Keith Varty – Biology/Science Teacher  

During the recent  staff meeting I organised a short CPD workshop to support Learning and Teaching of the Senior Phase.   This workshop focussed on Developing Independent Learning Skills and aimed to share strategies that help the young people of St. Margaret’s Academy become  independent learners.  Although I knew that I foster these skills in the young people in my classes, I did not feel like an expert.  As a result, I decided that during this workshop staff would have the opportunity to work independently through this PowerPoint presentation before having the opportunity to discuss any questions that arose. 

I then provided a demonstration of how I make use of the virtual learning platform that is Edmodo, to  give pupils more responsibility for their learning.  This involvedshowing staff how I:

• Share topical science news articles and videos
• Share Smartboard presentations used in class
• Publisce deadlines
• Create quizzes to consolidate learning
• Set an array of homework acticities from which pupils chose their focus
• Provide feedback on homeworks and assessments
• Support learners outwith the classroom
• Share research tasks with the class for peer-assessment

Finally, I shared the expectations of independent learners in St. Margaret’s Academy as shown here.  As study skills are a key aspect of becoming an independent learner I spent a short time sharing Education Scotland’s Study Skills website. This website provides resources that can be used by both young people and teachers to develop skills in many areas, such as:

• Exam preparation
• Time management
• Learn from lessons
• Types of reading
• Note making
• Revision
• Memory tips
• Classification
• Mind maps
• Pictograms
• Essay writing
• Learning in context
• Learning styles
• Learn from lectures
• Interpreting self-portraits
• Memory skills
• Referencing
• Summarising

I plan to share many of these resources with the pupils in my classes and I will soon be focussing my collaborative professional enquiry action research project on the question ‘In what ways can Edmodo be used to provide pupils opportunities to develop literacy skills in S3 across, Biology, Health and Technology and ICT’.  To do this I will work with several of my colleagues over a ten week period to build learner’s independent learning skills using many of the resources from above.

This workshop encouraged me to reflect and identify how I develop these skills in my pupils.  It also helped me plan further opportunities to help learners take more responsibility for their learning.  Staff who attended this session were very positive in thier PMI feedback stating that:

• Positive “Having started to use Edmodo it was very interesting to see more advanced uses”
• Minus “This was a great CPD opportunity which highlighted the challenges of IT resource requirments”
• Interesting “Use of Education Scotland’s study skills website – I was not aware of this previously”

 

• Positive “Encouraged to use Edmodo more”
• Minus ” Would have liked a longer session where we could have looked at specific independent learning skills in detail”
• Interesting “Use of Edmodo communication by pupils to express concerns and seek support”

 

• Positive “Insightful PowerPoint which highlights the benefits and a guide of what not to do”
• Minus “Really useful techniques but if we are using Edmodo we need to devices for all to be able to access it”
• Interesting “Study skills website and evaluating information on pupil progress of quizzes”