Services | Concept-Based

COACHING SERVICES

Helping students have more lightbulb 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!

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.

My role is as a coach to support curriculum development towards the implementation of a concept-based and inquiry-led curriculum that incorporates Design Thinking and effective eLearning practices.

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

My school partnerships have led to a direct impact on 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.

AI-Powered Pedagogy refers to the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) in educational settings to enhance teaching and learning. It involves the use of AI tools and systems to facilitate a transformation of pedagogy to ultimately create more engaging inquiry based learning experiences and concept-based units.

Key questions for AI-Powered Pedagogy:

How might we raise awareness and engage students in thoughtful discussions about the ethical implications and biases present in AI algorithms?
How might we foster a culture of responsible and unbiased use of AI technologies in the classroom?
How might we integrate AI tools and resources to cultivate critical thinking skills in students across various subjects and grade levels?
How might we empower students to apply AI concepts and strategies to address global challenges in areas like sustainability, healthcare, urban planning, or UN SDGs.

Design Thinking is a framework and philosophy that promotes creative problem-solving and this process has brought us world-changing innovations such as Airbnb, the insulin injection pen, and the computer mouse and cursor gesture. Design thinking is increasingly being adopted by enterprises, governments, and education systems around the world.

Key benefits of Design Thinking for educators and learners include:

Helping navigate ambiguity and complexity
Ensuring learner empathy and human-centricity of solutions in every step
Articulating and prioritizing challenges toward solutions
Gaining agility and flexibility in solutions development
Helping nurture collaboration through connection
Developing creative confidence while having fun

Some guiding questions for Design Thinking:

How might we apply the fundamental tenets of Design Thinking to enable inquiry-based learning?
How might we use fundamental principles of design thinking to solve education/business / social/human challenges?
How might we adopt a more human-centric approach to problem-solving?
How might we align interactions of different people with different stakes in our school community?
How might we maximize the potential of a strategic innovation process that has proven to produce tangible results?

AI-Powered Pedagogy & Design Thinking

Traditional mathematics learning focuses on rules and procedures with little understanding of the conceptual relationships within the discipline of mathematics—and mathematics is a language of conceptual relationships. Traditional approaches assume a deep understanding of concepts and fail 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 might we design units of inquiry for a concept-based mathematics curriculum?
How might we captivate and engage students? Practical strategies for the classroom?
How might we integrate technology to foster deep conceptual understanding?

Concept-Based Mathematics:
Teaching for Deep Understanding

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. In other words, our students need to be comfortable with navigating ambiguity, build resilience, and develop creative confidence.

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

The following questions can stimulate our thinking in this area:

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 inquiry, and what does it look like?
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 use different models of inquiry to structure learning experiences?
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?
How might we foster an inquiry mindset to develop deeper conceptual understanding?
What does concept-based and inquiry instruction “look like” in the classroom?

Empowering Learners Through Concepts and Inquiry Pre-k-12

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® is an innovative, experiential problem-solving methodology that harnesses the power of physical LEGO building to unlock deeper thinking, communication, and creative solutions.

This hands-on workshop supports educators to:

• Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills

• Enhance communication and collaboration

• Build confidence in sharing ideas

• Unlock creativity through physical building

• Process complex concepts through tactile learning

The workshop can be customized to the following situations for example:

• Support specific curriculum objectives

• Integrate with existing programs or initiatives and develop strategic plans

• Launch a new PD initiative,

• Build a culture of collaboration for new team establishment

Whether applied to strategic planning, team building, or educational development, the method creates a level playing field where all voices are heard and complex ideas become tangible through the universal language of LEGO bricks.