Module 4: Teaching, Styles & Best Practices

DISCUSSIONS

Discussion Forum
4 . 1

P R E S E N T A T I O N
P R A C T I C E

O F

B E S T

Post your presentation to this forum. Read a colleagues description of their best practice.
Suggest a leadership activity that your colleague could undertake in order to share the
practice in his/her school or community. Point out who you think would be important to
include in this activity.

The purpose of the study done by The Center for Educational Effectiveness was to examine and analyse the effectiveness of existing
teaching frameworks, which focus on the practice of:

Effective teaching
Essential practices
Quality of learning

Using the topic of Essential Practice and as an Alt-Ed teacher I find it very impactful for student to create short, medium and long term
goals. Goal setting and planning are the skills that enable us to get where we want to go in life. These goals are educational, career,
extracurricular and personal based.
One of my Best Practices is having students complete an Annual Education Plan. This is where students create goals along with an
action plan. If you want to get higher marks or learn a new skill or open the door to the career of your choice, you have to have a
plan [Ministry of Education: AEP]
STEPS:
Step 1: Set goals and plan for action
Step 2: Review your progress and revise your plan
Step 3: Prepare for next year
Step 4: Do a year-end review
In completing the Annual Education plan students will:

Learn how to set goals

Determine their strengths

Problem Solve and Decision Making Process

Regularly check, assess and review goals

Learn more about themselves

People Involved:

Student

Guardian

Course Teacher

Guidance Counsellor

Possibly VP or Principal
Below is the template I use for the Annual Education Plan. However, I also modify the idea of goal setting for individualized projects
and units. As I mentioned in one of our other discussions I use daily goals and project/unit goals. This is one-way student can selfassess on a regular basis. Below the Annual Education Plan is my Daily Unit Goals calendar I use in my classes. I started using this
in my Alt-Ed class where my students would have to create goals every day. This seems to work well in other classes where students
have a lot of class time to work on their assignments such classes as Visual Art & Photography & Communication Tech.
The daily agenda helps students track their progress while taking ownership on their own learning. I sign off on the students work each
day provide them feedback daily/weekly. At the end of the week they have to give themselves a Star and a Wish (Star = something they
did well or are proud of Wish = something to improve or change). At the end of the unit the students assess themselves on the Unit
Self-Assessment track sheet. This is where students have to reflect on their Learning & Work Skills (Assessment seen on the report
card/Growing Success). All forms of assessment are handed in for review and final assessment from the teacher.
I have found that when students have to take ownership for their learning it encourages them to reflect on their abilities and what they
are getting out of their experiences. According to Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose In Mind, When learning is the
goal, teachers and students collaborate and use ongoing assessment and pertinent feedback to move learning forward. This allows
students to work both backward by setting i.e., future unit goals and then forward by getting mini daily goals. This is an essential skill
that they will need for school, the workforce and daily life. It prompts us to start at the end with the goals and outcomes we hope to
achieve (Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose in Mind, 15).

Daily Goal Setting:

Resources:
Ontario Skills Passport (OSP) www.ontario.ca/skillspassport
http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/aep/aepeng.html

The Essential Practice of High Quality of Teaching and Learning

http://www.effectiveness.org/files/EssentialPracticesofHighQualityTeaching%20and%20Learning.pdf