The Science of Learning: STAARing The Whole Child

This past summer the National Academy of Sciences issued a report on student learning that outlined the necessity of addressing the whole child for improving performance. This winter, Christine Drew and Richard Erdmann, two authors who have worked with numerous Texas school districts, are releasing a very exciting new book that addresses these same issues.

Through Texas ASCD, we will offer a one-day Institute.

Workshop Overview:

When we walk into a classroom, what do we see? Engaged learners? A safe and orderly classroom where discipline problems aren’t disrupting the learning? A supportive learning environment? Rigorous content? Group work and collaboration?

We might see any or all of these things in many or most classrooms.  We expect to see most of these attributes in classrooms with highly effective teachers, but is what we observe really the most effective practice? If we are observing to identify a problem of practice, what are we looking for and how do we know it and differentiate it? In this Institute we will explore the science behind learning that makes a good practice become great. We will work together to answer the question, what kind of teaching, based in the science of learning, helps a good teacher become a better one? and, what do non-cognitive skills have to do with learning?

Based on the first two chapters of The Art of Learning, this Institute will provide an overview of findings in neuroscience, some new and some old, that can be applied to observations of all kinds, whether they are instructional rounds, teacher observations for evaluation, or even peer coaching. We will work to reframe the perspective of participants to transform the learning environments that support The Whole Child.

Next level of Work:

Today’s emphasis on teacher evaluation implores us to create an environment for reflective practice and self-evaluation combined with peer learning.

The next level of work for those who want to continue in this study will have the opportunity to engage in further study of The Art of Learning: Using Models and Stretching to Rigor, concepts strategically aligned with Marzano’s Art and Science of Teaching.

Registration Fee includes the book  “The Art of Learning“.