"Children using accelerated learning are racing ahead...the results are spectacular"

 What is "accelerated" learning?  That was a question that I have always  had at the back of my mind. The meaning of acceleration and the theory behind it. When I heard the word acceleration, the first thing that comes to my mind is a car. When you put your foot down hard on the accelerator the car speeds up and within a few seconds it hits a certain amount if KMS. This is what I associate with the word acceleration.  On the on line dictionary it is defined as" the act of accelerating; increase of speed or velocity. 

So the question now is "What does this mean in terms of learning and education?"
My understanding of this term in regards to teaching and learning is that we as the teachers have a responsibility to guide/support/scaffold those students that are falling behind their peers in the class to catch up. I believe this can only be done through a good accelerated learning programme that begins firstly in our classrooms. "Accelerated learning is the approach that the Ministry of Education believes will have one of the greatest effects on lifting student achievement for priority learners. Progress is considered to be accelerated when the student’s achievement has moved from well below to below, at or above a national standard, or from below to at or above"(Anthony Nobel-Campbell, Accelerated learning, 2015)

The on line dictionary's definition of Accelerated learning is "a programme of learning which allows academically able children to progress through school more rapidly than others."

So now that we know what accelerated learning is the next question that comes to mind now is "How". How can I enable effective accelerated learning in my classroom?"

For me to be able to firstly maximise student learning in my classroom I need to know my learners. I need to know their interests, I need to know them contextually, academically, culturally and socially. I need to know how they best learn and what their strengths and weaknesses are and embed this into my teaching practice so that I am able to have maximised student learning and engagement. 

With engagement comes the rich learning. If children are not engaged in the learning and learning is not interesting to them then there is a high chance that optimised learning will not happen.

Below I have listed some strategies that I would use in my teaching-Taking accelerating children in writing as an example.

Modeling:

As the teacher I will be using modeling to model to the children how to use the teaching tools such as how to use a flow chart, and how to use the teaching tool “Digging deep” as well as developing a wow words wall which will be derived from the stories that we read as well as new vocab and words that children already know to help with their writing. “Teachers leading a group session can demonstrate the skills that the students need to master. They can also discuss them, providing (and modeling the use of) new language that the students need to master.” (Effective Literacy Practice, pg. 82, 2006)

Prompting:

I will use prompting to motivate and inspire children to be able to use their existing prior knowledge that they already have and implement that into their writing. “Prompting is an effective strategy to focus students attention and to build their metacognitive awareness and their confidence.” (Effective Literacy Practice, pg. 83, 2006). Examples of prompting may be a clue or a hint to prompt the student in their ideas and writing.

Questioning:

I would use questioning throughout my lessons as a form of effective literacy practice. This will be focused on their learning intention of being able to add more ideas to their writing using more detail. Such questions will involve: Who, what, when, where, why, how. “Carefully planned questions can help to build student’s metacognitive awareness of how they comprehend a text or of how a text they are writing will affect its readers” (Effective Literacy Practice, pg. 83,2006). Questioning also enables deep conversations and reflection. This will also help towards helping children meet their learning goals.

Giving Feedback:

John Hattie describes feedback as “ The most powerful single factor that enhances achievement” (Effective Literacy Practice, Pg. 86, 2006). I will make sure that my feedback to the children are specific and link back to the learning intention. I will make sure that my feedback is effective so that it motivates children in their learning. “The way that students feel about themselves and perceive themselves and their mana affects their expectations and their performance” (Effective Literacy Practice, Pg. 86,2006). It will also be used for the children to be able to reflect on their learning and writing. What the know, want to learn and that they have learnt.

Telling:

I would use telling when children find it hard to spell a word that they are trying to spell or when they are finding it hard to put their spoken words into written words. For example the child may have difficulty with spelling words such as airport-the teacher will then write the word down for them. “The idea is to fill a gap at that moment to enable the students to maintain momentum and move on” (Effective Literacy Practice, Pg. 89, 2006)

“Vygotsky believed that when a student is in the ZPD for a particular task, providing the appropriate assistance will give the student enough of a "boost" to achieve the task” (http://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html)

Getting children in the Zone of proximal development is really important as this is where they learn the most and where acceleration happens the most. For me to be able to do this I need to make sure that I provide children with these opportunities such as getting children to peer/share. In regards to writing when children able to orally vocalise their thought/feelings, then they have a better chance to be able to write those down into a story.

Also, when children are able to make connections with what they are learning-making links to their prior knowledge they are able to create questions to be able to add more to the knowledge that they already have. An example is that of the constructivism theory which states " People construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know".


Now in regards to being able to monitor progress in acceleration some of the things that I have come up with are in regards to a writing context:

Conferencing 

I would use conferencing with the children in my target group as a form of monitoring student’s progress. This also gives me and opportunity to discuss with the children their progress and to inform where to next. Teaching conferences will have a focus and key learning points. With effective conferencing the teacher can also monitor the children’s progress in oral language skills through discussion with the teacher as well as peer/share discussions.

Daily writing activities.

Children will be given opportunities to do free writing throughout the day where they are able to choose a topic of their choice and interest as to extend their imagination as well as develop their ideas deeper. This also gives children an opportunity to think outside the box and broaden their thought process. This also enables the children to be able to extend their words and grammar and include new words that they have been introduced to through reading activities. When these children are able to have the opportunity to write creatively, it gives them an opportunity to be able to create something unique and for it to be celebrated.

Making connections

Monitor how students make links to their prior knowledge with their own experiences as well as with their reading and writing and making connections. Using a KWL chart to monitor children’s prior knowledge of what they already know about a topic and making connections with what they know and that they are currently learning. The KWL chart also encourages oral language and gives children the ability to be able to pose questions to enable deeper learning.

Modeling book

A modelling book will be used during instructional writing sessions with the children where evidence of children’s thinking will be recorded as well as their learning intention and success criteria. This modelling book will also be used so that children can refer back on to see what they had been learning in previous lessons and how far they have progressed. The modelling book will have examples of children’s writing

Talking to the children

Talking to the children about their learning and what hurdles/obstacles they are encountering to be able to better assist/guide the children in their learning. Given children specific feedback and feed forward in their learning. Supporting children’s oral language use through social language-The ways in which they use language to engage with other people/children-forms and uses of conversations. Monitoring Independent speaking such as when re-telling, re-reading their writing, explaining their ideas.

Learn, create, share-Using form of presentation (Vimeo, slides)

This is where I will monitor how the children present their learning as a visual or audible presentation. Where they can use slides, vimeo etc to share their thinking and ideas.

Success criteria.

Success criteria will be used as a form on monitoring the children’s writing and the learning intention and weather the children have met the criteria. This tells the children what the should know, understand and be able to do. The success criteria also helps the teacher to decide whether their students have in fact achieved the learning intention. It also gets children to be able to reflect on the success criteria and question if they think they have achieved the SC in their learning