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JENNY MALLOY
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN
An Introduction to Building a Thinking Classroom
This Instructor-Led Training (ILT) project was designed for K-5 teachers to provide an introduction and overview of a currently trending mathematics teaching model and strategies based on the book Building Thinking Classrooms by Peter Lildjehal.
This project emerged as part of a larger school wide initiative to increase student engagement and promote academic inclusion through high-impact teaching strategies in an inquiry-rich environment. This was identified as a need through the school accreditation process and conversations between the school instructional coach/project designer and developer and the primary principal.
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TOOLS
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Google Slides, Mentimeter, YouTube Video
AUDIENCE
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K-5 Teachers
LEARNING SOLUTION
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Instructor-led Training ILT
Take a Look
Hi there, I’m Jenny Malloy and this is An Introduction to Building a Thinking Classroom.
I designed, developed, and delivered this Instructor-Led Training (ILT) project using Google Slides. I integrated technology including Mentimeter and a YouTube Video clip. It was designed for K-5 international school teachers and was intended to provide an introduction and overview of a currently trending mathematics teaching model and strategies based on the book Building Thinking Classrooms by Peter Lildjehal.
This project emerged as part of a larger school wide initiative to increase student engagement and promote academic inclusion through high-impact teaching strategies in an inquiry-rich environment. This was identified as a need through the school accreditation process and conversations between the school instructional coach and the primary principal based on classroom observations.
As determined through an action mapping process, the plan for this ILT project was to deliver the 1 hour presentation to K-5 teachers during an in-school professional development workshop. Teachers would then be expected to read the book by the end of the term and later implement some of the strategies from the book in their classrooms by the following term.
The main objective of this training was for learners to get hands-on experience with effective teaching strategies like active learning, using vertical whiteboards, and flexible groupings. They would do this by watching a video showcasing the Building Thinking Classrooms model in action and take some time to reflect on what they learn about these practices. Finally, the goal was to put these strategies into practice by incorporating them into their own classroom lessons thus increasing teacher effectiveness and student achievement.
Take a peek at some examples from the training.
After gaining the learners’ attention and stating the training objectives, an anticipation guide handout was completed by the learners. This was intended to stimulate recall of prior knowledge on the topic and also serve as a pre-assessment for the trainer.
Next the learners were placed into random groupings and sent to complete an interactive experiential task that modeled the strategies presented in the book.
After that, slides describing the main practices and strategies from the book were presented. The slides were designed with minimal text, high contrast, and sans serif font for accessibility. AI generated images were created to best support the content. Time was provided for the instructor to pause and answer clarifying questions as needed while the main content was presented.
Teachers then watched an example of the practices and strategies in action on an embedded YouTube video. They were asked to engage in reflecting on the video using a Visible Thinking Routine and interactive Mentimeter word cloud.
The word cloud activity served as a formative assessment for the trainer and helped to prompt discussion and promote engagement from the learners.
At the end of the training, the learners returned to their anticipation guides where they engaged in critical reflection and the potential opportunity to change their frame of reference. This activity also served as a summative assessment for the trainer.
In order to enhance retention and transfer, teachers were given a copy of the book to read in detail before implementing the practices and strategies in their classrooms by the following term. Vertical whiteboards were installed in the classrooms to facilitate the learning environment. The trainer/instructional coach was also available to clarify any questions and support implementation throughout the term.
Feedback and Evaluation of the training was conducted through the use of a google form based on the Kirkpatrick model. Questions relating to the learners’ reaction, understanding of the content, changes in behavior, and overall system wide results were collected. The data was then analyzed by the trainer/instructional coach and principal. Both the coach and principal also collected and analyzed anecdotal data through classroom observations.
Overall, the data indicated strengths in learner engagement and understanding of the content. Observations in upper elementary classrooms demonstrated consistent use of the strategies and anecdotal feedback was extremely positive. Lower elementary teachers indicated the need for more training in scaffolding tasks for greater independence with younger students.
Plans were made to analyze future accreditation reports to determine the larger scale impacts of the training on school-wide metrics. Upon reflection it may have been beneficial to divide and tailor the training to lower and upper elementary school teachers from the start and this will be considered for any future training.
Thanks for checking out my project. Please connect with me if you want to learn more about how I can contribute to the success of your organization.