Are Group Dynamics your key to ToK success?
New to ToK #3: ToK Lesson Design (pt 1)
Does ToK require the use of a special lesson design?
Does ToK lend itself to a particular lesson model more than other subjects?
What is the relationship between how learning is designed and how skills are developed in ToK?
How you design learning in the ToK classroom is the single most important factor in determining the success of your ToK course.
In this blog I will explain the main lesson design models that I have iterated over my years of ToK teaching. These are models that I have found to be successful in :
Optimising engagement & group dynamics.
Optimising skill development.
Optimising understanding.
Group Dynamics in The ToK Classroom
I want to reemphasise the points made in parts #1 & #2 of this series regarding the importance of group dynamics in the ToK classroom. By designing learning which promotes building cohort you will increase the learning capacity of the class as a whole, and of the individuals in a class. More on this in the lesson designs to follow.
My Foundation ToK Lesson Design.
This is 'very' foundation, but it constitutes a model on which everything else can be built. The model moves the students into "ToK thinking" with a starter activity, and then slowly moves students up a ladder from the material, experiential world to the abstracted ToK world. The model contains 2 periods of reflection, and an energiser in the middle - for obvious reasons!
How long does this Model take?
This Foundation Model is essentially elastic, I have used it for sessions lasting 30 mins- 2 hrs. The longer the session the more task variety is needed in the blue sections of the model.
Whilst this model may seem overly simplified it can easily be overlooked. An experienced teacher recently told me that he couldn't keep his G11 class engaged for 80 minutes. When I asked him how he was structuring the lesson I found that there was no task variety, no multi-modal learning, no variety of learning groups, never mind starters and energisers. This was an experienced teacher who had just forgotten the fundamentals.
Think about Grouping..,
The added power in your classroom is the aggregate knowledge of the group, teaching ToK is far easier when you place the interaction of learners at the heart of your lesson design. To be honest, I have seen ToK Classrooms which involve a lot of watching (TED) videos, or reading long tracts of text. Whilst these can result in some good learning they're rather passive, not really an active inquiry which encourages students to construct their own understanding. Further, this group interaction will build the group dynamics which leads to improved student self regulation, and features of the Growth Mindset.
Design learning that unleashes the power of the group!
There're even more details available from the YouTube video on this topic: