Wayfinder Learning Lab – Stephen Taylor

Category: Understanding Learners & Learning

  • Making Feedback Visible: Four Levels in Action

    Five years ago I was starting to become concerned with the difference between marking and feedback. What was making a difference to my students’ learning and was the effort I was putting into detailed marking worth it in terms of their improvement? In reading Hattie’s Visible Learning for Teachers, Wiliam’s Embedded Formative Assessment and the pdf…

  • Curriculum as a Compass?

    Over the last few years as a science teacher and coordinator I’ve been thinking a lot about how we might create a culture of thinking that balances vigorous and challenging outcomes with student co-creation (or navigation) of inquiry, particularly where there might be high-stakes terminal assessments looming. The “Curriculum as a compass, not a calendar” metaphor*…

  • Is this an inquiry with an ‘I’ or an enquiry with an ‘e’?

    Is this an inquiry with an ‘I’ or an enquiry with an ‘e’?

    This post has been sitting in my drafts for a while, and I was reminded to complete it after a question from a student when I was covering a TOK class: “What’s the difference between inquiry and enquiry?” [tL:dR: Definitions matter in education, especially when a topic is misunderstood or controversial. Using traditional definitions allows for…

  • What does this look like in the classroom?

    This post is a quick recommendation for a very practical resource for teachers, coordinators & learning coaches. “What Does This Look Like in the Classroom? Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice”, by Carl Hendrick & Robin MacPherson, with illustrations by Oliver Caviglioli, is available in paperback from John Catt (and Kindle). This review is…

  • The Tempered Learner (on self-regulation)

    Going all the way back to my “MYP: Mind The Gap” session at IBAP 2013, I’ve been thinking about defining effective self-directed inquiry, the role of the MYP in “preparing” kids for DP, the approaches to learning and (more recently) building in ideas of Bold Moves curriculum, the Quest for Learning and Wayfinding (curriculum as a compass). How far…

  • A pragmatic approach to inquiry: my article in IS magazine

    The most recent issue of International School Magazine has run a feature written by me on how we interpret and frame inquiry, and is adapted from one of my recent Bath MA assignments.

  • Growth Mindsets in Differentiation & Feedback

    A short review/summary of Carol Dweck’s Mindset.

  • Summertime Subsidence: Vacating the Mind of This Year’s Learning

    Nobody wants to be that teacher – the one who assigns a massive packet of busy work, due the first day back to school, but it is evident that extended vacations result in a reversal of some learning.  This loss of learning increases with grade level, so at the ages we are trying to maximise the…

  • MYP: Mind the Gap [MA Assignment]

    The circle closes with this assignment, from IBAP conference in 2013 to the submission of the assignment in 2014. From here it’s onwards and updwards with the Research Methods unit and the dissertation, building (hopefully) on my Web Chart of the International Dimension.  Building on ideas from my IBAP Regional Conference breakout session in 2013,…

  • The Swallow, The Flock and The Writer’s Block

    I forgot the word I wanted to say, And thought, unembodied, Returns to the hall of shadows.