6 Modules Leading to Academic Wellness
A program for teachers, students and parents
Understanding Through Doing
Each of the 6 modules includes online activities or explorations that you can follow in order to "play" with concepts. After each exercise, you are invited to submit ideas regarding your results, and commentary to the Teachers’ Forum for perspective and feedback.
Your ultimate goal is to develop a model for yourself that is meaningful, easy to remember, makes sense, and that you can use in your classroom quickly and easily to help address individual student needs.
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MODULE A
VSOL - What are The Vital Signs of Learning?
How and why they are vital, how one can highjack or strengthen the others. Here we compare the medical model to the learning model. We test the concept. This module can be completed as Individual or as a Small Group Activity.
Module A Outline
- 5 Vital Sign Cards
- What is Vital to Learning - ordering the cards by importance and chronology
- Reflecting on Learning - drawing a model of how the vital signs work together as an interdependent system
MODULE B
VSOL Survey and Feedback Report
We invite students to take a survey to check vital signs to help identify strengths and risk factors. We offer to help students and parents monitor their vital signs, and work with teachers to strengthen and develop all of the vital signs.
Module B Outline
- On-line Survey
- Interpretation Key
- Feedback Report: Strengths & Challenges
- Follow-up Interview - Guided Debrief
MODULE C
Prescriptions for Differentiation
Prescriptions for differentiation in Lesson, Assignment, Design and Assessment. This module includes a game, using a class roster and a prescribed curriculum. We look at Strategic Differentiation using teachers' actual units/lessons and a differentiation grid. We consider ways to support and strengthen students' academic strengths and needs through how we design instruction and assign evidence of learning.
Module C Outline
- Class Roster
- Curriculum on Any Given Day
- Lesson Topic & Assignment Requirements Today
MODULE D
Looking at Student Work
We invite teachers to use VSOL scoring guides to identify Vital Sign strengths and needs evident in student work samples.
Module D Outline
- Looking at Student Work Samples
- VSOL Scoring Guides
MODULE E
Project Based Learning (PBL) Design for Teaching & Learning
Using the teachers video "Teaching for Learning" and the students video “Checking Students’ Vital Signs of Learning” we look at teachers and student perspectives on the values of Project Based Learning.
Module E Outline
- Teaching for Learning – Video Link & Listening Guide
- Checking Students’ Vital Signs of Learning – Video Link & Listening Guide
- Project Progress Check
- PBL Works – 7 Essential Elements
- Learning Process Assessment