Advocating for AISD Active Learning Cycle

Advocating for the Active Learning Cycle 

by Jessica Estillette 

Recently, I've embarked on one of the most surprisingly stressful, important tasks I have encountered in my entire life... choosing a school for my daughter. My sweet, sassy, super-smart girl will be entering the amazing world of Kindergarten this Fall and I am really fretting over where to send her! Having been in the field education for 19 years, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to what happens in classrooms and I am determined to find, or create, an environment in which Layla will thrive.

Although the bottom line for most schools is meeting the mark for a basic standard of achievement on set standards, I want so much more Layla. First, I want her to have fun and to be inspired in a loving, nurturing environment.  Second, since she is a bright kid and I have no doubt she'll pick up content pretty easily, I am much more concerned about building her soft skills which will serve her in every area of her life from here on out. Some people call those future-ready skills.  I'm talking about things like:

• knowing how to work with others well (collaborate)
• how to communicate effectively
• how to monitor her own learning
• how to identify her own needs
• how to make plans to solve her own problems
• how to make an impact on the world around her

I have found lots of schools that have a pretty good ranking or set of scores on STAAR - they obviously know how to teach skills and assess skills, and how to meet the academic needs of enough students to meet standards set by TEA. That is just not enough for my little Layla. I don't want her to be a set of scores or a representation of a demographic group on a data wall. I want her to develop in every way - socially, emotionally, intellectually, and physically. Aside from isolated amazing teachers here and there in a school, these traits/skills aren't usually targeted in the typical school. 

This is why I am a fan of districts creating an Active Learning framework, like what Arlington ISD is doing. The purpose of the Active Learning Cycle is to provide a structure students can work within to practice responsible citizenship, be self-directed, collaborate, think critically, solve problems, and communicate effectively. 

In the AISD Active Learning Cycle, units begin by inspiring students to be interested in upcoming learning.  In the commit phase, students use pre-assessment data to reflect on where they currently are, set a goal, and create a learning plan to meet those goals. During the acquire stage, students access resources such as curated articles and videos, teacher-led workshops, flipped lessons, and DIY sessions. Next, learners apply what they have learned to a new/different situation and end with demonstrating their understanding for others in a test format, project presentation, a blog explaining their learning, etc. 

This is much more in-line with what I'd like Layla's school experience to look like. I want it to look as much like real-life as possible. The ALC also lends itself very well to serving the needs of the school, local, and global community which helps students build character, empathy, and an attitude of service. 

Not only do I support this type of learning framework for school-age students, but I also believe it is a great model for adult learning, Before even knowing anything about this, I had already been trying out bits and pieces of this in professional learning sessions with teachers over the last couple of years.  I've been trying things like creating "think tanks", research centers, and self-selected small group instruction within a training.  

  

This April, we used the Active Learning Cycle to help Instructional Coaches learn more about particular best practices. Given four pre-selected best practices, ICs selected two to study and assessed themselves using the best practice rubric, set goals, and created a plan for learning. During the acquire phase, ICs were able to read articles, watch videos, and browse websites that were curated in Canvas, by level on the rubric. Some also selected to attend small group workshops, which were given by leaders within the group. Coaches that were far enough along synthesized their learning with others then engaged in a coaching conversation using their best practice as the demonstration of learning. 

I'm excited to continue learning more about how to make the Active Learning Cycle as productive, flexible, and inspirational as possible - both in the schools and in professional learning settings. Who will join me in this ride??