Wanted:  They are Laying a Foundation of Content and are trying to achieve a Purpose by carrying out certain Operations that can lead to Actions meaningful to the learner and his/her partners. They are Remembering their ideas as they go and storing them for later use.
But:  Obstacles get in the way.
So:  The Learner and his/her Teammates need to generate and carry out Solutions to those learning problems.
*********************************************************************************************
First come the Main Characters:
Before you start looking at the skills and the learning obstacles (but) and learning solutions (so), you need to be able to describe the Somebody (somebodies)  (learner and learning partners) in this particular context.
(We believe that all learning is “Situated” and involves specific learners, teachers, situations, goals and tasks.  Differences in Teacher and Learners’ philosophies (theories/models) of learning  and experiences with learning, as well as differences in contexts, will affect the planning, execution, and outcomes of learning.)
Then you continue the story by filling in the P.O.R.T.A.L.S. details!
What did the learner want (Purpose)….
The highpoint comes when you describe the Problem(s):  But
Finish the story with the solution to the problem(s):  So 
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Why these 7 learning skills?

Learning is complex.  Why choose these 7 skills to focus on?
*Because both teachers and learners need a manageable set of dimensions to analyze when learning breakdowns occur.
*Because these 7 skills have strong support in the learning literature as skills that play a significant role in facilitating or impeding learning.
*Because they make sense to teachers and learners, as reflected in learner stories and teacher stories.
*Because they are highly relevant to cognitive development.
*Because they are highly relevant beyond the classroom.
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On a Learning Journey you’ll need…

Purpose (Your goal; the outcome you seek) (Compass)
Operations (How you will achieve the goal through Processing and Transforming Information and Ideas) (Guidebook)
Remembering (Attending to and Holding information in Working Memory and Storing and Retrieving it from Long Term Memory) (Journal)
Team Work (Solving problems with help from others) (Experienced Guide)
Action (Outcomes that demonstrate and disseminate your work; your reflections on your learning experience.) (Action Plan)
Laying a Foundation (All problems are about something—the content—the information and ideas) (Food for Thought)
Self-Management (You are in charge!) (Shelters)
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Why the 7 P.O.R.T.A.L.S. learning skill?

Learning is complex.  Why choose these 7 skills to focus on?
*Because both teachers and learners need a manageable set of dimensions to analyze when learning breakdowns occur.
*Because these 7 skills have strong support in the learning  research literature as skills that play a significant role in facilitating or impede learning.
*Because they make sense to teachers and learners, as reflected in learner stories and teacher stories.
*Because they are highly relevant to cognitive development.
*Because they are highly relevant beyond the classroom.
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Learning Journey

I’m going to begin a new series of posts based on my wiki (Explorience1–Learning to Learn)*.  The wiki and the posts are focused on helping middle schoolers become more successful (self-directed, life-long) learners.  The framework is based on a set of 7 learning-to-learn skills:  Purpose, Operations, Remembering, Teamwork, Action, Laying a Foundation (of content), and Self-Management.  P.O.R.T.A.L.S. was designed to help middle school kids open pathways to learning, particularly as they face learning challenges.

 

Hope you will follow the blog as I explore where these skills came from, why they are important, and how to help kids learn them.

* http://tinyurl.com/Exploriece-Learningtolearn

 

 

 

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Engaging learners in learning

I  have just been “curating” on the topic of motivation/engagement.  How do we get kids, especially middle school kids or struggling learners, to get interested in and stick with a learning task.  A recent blog by David Warlick* offers some ideas.   The title is “What does it mean to be learned?”  He talks about kids’ engagement with video games and how they seem to change the behavior of the learner from compliant student to investment learner.  That is, the student invests in his/her own learning.  He suggests 4 qualities of game learning that “seem particularly potent”:

1.  The experiences are responsive

2.  They provoke conversation

3.  They inspire personal investment

4.  They (the experiences) are guided by safely-made mistakes.

*Take a look:  http://smartblogs.com/education/2012/07/20/what-mean-learned/

 

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