USING THE LANGUAGE OF LEARNING TO SUPPORT YOUR STUDENT'S LEARNING JOURNEY

As parents, it can be daunting to get involved in your child’s learning journey. I remember sitting down with my son to review his maths, only to discover that it was ‘new maths’ and it was no longer solved in the way that I had been taught in school. At OneSchool Global, the learning journey of students may feel foreign to parents who weren’t taught to look at learning through the stages of ‘orientate, navigate, and explore.’ Parents may see their children in the ‘learning pit’ and want to help them get out by providing the answers without realising that it is an important part of the learning process that students need to work through on their own with support being in the form of questions that stretch their learning, instead of answers that offer a specific solution.

One of the things that I love about working at OneSchool Global is that we are helping students to build the skills to ‘learn to learn.’ There isn’t an end to learning once an assessment is handed in or a class finishes. When students ‘learn to learn,’ it becomes a life-long activity and our students will have the tools to keep learning and dive deep into subjects that they are passionate about. So, as parents, how can each of you be connected to your child’s learning journey in ‘learning to learn’?

Firstly, talk to your student’s teachers. You can find their email address on Canvas and teachers enjoy having support at home from parents. We are all part of a learning community and communication is an excellent way to celebrate each student’s strengths and support growth areas. Secondly, understand the terms used in school and use them at home as well. For example, when students are ‘orientating’ they are doing things like defining concepts, describing how things work, or learning how things are connected. When you see your students doing these kinds of tasks, you can stretch their thinking by asking ‘navigating’ questions that show relationships to other things. You can ask them how they would apply their ideas to other things, how their idea is the same or different in other situations, or if it stands by itself. ‘Exploring’ is the most complex learning and involves applying newly discovered learning connections to wider contexts and applications. When students ‘explore’ they create new things, justify positions, persuade others, and imagine new ways to approach challenges. Finally, understand the learning process at OneSchool Global. We want students to sometimes feel stuck and not know what to do next. This is when they reach into their ‘backpack’ and find teachers and peers or resources on Canvas to help them. Instead of providing the answer to your child’s task, ask them who or where they can go for help. We want all students to be really good at communicating and being resourceful. If you feel that your child is really stuck, then it’s a great time to send their teacher an email so that you can work together to support your child’s learning and development of communication skills.

All of us at OneSchool Global want the best for all of our students and welcome communication and open collaboration with families. It takes a full community to educate children and helping everyone understand the language of learning at OSG is a good way to build that community.

By Karen Song

karen.song@nz.oneschoolglobal.com