What is LEARNing All About?

For the past few class periods, we've been talking about the LEARN model:

L-Link

E-Engage and Educate

A-Active Learning

R-Reflect

N-Now and Then

This is a model for how you should structure your lesson so that the student can best learn the material that you need them to learn. The opening section of the lesson is the "Link" section; this is the part of the lesson where you as the teacher link the concept to be covered in that lesson with a concept or concepts that the students already understand, so that they can make their own connection to the material. The next section is "Engage and Educate" which is when you present the information to the students in an engaging way, modeling for them whatever the task is you would like for them to be able to complete. The next section, "Active Learning," is the section that takes up the most time, and is where the students get to independently practice the concept. The "Reflect" section is where the students reflect on what they've learned in their independent practice, and the "Now and Then" section is where you, the teacher link this to future content that the students will learn.

Also, today we talked about the English Language Arts (ELA) Anchor Standards that exist under Common Core, and how those standards are the same from kindergarten all the way through high school graduation, the level of complexity and depth is just built upon as students get older. We also discussed how it is extremely important to connect those standards to your own content area to ensure that knowledge stays with the student for their lifetime.

Today, we began an activity in which the class was divided into two groups based on our area of study (Music Education or Social Studies Education), and we were to plan out a lesson using the LEARN model, and we were also required to use at least one NC Essential Standard from our content area, and at least one ELA Anchor Standard. At first I was a little nervous about how this would come together, but I must say that once my group and I started collaborating on what we would do for our lesson, I began to feel really confident and honestly excited, not only about the activity itself, but about the actual lesson we were planning and the knowledge students would potentially gain from it. The lesson we were planning is something that could actually be used in a school, and that I think would work well because we considered all of the different parts of the LEARN model carefully in planning it--it made me feel like a real teacher! I can't wait to learn more about the best ways to organize lessons and make sure content is being understood.