Teaching Tip Tuesday: The Innovated Learner

The belief in your ability to learn is crucial not only for our students, but also for our educators.

Fixed Mindset –> “I don’t know.”

Growth Mindset –> “I don’t know…yet.”

Simple yet, see the difference. 

Here are seven essential principles for the innovative learner:

1. 1. Learners have to be at the center of what happens in the classroom with activities focused on their cognition and growth. They have to actively engage in learning in order to become self-regulated learners who are able to control their emotions and motivations during the study process, set goals, and monitor their own learning process.
2. 2. Learning is a social practice and can’t happen alone. Collaborative group work can be good for all learners.
3. 3. Emotions are an integral part of learning. If students understand why it matters, learning becomes more important to them.
4. 4. Learners are different and innovative learning environments reflect the various experiences and prior knowledge that each student brings to class. This principle is understood by every frustrated educator teaching to a “middle” that doesn’t exist.
5. 5. Students need to be stretched, but not too much. “. Students need to experience both academic success and the challenge of discovery. 
6. 6. Assessment should be for learning, not of learning. Assessments are important, but only to gauge how to structure the next lesson for maximum effectiveness.
7. 7. Learning needs to be connected across disciplines and reach out into the real world. Learning can’t be meaningful if students don’t understand why the knowledge will be useful to them.