Building Learning Power – A guide to what it all means, what we are doing in school and how you can help at home.
What is Building Learning Power?
Building Learning Power is designed to help children to learn how to learn.
Learning power involves building and developing particular habits of mind to enable young people to face difficulties calmly, confidently and creatively and so be better prepared as lifelong learners.
Learning about learning has an impact on children’s achievements.
What do good learners do?
- Question
- Show enthusiasm
- Explore alternatives
- Take risks
- Have confidence
- Have different strategies to tackle tasks
- Articulate their thinking
- Be creative
- Develop collaboration
- Remember what they have learned before and make links to new learning
The 5 Rs
In the developing field of learning to learn, research suggests that there are several broad characteristics that we need to develop in order to become successful learners. Professor Guy Claxton suggests that there are four key learning characteristics to help us become lifelong learners:
- Resilience
- Reflectiveness
- Resourcefulness
- Relationships
We have added a fifth key learning characteristic which is:
- Remembering
We call these the 5 Rs.
What we do at Rougham Primary School
We talk about a different learning power each week in our key stage assemblies and that learning power becomes our focus for a week. In our ‘Shine Awards’ assembly on a Friday we celebrate one child from each class that we have spotted using that week’s learning power and we talk about what they have done. Sometimes they have been spotted by a teacher and other times it might be one of their class mates that nominates them.
Every child has their own Learning Powers hexagon on display in their classroom. When their teacher or one of the other children in the class spots them using a learning power, a gold spot goes onto the right section of their hexagon. As their gold spots start to build, children can easily see which learning powers they use a lot and which ones they need to practice. If they get 5 spots in one section they earn a learning power award.
To help the younger children remember what 5 Learning Powers are, we have linked an animal to each one.
Resilience is:
Being ready, willing and able to lock into learning.
Knowing how to work through difficulties when the pressure mounts or the going gets tough.
- Absorption – the pleasure of being engrossed in learning.
- Managing distractions – recognising and reducing interruptions.
- Noticing – concentrating hard and really sensing what’s out there in learning.
- Perseverance – not giving up when learning is hard, understanding the feelings of learning when things are a challenge.
Swallow is a sticker!
I never give up.
- I don’t give up even when learning is hard.
- I like to be challenged.
- I get absorbed in my learning.
- I don’t let myself get distracted.
- I notice everything.
How can you help at home?
- Demonstrate/ model sticking at things even when they are difficult.
- Praise your child when they persevere.
- Help them to find interests and activities that are really absorbing.
- Talk with them about what helps them to concentrate and manage distractions.
- Talk about how you feel when you are taking on a challenge.
Resourcefulness is:
Being ready and willing to learn in different ways.
- Questioning – asking questions of yourself and others. Being curious, playing with situations and delving beneath the surface of things.
- Making links – making connections between old and new learning, building patterns and weaving a web of understanding.
- Imagining – using your imagination and wondering ‘what if?’
- Reasoning – working things out methodically and rigorously. Constructing good arguments.
- Capitalising – making good use of and drawing on a full range of resources from school and the wider world.
Squirrel is sensible!
I am a clever squirrel.
- I try to work things out by myself.
- I use the resources around me.
- I link what I have already learned to help me learn new things.
- I use pictures in my head to help my thinking.
- I ask great questions.
- I like to go exploring for answers.
How can you help at home?
- Encourage questions.
- Demonstrate making links between different ideas.
- Encourage your child to use their imagination.
- Help them to find ways of using resources such as reference books, dictionaries, thesauruses and the internet.
Reflectiveness is:
Being ready and willing to take a longer term view of your learning by planning, taking stock and thinking about your experiences as a learner. Your reflectiveness is made up of these skills:
- Planning – working out learning in advance. Planning your learning.
- Revising – monitoring and adapting along the way. Being flexible, changing your plans and reviewing your learning.
- Distilling – learning from experience. Looking at what has been learned, pulling out the important parts and using them to help your future learning.
- Meta learning – knowing yourself as a learner – how you learn best. How to talk about the learning process.
Owl is a reflective thinker.
I am a wise owl.
- I am reflective and I think carefully about my learning.
- I plan my learning and use my everyday experiences to help me.
- I can review and redo to improve my learning.
- I enjoy talking about the progress I am making.
- I learn from my mistakes.
How can you help at home?
- Ask your children what they learned at school rather than what they did.
- Help them to think about and plan activities.
- Encourage flexibility and the ability to change a plan where necessary.
- Ask your child what they are getting better at.
- Instil the idea that we can learn from our mistakes and it is good to make them.
Relationships:
Interdependence – knowing when it is appropriate to work on your own or with others, and being able to put your view across in class discussions.
- Collaboration – the skill of learning with others. Respecting and recognising other points of view. Adding to and drawing from the strength of teams.
- Empathy and listening – contributing to others’ experiences by listening to them to understand what they are really saying, and putting yourself in their shoes.
- Imitation – adopting methods of learning, picking up habits and values from other people you see working around you.
Dog works well on his own or in a team.
I am a good listener.
- I can work independently but I am also a good team player.
- I can put myself in someone else’s shoes and understand how they are feeling.
- I like to congratulate others on their ideas.
- I am a good listener.
How can you help at home?
- Work play and learn alongside your child so that they can pick up good habits by imitation.
- Make expectations of turn-taking and cooperation clear.
- Encourage your child to listen to the answer when they ask you questions.
Remembering is:
Being ready, willing and able to learn things off by heart and to remember previous learning and experiences.
Elephant remembers what she’s learned and uses it to help her learn new things.
I never forget.
- I am good at learning things off by heart.
- I can use different strategies to help me remember things that I have learned.
- I can remember what I have already learned and think about how it will help me to learn something new.
How can you help at home?
- Play games that develop your child’s ability to remember.
- Talk about the ways that you remember things and the strategies that help you.