My Personal Pedagogy

There are many different pedagogical approaches. My personal pedagogy has been influenced by existing theories and frameworks, as well as my practical experience in the classroom.

Profiling Students
Profiling your students is one of the most important aspects in planning learning. Consider your students: Learning styles Current knowledge and skills Interests Home life Ambitions Areas of strengths and weaknesses

Backward Design
Backward Design asks you to consider what you want the learning outcome to look like at the end of the learning journey, and work backward from that. 1. Identify desired outcomes 2. Determine acceptable evidence 3. Plan learning experiences and instruction

Explicit Goal Setting

Let your students know the big idea or main content that they will be learning before you begin a unit. This allows them to know where they are going, and focus on the important information. Allow student input on areas of interest within the content, as well as the activities and assessments within a unit.

Dimensions of Learning
The Dimensions of Learning provides a framework for planning a unit. DoL 1 Attitudes and Perceptions DoL 2 Acquire and Integrate DoL 3 Extend and Refine DoL 4 Use Knowledge Meaningfully DoL 5 Habits of Mind DoL 1 and 5 are overarching dimensions which encompass the entire learning journey

Differentiation
Differentiation is the process of adjusting activities, materials, content and assessment to suit the range of students in your class. There are many different ways to differentiate; my preferred methods are tiered activities and learning centres.

Productive Pedagogies
Productive Pedagogies is a framework from Education Qld. It proposes that students should spend most (if not all) of their time in class engaged in intellectually challenging activities, while at the same time being supported both educationally and emotionally.

Metacognitive Skills
In this digital age, metacognitive skills are more important that ever. Students should be explicitly taught skills such as: Goal setting Planning Self reflection Research Organization Critical thinking

Other Influencing Theories

These can be incorporated into any lesson, and help to cater for different learning styles Blooms Taxonomy Gardners Multiple Intelligences Sternbergs Triarchic Theory

Many other things will influence the pedagogies used, not least of all the subject matter that is being learnt.
I realise that my personal pedagogy will change and evolve as I continue my career, but I hope that I will always have a student centred classroom.