Interdisciplinary Thematic Learning for Language Development
Thematic learning is a child-centered instructional approach where educators integrate various subjects and activities around a central, unifying theme.
Thematic learning has been shown to be highly engaging and supportive of student concept development and language skills. Through interdisciplinary exploration of a particular theme, students are encouraged to deepen their understanding of academic concepts and seek out domain specific vocabulary.
This teacher workshop will provide both an overview of thematic learning as well as strategies for incorporating thematic learning in a language classroom. While particularly effective for developing multi-lingual learners, these strategies continue to be supportive in a mono-lingual classroom setting.
Thematic learning is appropriate for all barneskole ages.
Experiential Fieldwork
Experiential learning is a process where individuals develop knowledge and skills through direct experience, reflection, and application. Experiential Fieldwork connects individual student experience with trips, field learning, excursions, nature study, etc, to support students in better connecting with the world around them. Through Experiential Fieldwork, students are offered the opportunity to engage more directly in local environmental or ecological learning through the creation of field guides or nature writing, and with local or national history through the creation of interpretive historical materials or dramatic work.
Combining hand-on activities, field work, and student-driven research, Experiential Fieldwork offers strategies to engage students in historical or science learning while producing artifacts that communicate student learning with communities.
This teacher workshop will provide an overview of Experiential Fieldwork with examples, and will guide teachers through the planning and implementation of this type of learning activity.
All School Book Club: a Literacy and Equity Practice
An All School Book Club uses the power of illustrated books to bring a school community together, and offers authentic opportunities to explore shared values, build shared language, and learn equity concepts that permeate beyond the classroom. In this learning framework, classrooms across a whole school site will engage with a piece of children’s literature to better understand an equity or justice topic.
This workshop will discuss many options for planning an All School Book Club across a barneskole. This is an incredibly flexible teaching method and can be targeted specifically to the needs of your school site.
Strategies that will be discussed are: leveraging multi-aged learning across classrooms, incorporating art and collaborative writing in lessons, norming adult language around—and understanding of—justice and equity issues, and communicating with families and communities around challenging topics.
Progressive Education
Progressive education is a student-centered approach that emphasizes hands-on learning, critical thinking, and social-emotional development.
This workshop will discuss the history of American progressive education as well as giving an overview of what progressive education looks like today. Topics will include: project-based learning, experiential learning, student-directed research, public culminations and displays of student learning, collaborative problem-solving, arts-integration and experiential history and science work.
Teachers can expect to leave the workshop with both a theoretical understanding of progressive education as well as concrete next-steps for developing classroom activities in line with progressive education philosophy and values.