Date: 2007-11-17
Second workshop was delivered to the parents, students and teachers from
Aims of the workshops
By the end of the module, the parents and teachers will be able to:
o Describe ways to improve learning: space arrangement, learning planning, motivation for learning, learning hygiene etc;
o Elaborate an individual learning plan;
o To collaborate in order to efficiently support their children learning inside and outside school.
Methodology of the workshops
The concept of the workshops was to provide opportunities for the participants to discuss and work on concretely within group activities planned as very interactive sessions based on collaboration (parents, teachers and students were working together for elaborating the individual learning plan), independent activities, study-case exercise followed by a debate. The accent was placed on participatory methods that would give value and use to the participants’ previous experience
Both workshops were planned and delivered by using the framework for active learning and critical thinking developed by the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking Program (for more information visit http://ct-net.net and www.criticalthinking.org), a model known by the acronym ERR. This model begins with a phase called evocation, in which participants are encouraged to “consider their assumptions about a topic, raise questions about it, are encouraged to set purposes for learning” (RWCT glossary, http://rwct.reading.org/glossary), and generally raise their curiosity about it. The second phase is called realization of meaning, during which participants “inquire, examine and construct meaning” (RWCT glossary, http://rwct.reading.org/glossary). In the third phase of reflection, the participants consider what they have learned and compare it with their prior assumptions; “they apply the learning to new situations, they question or debate the ideas, and they begin to reorder their thinking to accommodate what they have learned” (RWCT glossary, http://rwct.reading.org/glossary).
In the first workshop three children were also attending the activity. They were asked to draw how they see their learning room. In the second workshop, children worked with their parents and teachers in elaborating the learning plan.
