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Teaching Strategies

Integrating the ABC’s of Learning

Students are more likely to engage in learning within classrooms that foster the ABCs of student motivation: Autonomy, Belonging, and Competence (Deci & Flaste, 1995). Autonomy refers to acting with self-direction – an established protective factor that boosts resiliency and reduces the likelihood of risky behavior (Benard, 1991 & 2004). When autonomous, we are fully willing to do what we are doing and pursue an activity with interest, focused attention, and perseverance.

Students are given opportunities to exercise autonomy throughout the curriculum with activities that offer them 'voice and choice.' In Think-Pair-Shares, they consider how they think and/or feel about a question or prompt, share their response with another student and then discuss/contrast different viewpoints with the larger class. In project-based learning (PBL) at the end of each module students choose topics related to the module theme, research/explore the topic, and present their findings to the larger group. Emphasizing student autonomy is a student-centered approach to learning in contrast to a didactic approach emphasizing teacher knowledge and direct instruction.

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Actively Engaging Students

In addition to creating the conditions for learning, School-Connect uses learning strategies (Link to Learning Strategies page) that actively engage students on many levels. Each lesson engages students visually with a slideshow presentation and brief videos that pull them in further. A typical lesson keeps students moving, relating, and reflecting. Each lesson begins with a Get Started activity, which they individually complete during the first minutes of class. They become acquainted with the lesson's goals through Essential Questions, which are then explored through interactive activities, many of which get them up and out of their seats and changing partners and/or groups. The Wrap Up leads back to the Essential Questions and a Reflection/Application activity asks students to apply learning to their own lives.

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Facilitating Interactive Learning

In contrast to a business-as-usual approach, School-Connect aims to change the classroom environment by creating reciprocal exchanges among teachers and students and by increasing the skill level of all class members, including the teachers. In this approach, teachers become facilitators of learning and students become active participants in classroom processes.

Because School-Connect requires a new way of teaching and interacting with students, the program offers guidance to school administrators in selecting teachers for the course based on their experience and comfort level with SEL concepts and strategies. Program presenters should hold and reflect the belief that social and emotional learning is a worthwhile and lifelong process. It is beneficial if the teachers also possess humility, a sense of humor, and an openness to change. Administrators should select presenters on this basis, rather than on what teachers are available to teach the course.

References

Key School-Connect Strategies

  • Teachers talk less and listen more.
  • Teachers and students use active listening techniques to check for understanding.
  • Students seek collaborative responses to 'essential questions' and voice their own questions.
  • Students build on each other's responses, identify when they offer a diverging opinion, and welcome questions regarding their ideas.
  • Lessons provide many and varied opportunities for students to interact with each other in pairs and in small groups.
  • Real-life experiences are honored as learning tools.
  • Students have opportunities to choose their own topics of study and display what they have learned through culminating projects for lesson modules.

Student Survey Results

What have you learned from this class?

  • “I learned how to be a lot better about my grades”
  • “I learned to keep my priorities straight”
  • “How to communicate my feelings”
  • “I learned that being a good listener is a good thing”
  • “It takes up to 20 interactions to change a first impression”
  • “How bad bullying really is”
  • “How to take effective notes”
  • “How to cope with stress”
  • “I learned how to go through tough situations”
  • “That it is important to talk to your teachers”
  • “Always stay on top of my grades”
  • “I learned how to control my anger if anything happened”
  • “The benefits of going to college”
  • “Teen dating and relationships”
  • “I learned how not to let peer pressure get to you”
  • “Dealing with gossip”
  • “I have learned how to prepare myself for tests”
  • “How to step back and manage my emotions”

What Students are Saying...

“It’s very important that we get these lessons because, personally, School-Connect made me become a different person-and it was for the better.”

— Amanda, student, Eleanor Roosevelt High School, MD