Facilitating the Classroom

Robbie StewartBusiness Education Teacher

Fayetteville High School

Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

a. promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness

b. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources

c. promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes

d. model collaboration

National Education Technology Standards

Innovative Willing to take risks in their curriculum

planning No longer the knowledge authority

Facilitators

Objectives and Outcomes of Facilitating

Problem-solving skills Self-directed learning

skills Ability to find and use

appropriate resources Critical thinking Performance ability Social and ethical

skills

Self-sufficient and self-motivated

Leadership skills Ability to work on a

team Communication skills Proactive thinking Equivalent with

workplace skills

Teachers as Facilitators ◦ Primary tasks :

guide coach mentor

◦ Co-learners◦ Project-based learning activities

Changing Roles and Increasing Participation

Students as Teachers ◦ Universe of experts ◦ Information available through the Internet

Students can access new and relevant information not yet discovered by their teacher.

Internet-using educators are discovering a new mode of learning that is call "Side-by-Side Learning."

Changing Roles and Increasing Participation

Parent And Community Involvement ◦ “Community" can be found online

Parents, business leaders, scientists, political and labor leaders, and many other members of the community can play more effective and innovative roles as motivators, role models, sources of information, critics, evaluators, guides, and mentors.

Changing Roles and Increasing Participation

Introduce your information slowly Lecture – 5 minutes Ask questions, check for understanding Allow students to work Make the content applicable Learners as Teachers

Tips for Facilitators

 What are the essential driving questions we want to cover?  

What are the key concepts we want to cover?   

 What habits of learning do we want to focus on?

What are the assessment opportunities? What resources will be used?  How can we differentiate learning? Teams formed?

Overall Planning

Learning Facilitated with Active Strategies

Before: Exact procedure

and knowledge

Lecture

Teacher in command

Written exams

After: Minimalist approach,

shift to active learning strategies

More demonstrations

Students in command of learning

Performance assessments

How I facilitate!

How much time do your students spend listening (to you) compared to actively working independently, interactively, collaboratively?

How “real-world” and “authentic” are your students’ projects?

How many ways may a student demonstrate that he/she has met the course objective?

Facilitating Active Learning Strategies

Edutopia, June/July 2009 By Mitchel Resnick

Make the rest of school like kindergarten Kindergarteners

◦ Imagine what they want to do◦ Create a project based on their ideas◦ Share their ideas and creations with others◦ Reflect on their experience

Kindergarten For Life