Approaches to Learning powerpoint for IB

1. Approaches to Learning (ATLs)
What, Why, How, Who
Respice finem - ‘consider the end’: Not to guide sheep, but to awaken lions (Javier Milei)

3. What are they - how do we develop them?
• Thinking skills
• Communication skills
• Social skills
• Self-management skills
• Research skills.

4. Help - Our initial thoughts
I'm not sure about implementing the ATLs and
making them explicit (if I have to)
I am not certain that ATLs need to be fully
embedded into lessons.

5. Why are ATLs important?
While there are a wide range of teaching strategies and approaches
that can be used in the classroom, individual teachers and students
have their preferred learning and teaching styles and some styles are
more prevalent in different cultures and national settings.
What is essential is that each student is actively engaged in classroom
activities and that there is a high degree of interaction between
students and the teacher, and also between the students themselves.

6. Why
Learning should focus on meaningful questions and contexts and the voice of the
learner is considered to be as important as the voice of the teacher. The teacher is
viewed as a supporter of student learning, rather than a transmitter of knowledge,
making use of questions and tasks that help the student work in their “zone of
proximal development”.
This term, originally used by Vygotsky (1962 and 1978), represents the range of
achievement that lies between what the student can manage on his or her own and
what he or she can manage with the support of the teacher. The emphasis is on
engaging and challenging the learner’s existing mental models in order to develop
a greater depth of understanding and to improve performance.

7. How
Teaching with ATLs in mind needs to begin with a clear and explicit identification of what types of
skills are trying to be developed. In general, the development of every ATL skill can follow these
same basic steps.
1. Decide which specific skills are going to be the focus in your classroom, subject or department.
2. Make the skills to be focused on explicit by clear description of each skill and by using examples
of high and low skills proficiency.
3. Allow students to self-assess their perceived competence in the skills in question.

8. How
4. Analyse the results, looking for any general skills deficiencies across the class.
5. Develop mini-lessons, tutorials, or exercises for students to complete to
challenge their skill level.
6. Build into subject lessons tasks that help students practise and improve these
skills.
7. Ask the students to continue to peer and self-assess their proficiency.

9. How
Balanced ATL teachers use language that invites elastic ideas.
● Words like ‘might’, ‘could’ ‘possibly’ ‘wonder’ ‘maybe’ ‘we’
are used far more than:
● ‘must’ ‘is’ ‘will’
Being balanced requires an openness to possibility -you can hear it in the
teacher’s voice.

10. In Practice
• 30% transmission— the teacher explains, the students listen, the teacher
questions
• 40% activating—the teacher gets students to process information through
directed
tasks, using student feedback to guide the lesson
• 25% procedural and behavioural instruction
• 5% process-focused teaching—teaching the students to set learning goals,
choose

11. Suit up - concrete steps schools can take;
from Serendipities - Damian Bacchoo
● Foster a positive learning environment: Encourage a culture of collaboration, respect, and inclusivity, where students feel
valued for their diverse talents and abilities, not just their academic achievements.
● Teach social-emotional skills: Integrate social-emotional learning (SEL) into the curriculum to help students develop self-
awareness, empathy, resilience, and healthy coping mechanisms.
● Provide mental health support: Ensure that school counsellors, psychologists, or other mental health professionals are
available to students who may need support in managing stress, anxiety, or other mental health concerns.
● Encourage a balanced approach to success: Teach students the importance of setting realistic goals and maintaining a
healthy balance between academics, extracurricular activities, and personal well-being.
● De-emphasize standardized testing: Reduce the focus on standardized tests and academic rankings by adopting more
holistic approaches to evaluating student achievements, such as project-based assessments, student portfolios, or
individualized learning plans.

12. Doing and assessing
Student - I can…
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lad9XZ4CD8wx8r1Cwh_QHu5J1G04ntz8/vie
w
Teacher Self Assessment
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xxfmisL6XYqD5AK1H2TCR7bx0QsyLg
WR5OLAxwArTi8/edit

13. A Lesson Idea
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GBcHlh0TGymp5B_KvfosOtcSiWlBFZ
Div3pENE35yrc/edit
https://padlet.com/dwilson109/how-does-du-maurier-vividly-portray-the-
relationship-between-bpdq7v95540lmnem

14. An ATL Skills Map in Mathematics
https://padlet.com/anjamori/atl-skills-in-mathematics-n6o02s36f1qdju0z

15. Communication

16. Research

17. Self Managment

18. Social

19. Thinking

22. 7 norms of collaboration
● Pausing.
● Paraphrasing. ...
● Posing Questions. ...
● Putting Ideas on the Table. ...
● Providing Data. ...
● Paying Attention to Self and Others. ...
● Presuming Positive Intentions.