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To help students:

self-motivated

gain good qualifications?

get into a good university?

get a good job?

autonomous

prepare for life?

independent

develop into brilliant learners?

lifelong learners?

self-directed
self-regulated

and if so, how do we measure our success?

Is it a lack of the right skills to be able to

learn successfully in a self regulated

learning environment?

up to 73% of university students report difficulties preparing

for an exam

most tertiary students have been found to have weak or

ineffective strategies for processing information both in the
classroom and in their own study

when making notes from lectures or from text most students

miss 60 - 70% of the key points
-

good note making is positively correlated with

academic achievement

material omitted from notes has only a 5 - 15%

chance of being recalled

Even when they have good notes many students

still have great difficulty organising the
information they have collected.

52% admit that their notes are disorganised

61% report having trouble sequencing the ideas to

make coherent sense

At the secondary level, even given well organised, well

structured notes with summaries provided:

two thirds of students study for tests purely by

rereading their notes

more than half of them do that reading the day before

the test or exam

around 12% of students do nothing more than recopy

their notes verbatim

50% use passive repetition of key points as their single

study technique.

 setting learning goals

planning out their study

asking good questions

generating motivation and perseverance
processing information effectively recording, sifting,

sorting, comparing, verifying, trying out different ways

working to deadlines
reflecting on their achievement both process (how
they learn) and content (what they learn)
making changes to their learning processes where
necessary

Do your students have all these skills?

How do you know?

2008 QCA - A Framework of personal, learning and

thinking skills that are essential to success in learning,
life and work:

Independent inquirers

Creative thinkers

Reflective learners

Team workers

Self-managers

Effective participators

Learning Skills and Work Habits:

Responsibility

Organization

Independent Work

Collaboration

Initiative

Self-Regulation

Poland
Belgium
Italy
Korea
Singapore
Mexico
New Zealand
The Slovak Republic
Spain
and Turkey
have all developed (or are currently
developing) curricula of essential learning
skills for students

Communication
Skills

Selfmanagement
Skills

Communication

Organization

Information
literacy

Creative
Thinking

Affective Skills

Media literacy

Transfer

Reflection

Thinking Skills

Critical Thinking

Social Skills

Collaboration

Research Skills

Communication

The skills of effectively exchanging thoughts, messages and

information through interaction
The skills of reading, writing and using language to communicate
information

Collaboration
Organization

The skills of working cooperatively with others

The skills of effectively managing time and tasks

Affective skills

The skills of managing state of mind

Reflection

The metacognitive skills of re-considering what has been taught

and learned by reflection on content, learning skills and learning
strategy use

Information
literacy

The skills of finding, interpreting, judging and creating information

Media literacy

The skills of interacting with different media to compare and

contrast different representations of information

Critical thinking

The skills of critique of text, media, ideas and issues

Creativity and
innovation

The skills of invention developing ideas and things that never

existed before

Transfer

Utilising skills and knowledge in multiple contexts

Only 20% of teachers believe that teaching students

how to learn is a priority

Only 17% of students report that teachers actively

help them learn or improve their study skills

What skills does it focus on?

When are these skills taught?

How is the programme implemented at

present?

Meta-cognitive Knowledge students gaining awareness of

the thinking and learning strategies, techniques and skills
they use at present

Meta-cognitive Performance using that knowledge to

improve performance, change ineffective strategies, try

new techniques, learn new skills

The Student tries to solve the problem and must keep talking:
I see ......

I imagine ....

I think .......

I feel ........

I know ......

I am trying to ........

The Teacher keeps the student talking by only asking questions:

focus on the process not the solution

draw out learning and thinking strategies from the student

ask process focused questions

DO NOT HELP THE STUDENT FIND THE ANSWER

Are a combination of

Cognitive and
Affective

- processes, skills, techniques and strategies

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

Persistence and perseverance

Focus and concentration, overcoming distractions

Self-motivation

Mindfulness

Reducing anxiety

Delaying gratification

Managing impulsiveness and anger

Developing resilience

At the junior or PYP level - Awareness:

raising awareness of the existence of ATL skills

At the middle-school or MYP level - Acquisition:

teaching specific ATL skills, strategies and techniques

At the senior or DP level - Amalgamation:

many skills involved in the completion of every task

At every level - Assurance:

Making sure all students have the ATL skills they need for

success at the next level

At the entry into the PYP?

At the entry into the MYP?

Half-way through the MYP?

At the entry to the Diploma?

At the completion of the Diploma?

Skills that every student needs?

At what age or year level do they need to have effective skills of:

- time management for classes, assignments, exam study

- listening

- concentrating

- note taking in class

- persevering

- collaborating, team work

- articulating ideas

- key point summarising

- essay & report writing

- reviewing information

- goal setting, planning

- independent learning

- resilience, dealing with failure

The skills of:

-

Scientific literacy?

Mathematical literacy?

Creative literacy?

Artistic literacy?

Language literacy?

Technological literacy?

Physical literacy?

1. Form subject groups

2. Focus on the first key ATL Skills step-up point
3. Consider - what are the ATL skills students need
to be successful in your subject at this point start with the most basic, include all skills
4. Use the MYP Principles to Practices document as

a reference document for ATL Skills practices

5. Post your charts on the wall

6. Take a gallery walk around all your charts and pick
out any ATL skills that appear more than once

7. Put these on a separate chart and label it Core

Generics cross them off your subject group charts

8. What remains on your subject group chart are your

Subject Specific ATL Skills
9. Repeat for the next key step-up point
10. And repeat again for the last step up point

All ATL Skills Clusters are significant at every level of

the IB but skills practices will increase in complexity

Individuals vary greatly in their age related skills

proficiency

Build coherence of ATL Skill development across

each level

Design for total ATL Skills development by the time

a child finishes school

Explicit Teaching means teaching a learning skill

outside the subject based lessons teaching a lesson

on Time Management, Note Making, Concentration
etc. focused on strategies, practices, techniques.

Implicit Teaching means embedding the learning skill

development and practice within the subject focused

lesson.

Look at the ATL Skills you have so far developed in your

subject groups

Which ones lend themselves to an Explicit teaching

approach?

Which to a more Implicit teaching approach?

Highlight them differently

Discuss how you could implement these two approaches

 How, when, where and by whom could this be

taught at your school?
Could you reach agreement on a consistent model
of time management for classes, assignments,
tests and exams?
How could you get every teacher to reinforce the
same model of time management

 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

 What does courage mean?

.. doing something that you know is going to be hard
What is the hardest thing you have ever got
yourself to do?

How did you get yourself to do it?

That is your courage strategy write it out

Practice it
Then when you need it, do it on purpose

 In Languages reading, writing, note making, key

word summarising, paraphrasing .....
In Science creating questions, researching,
developing hypotheses, running experiments,
gathering data, analysing data, drawing conclusions,
reporting findings
In Maths?
In the Arts?
In Technology?
In PE?

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Novice

Learner

Practitioner

Expert

- observing

- copying

Observes others Copies others

performing tasks performance of
and using the
the skill
skill
Medium level of
High levels of
scaffolding
scaffolding from needed
teacher needed

- demonstrating - self-regulating
Can demonstrate Can teach others
the skill on
the skill
demand
No teacher
Minimal teacher scaffolding
scaffolding
required
required

SKILLS HEIRARCHY

Level 1
The Novice
Observation

Level 2
The Learner
Emulation

Level 3
The Practitioner
Demonstration

Level 4
The Expert
Self-Regulation
Can perform the skill without
thinking through the process
first

Observes others performing

tasks and using the skill

Copies others performance

of the skill

Can demonstrate the skill on

demand

Gains an understanding of
how the skill
operates and what the
distinguishing characteristics
of the skill are

Works through the skill in a

step by step fashion, seeks
clarification for correctness
of performance

Flexibility of skill use in

different contexts is
developing

Automaticity is established
Automaticity is developing

Consolidation of learning is
occurring through
experience

Gathers procedural
information about the
performance of the skill, asks
questions to clarify
Is very conscious of
procedure
performing the skill and
correcting errors with
Errors are frequent
deliberation
High levels of scaffolding
from teacher needed explanations, training,
structural support

Can teach others the skill

Performs skill only with

known content in known
context

Medium level of scaffolding

Errors are corrected quickly

Can perform skill either with
different content or in
different context
Minimal teacher scaffolding
required setting directions,
goals, assessable outcomes

Can use skill with unfamiliar

content in unfamiliar context
High levels of performance
occur
Any errors are corrected
automatically
No teacher scaffolding
needed

Self assess your own proficiency with your Top

10 ATL skills
Top 10 ATL Skills needed
by your students

Novice

Learner

Observing

Copying

Practitioner

Expert

Demonstrating Self-regulating

 Many skills remain the same throughout the IB years but the
complexity of the use of each skill increases
Each skill is manifested through the successful completion of
the summative task
Once the skill is identified in the ATL section of the unit planner
and the complexity of the use of the skill is specified in the

ACTION section of the unit planner, self-assessment can then

be used to measure proficiency

Potentially, many skills may be developed within the

teaching and learning in a unit, so it is important to be
strategic by considering:

The objective strand(s) that are being taught and

assessed by the subject group criteria

The summative task

The learning experiences that build to the

summative task

Mathematics
Criterion C: Communicating (year 5),
Organize information using a logical structure
In order for a student to (strand) Organize
information using a logical structure , students must
(skill indicator) organize and depict information
logically.
(ATL Category: Communication, Skill Cluster
Communication)

Unit- Chemical
Reactions
Summative task:
scientific
investigation
ATL Category
Social

ATL Cluster
Collaboration:
Skill indicator: Give and
receive meaningful feedback

Application to the summative

task: Students will practice
giving and receiving feedback
on their chemical reaction
investigation

For learning experiences that you plan to

deliver within the unit, consider which ATL
skills must be practiced in order to
successfully achieve the objective and access
the learning.

decide on the ATL skills to focus on

make the skills clear description, examples

have students self-assess skill proficiency

analyse class results for general skill deficiencies

develop lessons to bring all students up to the same

skill level (explicit)

build skill practice into subject lessons (implicit)

encourage students to regularly self-assess

proficiency up to Mastery level

 Should I give students ATL grades? No.

Does the MYP require schools to report on students ATL skills development? No
Do schools have to develop a detailed scope and sequence, or formal curriculum map
for teaching ATL skills? No
Is it necessary to plan for teaching, assessing and reporting on all 5 IB ATL skill
categories, all 10 MYP ATL skill clusters or all ~150 skills practices listed in the MYP
ATL framework? No
Do schools have to provide documentary evidence of horizontal articulation of ATL
skills? No, but schools must be able to identify resources for and commitment to
collaborative planning that includes opportunities for both horizontal and vertical

articulation of the curriculum.

Robust horizontal articulation (year-level planning across subject groups) will include
discussion about ATL skills that cross disciplinary boundaries.

Content understanding of subject matter

- what dont I understand yet?

ATL skills progress towards mastery

- how competent do I now feel in each learning skill?

Strategy Use effectiveness of learning/teaching

strategies
- how effective for me were the learning strategies I was
exposed to or used myself, today?

Metacognition 1 Reflection on Content

Evaluate understanding of subject matter, identify gaps
What I dont understand is .......................
How do I .................?
What do I have to do to .......................?
What I need to know is .....................?
The thing I just dont get is ....................?
What do you mean when you say ................?
What questions do you have so far?
..............................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................

Metacognition 2 Reflection on ATL Skills Proficiency

ATL Skills

Novice
observation

Learner
emulation

Practitioner
Expert
demonstration self-regulation

Metacognition 3 Reflection on Learning Strategy

Effectiveness
Topic

Learning/Teaching Worked Worked OK

Strategy
well for me
for me

Students SRL skills

Data presentation

Soft skills import

Video clip

ATL at my school

1:1 discussion

Think Alouds

tengrams

ATL skills by subject

Group work

Core generic ATL

Gallery walk

Explicit/Implicit tchg Group discussion

Affective - courage

Demonstration

Self-assessment

Personal assess

FAQs

Pres. & discuss

Metacog 1 - 3

reflection

Did not
work for
me

6 billion cell phones in the world

85% of new phones are web enabled
2 billion broadband subscriptions
255 million websites
150 million blogs
8 trillion text messages sent in 2011
107 trillion emails 89% of which were spam
Youtube 72 hours uploaded every minute
3 billion videos viewed every day

every piece of subject matter was available to

your students on the internet, and

they all had access to internet linked tablets,

and

they all had access to high speed broadband

all day....

What could teaching look like then?

A focus on the teaching of learning skills in 12 countries and

across the IB curricula

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 all have with the
digital world

Process Oriented Skills Based Guided Inquiry

Learning

To teach ATL Skills, practice inquiry learning

and develop self-regulated learners

Sugata Mitra

1)

Work with the person next to you groups of 2-3 people with one
internet connected device per group

2)

Connect to www.topmarks.co.uk

3)

Select common interest subject and level click go

Early Years
Key Stage 1
Key Stage 2
Key Stage 3
Key Stage 4
Advanced
Higher Ed

4)

=
=
=
=
=
=
=

< 5 yrs old

57
7 11
11 14
14 16
16 18
> 18

Check out as many websites as you can

Focus on developing the learning skills needed to learn the subject

matter effectively

Pose questions, outline problems, give clear measurable learning

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

taolearn.com/students.php
- the Art of Learning website with links to all the best free sites to help you
design lessons and to help your students with their study including:

marktreadwell.com/Digital_Resources

marktreadwell.com/Image_Libraries
- huge libraries of digital resources for teachers

topmarks.co.uk
- search engine for many great school subject 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, students sharing their own resources

studyblue.com/notes/high-schools/
- all subjects, all levels, flashcards, quizzes and notes, on-line and on phone

johndclare.net and spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk

- good sites for history, all countries, all ages

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

- good resources for all subjects for GCSE or MYP

mrbartonmaths.com/goodsites.htm
- a collection of free maths sites for GCSE or MYP

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

quizlet.com and easynotecards.com/index

- flash card makers for most subjects

Technological limitations number of internet devices,

broadband & wifi availability and reliability?

Financial limitations cost of connectivity?

Lack of good subject based websites in Chinese?

Security, difficulty in isolating sites for students to use?

Focus, concentration issues with students on-line?

Lack of awareness in teachers of what is available on-line in their

subjects

Fear of trying something new?

BLOOMS REVISED TAXONOMY