STUDENT LEARNING SKILLS COURSES

Maths & Memory - for Years 6-8 (PYP)

- establishing the patterning base of maths and memory

Metacognitive Awareness for Years 7-10 (MYP)

- noticing and improving learning strategies and techniques,
developing personal learning style for success at school

Digital Learning for all students, all ages

- effective use of web-based resources for schoolwork

Exam Confidence for Years 10-13 (DP)

- practical study and self-motivation skills for high achievement in
all tests and exams

Learning Resilience for Years 12 & 13 (TOK & GATE)

- developing flexible thinking, understanding intelligence, becoming a
resilient learner

Purpose of school based education?

To help students:

gain good qualifications?

get into a good university?

get a good job?

become great learners

- self-directed
- self-managed

- autonomous
- independent
- lifelong learners?
Self-regulated todays buzz word

Characteristics of successful selfregulated learners?

able to focus and concentrate
self motivated
good planners, organised
hard working, persevering

independent researchers
creative, forward thinking
responsible for their own actions
self evaluating, reflective

self correcting

So do you ever..
get them out of bed
make their breakfast and see that they eat it
check their school bag make sure they havent
forgotten anything
take them to school
pick up and clean after them at home
pick them up from school
take them to after-school activities
provide extra tutors for them
provide motivation, rewards and planning for them
help them with homework
find resources for them
make sure they go to bed on time
organise their sports, social and academic events

and do you also

provide them with all the necessities of teenage life:

money
cell phone
TV
computer
access to broadband
iPod
personal transport
in return for.?

Effective self-regulated learning requires:

Efficacy + Agency + Action
Efficacy belief that success in learning is possible

Agency the skills, strategies and techniques of

effective learning
Action taking action, making mistakes and failing
well

Efficacy belief in the possibility of

successful learning
role models biographies, own stories
self confidence measuring self against self
self esteem valuing children for who they are

reaction to challenges
helping them move from
I cant I havent so far

Agency the skills, techniques and strategies of

effective learning
Cognitive skills - information processing, understanding,
remembering, communicating - study skills
Affective skills mindfulness, self-motivation, emotional

management, resilience - enabling the student to gain

some control over mood, motivation and attitude
Metacognitive skills stepping outside own learning and
monitoring the processes used, constantly improving
strategies and skills used to learn

Action having a go, making mistakes

and failing well
The most significant difference between the high
achievers and the underachievers was that
all the high achievers had learned how to
fail well
- whereas all the underachievers were
failing badly

Reactions to Failure
Failing Badly

Failing Well

Acknowledging your failures

Blaming the school or the

system

- taking responsibility for your

own actions

Blaming other people

- working out what you did

Pretending you never get or do

anything wrong

wrong
- making changes, and

Adding drama to failures to

avoid dealing with them

- having another go

Avoiding any activity that could

possibly result in failure

Growing Resilient Children

Encourage them to take on new challenges
and to use failure as feedback
Help them to notice their own strategies for
recovery from adversity

Parent as Teacher
If they have any problems understanding or learning
any schoolwork...

Focus them on what they can control effort and

strategy use

Help them learn to use internet resources well

Great Websites for Your Children

www.taolearn.com/students.php
- my site with links to all the best free sites to help your study, including:

topmarks.co.uk
- educational search engine for good school-subject based websites

khanacademy.org
- really clear clips explaining every part of most subjects

brightstorm.com
- great videos and much more in Maths, Science and English (American English anyway)

getrevising.co.uk/resources
- all subjects at all levels, great new shared resources arriving from other students daily contribute
your own

studyblue.com/notes/high-schools/
- make and share online flashcards, quizzes and notes, study on-line and on your phone, you need to
join up first but its free

johndclare.net and spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk

- good sites for history, all countries, all ages

More great sites

s-cool.co.uk and bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/

- good resources for all subjects for GCSE

mrbartonmaths.com/goodsites.htm
- a collection of free Maths sites for all levels

rod.beavon.clara.net/chemistry_contents.htm#Physical
- great site for Chemistry at all levels

languagesonline.org.uk/
- many languages at every level

swipestudy.com
- self-tests in most subjects sent to your phone!

languageperfect.com/worldchamps/SiteShell.html - simply the best way to learn

any language (it is a school subscription site though)

quizlet.com and easynotecards.com/index

- flash card makers for most subjects

Organisation
High speed internet is necessary look into
gateways, access restrictions, parental tools
Make sure they have an place to do school
work which suits them physically
Help build good habits of study - give your
childs learning the highest priority in the
home for a period of time every evening

 Help them learn to build in intrinsic rewards,

develop delayed gratification
To remember what they learn at school, each
night they need to read over what they did
that day
Allow them to form study groups with friends
as long as they use time together to get work
done

Parent as Role Model

The idea of success through learning is picked
up best by imitation - make the culture of
your family a learning culture
Strive to be worthy of imitation

To get to where you are today

how many of you..

had to work hard?

had to suffer physically, mentally, emotionally?
had to forgo pleasures in your life?
have suffered personal or business set-backs?

And how many want to give your children

the benefits of your struggles without them
having to go through the distress?

but how many of you think that the difficulties you

have faced, the problems you have overcome, the
suffering you have endured have helped you to
develop the resilience you need to create the success
for your self and your family that you enjoy today?

So why protect your children

from responsibility and the
possibility of failure?

Our children all need to learn how to:

earn what they get

organise their own lives
take responsibility for their own actions
fight their own battles
make their own decisions and take all the
consequences
succeed
fail well

Too many parents make life hard for their children

by trying, too zealously, to make it easy for them
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

On the net...
My web page - www.taolearn.com

- Tips for Parents through the year

- Tips for Students multi-sensory resources
- articles
- links
- videos
- blog www.lancegking.wordpress.com

The book of the student course