Workshops
Student Engagement and Motivation: Differentiated Instruction Curriculum Delivery Techniques
Workshop Presentation Jim Utterbac
The purpose of this session is to provide differentiated instruction techniques for curriculum delivery resulting in increased student engagement and motivation. A brief overview will be given on some of the most valuable components of student engagement and motivation on which to focus, the pillars of differentiated instruction, and a better understanding of how the pedagogy of multiple intelligences and learning modalities impact student engagement. The majority of time, through attendee participation, will be spent on providing tools for promoting positive feelings in the classroom, stimulating attention and interest, and engaging and motivating students. Methods will include: how to use movement to stimulate positive affect and deepen understanding, fun strategies for getting attention, keeping students on their toes with randomization techniques, and rediscovering story telling as a way to draw students into learning. Specifically, participants will engage in techniques including ‘entry/exit cards’ that everyone will complete. These may be used in classes for startup assignments, surveys, homework, and more. The next will be storytelling, where several participants will act out a story with the remainder of the audience participating, to learn curriculum. Participants will take part in a ‘lifeline’ game that will challenge their knowledge. Randomizing techniques for selecting students will be used to select participants. Time permitting, participants will learn how to "vote with their feet," and walk in concentric circles to share learning, and other techniques.
Critical Thinking in International Education Programs: Fostering Discerning Engagements
Workshop Presentation Ines Dunstan, Stephen Green
In international education programs such as the IB and the GCE, the acquisition of critical thinking skills is highly valued. Central to the concept of critical thinking is the act of questioning. The notion that teachers should encourage students to question 'everything' is often uncritically endorsed. However, on closer inspection, philosophical and practical questions emerge. For example, in the area of Ethics, should teachers encourage students to question all moral and cultural positions? Should teachers encourage students to question whether slavery is wrong? Should teachers encourage students to question whether rape is wrong? While discussions around the reasons why rape is wrong should be fostered, should teachers also encourage students to question the evil of rape itself? Or should this "questioning" be "questioned?" Should teachers ever engage in explicit values teaching? Is this telling students what is right, and what to think? In the area of History, a critical thinking approach requires that students evaluate primary and secondary historical sources for their reliability, and for the presence of bias. But here, again, questions emerge. Is a 15 year-old equipped to judge whether the work of Noam Chomsky is reliable? Is a 15 year-old equipped to judge whether Jay Winter is "biased?" And yet, the idea that students should not interrogate the work of high profile intellectuals reeks of authoritarianism. This study explores conflicting visions and concerns around the critical thinking paradigm, suggesting ways forward by proposing concrete strategies for the development of discerning engagements.
