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Helping students to have more light bulb moments! 
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Tailored Professional Development Pre-k-12

As teachers, our goal is to nurture a love for learning in our students and for them to experience more light bulb moments. Nothing is more rewarding for a teacher when their students have that Aha moment and understand why they are learning something! 

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I offer a variety of services that last from a few days of face to face workshops to long term school partnerships that can carry over to a period of years for Pre--k to 12 educators.

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My role is as a coach to support curriculum development towards the implementation of a concept based and inquiry led curriculum.

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Many schools are recognizing that ongoing, sustained professional development for teachers is necessary in order to have a true impact on student learning. 

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My school partnerships have led to direct impact with student learning and together we co-create an ongoing, well- thought out professional development strategy that addresses the specific context of the school and supports teachers' growth.  

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Please email to see a draft plan for a three to five-year school partnership. 

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Concept-Based Mathematics: Teaching for Deep Understanding Pre-k-12

Traditional mathematics learning focuses on rules and procedures with little understanding of the conceptual relationships of mathematics—and mathematics is a language of conceptual relationships. Traditional approaches assume the deep understanding of concepts and fails to teach for transferability or to consider the context.

 

In developing a math curriculum that focuses on deep conceptual understanding we look at the following questions:
 

  • Why is it important for students to learn conceptually?

  • What are the facts, processes and concepts in mathematics?

  • How do I craft generalizations in mathematics?

  • How do I plan units of work for concept-based mathematics curriculum?

  • How do I captivate and engage students? Practical strategies for the classroom?

  • How do I integrate technology to foster conceptual understanding? 

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Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction Pre-k-12

With the exponential growth of information and knowledge, students need to move to a higher level of abstraction. We need to develop students’ ability to critically think and reason, in order to solve complex problems and create new ideas.

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Developing curriculum for deep understanding in all disciplines is a key goal of all teachers.

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The following questions can stimulate our thinking in this area:

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  • How is knowledge structured and how can we utilize that structure to develop the intellect?

  • How can we move to a three-dimensional curriculum and instruction model that allows us to compact the overloaded curriculum, and teach both factual and conceptual knowledge with greater depth and rigour?

  • What is a conceptual lens and how can we use it to develop higher levels of thinking and increased motivation for learning?

  • How can we design instruction to achieve synergistic thinking between the factual and conceptual levels of knowledge and understanding?

  • How do we scaffold thinking to deeper levels?

  • How do we develop different kinds of guiding questions to path student thinking from the factual to the conceptual level of understanding?

  • What is the difference between an Activity and a Performance of Deep Understanding?

  • What does concept-based instruction “look like” in the classroom?

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eLearning

Educational Technology

Integrating technology into curriculum and instruction prepares students for exciting new developments in the 21st Century. Many schools are moving towards adopting a 1:1 program and provide a blended learning environment for their students. 

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Some questions to consider when developing a program which incorporates elearning:

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What are some research-based learning frameworks for the adoption of technology?

What does blended learning look like?

How can technology enhance understanding of the concepts of a discipline?

How do you ensure innovative uses of technology enhance learning? 

What are some effective technological tools that are used around the world?

How do you implement a laptop programme effectively?

How do you ensure students use technology appropriately? 

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Jennifer Wathall
Copyright © 2020, Jennifer Chang Wathall
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