Planning for successful learning is not unlike planning successful plays for team sports.
I have a new creative project this year – I am sketching the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). One achievement objective at a time.
Sketching ideas for learning, showing how they can be connected and extended is fun. It is also a great way to relax at the end of a day. Unexpected bonus – sketching the achievement objectives and achievement standards is proving very useful when I work with teachers helping them to create SOLO based plans.
The hand drawn sketches clarify and simplify the NZC achievement objectives in ways that make them more accessible to teachers. AND sketching also makes the relationship with Māori world view visible.
I think this is because taking out the non-essential words and highlighting others – making connections and showing process with arrows and the HookED SOLO shapes – provides an robust visual design framework for learning.
Having SOLO Taxonomy as a framework for surface, deep and conceptual understanding (and the NZC, vision, principles and developmentally appropriate achievement objectives) helps ensures my sketches prompt teachers with the next steps for learning that matter most – they find it easier to create culturally and cognitively responsive planning.
Here is an example of an early drawing – using the upper reaches of Ōtākaro – Avon River as a context for:
NZC > Science > Living World > Ecology – Level 3 and 4
Explain how living things are suited to their particular habitat and how they respond to environmental changes, both natural and human-induced.
You will see how the plan has been integrated with literacy outcomes.
