TEACHING

with ATL

IN MIND

Lance G King
Managebac Conference
December 2014

www.taolearn.com
ATL tab - an opportunity to share ATL resources world-wide
taolearn@xtra.co.nz
@TAOLearn

Teaching with ATL in Mind

The key skills of the self-regulated learner
setting learning goals
planning out study, managing time well
asking good questions
generating self-motivation and perseverance
processing information effectively skimming, sifting, sorting, comparing, verifying, paraphrasing,
recording
overcoming procrastination, working to deadlines
reflecting on learning progress both process (how effective is my learning?) and content (what
dont I understand yet?)
learning from every mistake and bouncing back
making changes to learning processes where necessary and trying again
IB MYP ATL Skills Framework (could the DP use the same framework?):

ATL:

ATL Skills are not subject matter in themselves, they are a collection of the processes, skills,
techniques and strategies needed to learn any and every subject.
ATL Skills are not more content to be learned they are processes to be experienced and improved.

ATL Skills are a combination of:

Cognitive
Affective and
Meta-cognitive
- processes, skills, techniques and strategies

Cognitive skills - active information processing and retrieval strategies study skills
Organising and transforming information
Asking good questions
Taking good classroom notes
Using memory techniques
Goal setting
Reviewing information regularly
Time management
Organising the study environment
Affective skills - enabling the student to gain some control over mood, motivation and attitude
Persistence and perseverance
Focus and concentration
Self-motivation
Mindfulness
Emotional management
Resilience
Metacognition: a combination of
o Metacognitive Knowledge - students gaining awareness of the thinking and learning
strategies, techniques and skills they use at present
o Metacognitive Performance using that knowledge to improve performance, change
ineffective strategies, try new techniques, learn new skills
Are there Core Generic ATL skills?
universal
essential to the learning process
not age specific
they persist throughout the life of the learner as the most fundamental skills
they do not change in nature but may well increase in complexity with the age of the learner
ATL Core Generic Skills (numbers in brackets are from IB MYP ATL skill description framework) eg:
1. Time management classes, assignments, exam study (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d)
2. Listening accurate reception, following instructions (1.1a, 1.1b)
3. Note making - recording information accurately and personally (1.2i, 1.2j, 1.2k)
4. Concentration, focus, perseverance, persistence - staying on task (4.1a, 4.1b, 4.1c, 4.2a)
5. Group work and team work cooperation and communication (2d, 2f, 2g, 2h, 2i, 2j, 2k)
6. Goal setting and task management (3e, 3f, 3g, 3h)
7. Information search, retrieval, comparison, verification (6a, 6b, 6c, 6g, 6h, 6i, 6k, 7a)
8. Writing for different purposes essays, reports, creative writing (1.2e, 1.2n, 6f)
9. IT skills word processing, spread-sheeting, creating presentations (6j)
10. Gaining understanding - reflection, review, formulating questions (5e, 5f, 5g, 6e, 1.1c, 8d)
11. Learning from mistakes resilience, failing well (4.4a, 4.5a, 4.5b)
12. .
13. .

Are there key Core Generic ATL skill Step-ups across a students school life?
At the entry into the PYP?
At the entry into the MYP ?
Half-way through the MYP?
Entry into the DP?
At the completion of the DP?
Do students need to be taught those skills before they make the step-up or will they learn them after they
do?
Teaching Cognitive Skills explicitly through models, best practice - teaching strategies, techniques:
Define the parameters of the skill - characteristics, examples of high and low proficiency
Describe best practice in the field how do the best students do it?
Break each skill down into strategies and techniques
Teach them through practical examples
Allow for personal difference
Teaching Affective Skills:
1) Drawing out and transferring internalised strategies
Define the parameters of the skill - characteristics, examples of high and low proficiency
Remember a time when you were exhibiting this skill
Describe your experience in detail focusing on strategies and techniques
Practice using those techniques deliberately when next you need to exercise that skill
2) Explicitly as with Cognitive skills or
3) Experientially
Setting up experiences for students that bring about the development or use of Affective Skills like selfmotivation, resilience, perseverance, concentration, focus, leadership, bouncing back after mistakes and
failures
PE many aspects of Physical Education can be used to highlight the development of affective skills
Outdoor Education taking students out of the classroom can create opportunities for the
development of affective skills
Influencing a School Culture through Skill Acquisition
What gets the highest praise at your school?
Process or Outcomes?
What if high praise was meted out to process courage, determination, perseverance, resilience,
self-motivation.
How could that influence your school culture?
Self-Assessment
Novice

Learner

Practitioner

Master

Watch

Copy

Do

Teach

Can watch others

performing tasks and
using the skill

Can copy others

performance of the skill

Medium level of
High levels of scaffolding scaffolding needed
from teacher needed

Can demonstrate the

skill on demand
Minimal teacher
scaffolding required

Can teach others the skill

No teacher scaffolding
required

Which also suggests a 4th Method of Teaching ATL Skills:

Peer teaching:
Use self-assessment to rank students as Novices, Learners, Practitioners and Experts
Ask the Experts if they could teach the rest
Provide learning opportunities across the class for:
o Watchers
o Copiers
o Doers
o Teachers
Teaching Core Generic ATL Skills - key questions:
When - is there room in the timetable where CG skills lessons can be placed?
How what is the best teaching method for each CG skill?
Who who will develop the model or method of implementation of each skill
Do you need to guarantee consistency of reinforcement of each CG skill in their classroom?
If so How?
As well as Core Generic ATL Skills are there also Subject Specific skills that students need?
Additional skills of:
Scientific literacy?
Mathematical literacy?
Creative literacy?
Artistic literacy?
Language literacy?
Technological literacy?
Physical literacy?
Are there key Subject Specific skill Step-ups?
Do they occur at the same points as the C-C Skills?
Which ATL skills are assessed already?:
In Languages researching, reading, writing, note making, key word summarising, paraphrasing
In Science creating research questions, researching, designing experiments, gathering and
analysing data, drawing conclusions, reporting findings
In TOK critical thinking?
In Maths logical, analytical thinking?
In the Arts creativity, imagination?
In Technology software management skills?

Practicing Self-Regulated Learning in the Classroom:

POSBGIL - Process Oriented, Skills Based, Guided Inquiry Learning designed to develop self-regulated (selfmanaged, self-directed, independent, lifelong) learners through inquiry-based learning focused on teaching
the ATL skills students need to learn all their subjects efficiently and effectively.
Factors making POSBGIL possible:
a focus on the teaching of learning skills in the national curricula of 12 countries and across the IB
world
the proliferation of high quality school subject based websites
the ubiquity of internet accessible devices
the availability of high speed broadband
the high level of comfort your students have with the digital world
In a POSBGIL lesson teachers would:
focus on developing the ATL skills needed to learn the subject matter effectively
pose questions, outline problems, set challenges, give clear measurable objectives and time frames
allow students to work collaboratively in small groups
assign roles researcher, questioner, recorder, director
enable them to connect to the best subject based internet (and other) resources
facilitate their journey
Great websites for Teachers and Students:
www.taolearn.com/students.php - the Art of Learning website with links to many free sites to help
you design lessons and to help your students with their study including:
www.marktreadwell.com/Digital_Resources + www.marktreadwell.com/Image_Libraries - huge
libraries of digital resources for teachers
www.topmarks.co.uk - search engine for many great school subject websites
www.Udacity.com
www.Coursera.com
www.TEDed.com
Teaching Task:
Take an existing lesson and turn it into a series of questions, the answers to which will lead the
student to the conclusions you are after.
Find the web pages you would need to link up to design an internet based inquiry learning exercise to
enable your students to find the answers to the questions you propose.
Developing Resilient, Self-Regulated Learners
Challenge them to learn for themselves and to use failure as feedback
Teach them all the skills of effective SRL
Give them lots of opportunities to practice resilient SRL in the classroom
Build in systems of reward for resilience and for effective self-regulation
Make sure students reflect on the development of their own proficiency in SRL
Implementing the POSBGIL revolution will take courage use your courage strategy.