S1, EP 19: Future Focused Learning

How do we create a learning environment that prepares students for the 21st Century? 

​Future focused learning is about empowering students to take ownership of their learning by providing an environment which is flexible, innovative and challenging and which will foster students who are capable of making formative decisions based on accessing the facts (NSW DoE, 2016).

In episode 19, the Teacher Takeaway team discuss all things future focused learning, including:

• co-teaching (1:00)
• flexible learning (18:15)
• flexible seating (23:19)

Co-teaching

What is it?
Co-teaching is about working together with a colleague towards shared outcomes for students and sharing your practice. It is a practice that doesn't just involve what happens in the classroom, but involves dedicated time before and after to ensure its effectiveness.

Sharratt and Fullan (2012) argue that effective co-teaching involves much more than teachers educating students in the same classroom and view effective practice as cyclical, occurring in the four stages. Each of these four steps is of equal importance

• Co- Planning 
  • working together to program and plan high-quality learning experiences for students to ensure each person has input and collective understanding of the learning goals and how that will work in the classroom
  • Co-teachers need to set aside time to plan learning and teaching together, considering student learning activities and strategies for co-teaching as they co-construct the lesson to be taught.
• Co-Teaching
  • Co-teachers work side-by-side in the classroom. All team members need to be active in teaching students.
• Co-Debriefing
  • This happens immediately or soon after the lesson and need only be very brief with concise reflection and to flag topics for later consideration.
• Co-Reflecting
  • This is a formal reflection time when teachers deconstruct the lesson, provide feedback and evaluate in order to plan for future lessons. Protected time must be set aside for regular reflective sessions.
  • reflecting on the learning process together through collegial dialogue about observations, work samples and assessment items

How does it work?
Co- Planning 

• During co-planning, teachers:
  • allocate time
  • consider content and curriculum
  • plan before, during, and after lesson; consider timing, flow and pace
  • plan to use research-based, high impact instructional strategies
  • define roles and responsibilities
  • agree on shared language and student expectation
  • discuss “why are we doing this?”

Co-Teaching

• During co-teaching, teachers:
  • work side-by-side in the classroom
    • doesn't need to be an equal share of teaching responsibility, e.g. 60/40 or 70/30
    • a great way to support colleagues in developing professional skills around content, pedagogy or behaviour/ classroom management
  • co-facilitate classroom discussion
  • focus on students’ thinking
  • monitor student engagement and learning
  • change timing and flow as needed
  • share responsibility for ensuring all students are working towards achieving outcomes
  • ask “how do we know all students are achieving?”

Co-Debriefing

• During co-debriefing, teachers:
  • use evidence from the lesson (for example, observations or recorded video) about how effectively students learned
  • consider what prompts/language worked well
  • whether outcomes were achieved
  • evaluate the efficacy of the co-teaching that occurred

Co-Reflecting

• During co-reflecting, teachers:
  • engage with co-teaching partners in honest, open, candid dialogue about teaching and learning in their classrooms
  • identify and understand changes to practice and beliefs that are needed to move forward
  • plan next lesson steps to cater for all students

One of the biggest challenges in the co-teaching space is ensuring that the following are in place and all colleagues have a strong understanding of:

• their roles and responsibilities across different lessons
• shared norms - this is how we do things and this is what we expect of each other 
• the co-teaching cycle 
• investment of ongoing time needed 

​
Find professional learning opportunities to upskill yourself in co-teaching practices. If you are in the NSW Department of Education there are two self-paced courses you can undertake:

• Collaborative Teaching Practice
• Leading Collaborative Practice

Often times, people feel uncertain about engaging in collaborative practice for fear of being judged by their teaching colleagues. It is a stigma that we need to shift, because collaborative practice is a hugely powerful practice that benefits not only the teachers professionally but also has a great impact on student learning. 

It is also important to note that a purpose built environment is nice, but not essential to effective co-teaching practices. 

“The co-teaching cycle is the most powerful way to improve teaching practice. . . . It pushes professionals to make their practices transparent and public in order to become increasingly more skilled, reflective, and thoughtful”
(Sharratt & Fullan, 2012, p. 118)

Tips for Success

• develop shared norms and expectations 
• discuss roles and responsibilities for lesson(s) during the planning phase
• make time to co-plan, co-debrief and co-reflect 
  • approach school executive to try and work this into the RFF timetable and duty roster
• understand yours and your colleagues strengths and areas for growth 
  • where and how can you compliment each other

• be open and honest with co-teaching colleagues 
• critically reflect on positives and negatives

Flexible Learning

Flexible learning is in essence differentiation. It is having that understanding that students will have different pathways to access the curriculum, whether that be:

• content
• processes
• environment
• product

It is about being flexible with your teaching and learning so that not all students are doing the same thing to demonstrate the learning they have achieved. Flexible learning incorporates student choice into the learning process. This does not mean that explicit teaching does not occur, however; students have a degree of agency over how they demonstrate what they know, understand and can do and the pathway to get there. As teachers, we can plan for student autonomy and choice within the lesson to help them move their learning forward. 

The hardest thing for many teachers, especially early career teachers, is that if you deviate from the 'plan' you have failed. Absolutely not. Your ability to deviate from what has been planned and still support those students, even if it is on the go, and take those teachable moments in a flexible way is what makes a quality teacher. 

The 6Cs of Education
When planning, think about how you are embedding the 6Cs of education. These don't need to e present in every lesson but might be evident across a unit of work. The 6Cs of education are:

1. Communication - the way we communicate with a range of audiences - digital, written and oral.
2. Critical Thinking - the way we critically evaluate information and arguments, identify patterns and connecitons, construct meaning and apply it to real world situations.
3. Creativity - asking questions, generating ideas, exploring solutions to problems. 
4. Collaboration - our capacity to work interdependently with others using strong interpersonal and team-related skills, including team management, collaborative decision making, and learning from and contributing to the learning of others. 
5. Character - qualities of an individual, including perseverance, tenacity, grit, resilience, reliability and honesty. 
6. Citizenship - thinking globally about issues, engaging with others to solve complex probelsm that impact human and environmental sustainability. 

Flexible Seating

Educators recognize that they need to create new learning and teaching environments where the curriculum and instructional tools reflect today’s world. Futurist David Thornburg identifies
three archetypal learning spaces— the campfire, cave, and watering hole—that schools can use as physical spaces and virtual spaces for student and adult learning (Davis and Kappler-Hewitt, 2013)

Campfire:
is a space where people gather to learn from an expert.

Watering Hole:
is an informal space where peers can share information and discoveries, acting as both learner and teacher simultaneously.

Cave:
is a private space where an individual can think, reflect, and transform learning from external knowledge to internal belief.