Visible Learning for

Teachers
John Hattie

Chapters 5 and 6
Starting the Lesson - classroom environment
The climate for the classroom is noted as among the more
critical factors in promoting learning.

*students need a positive, caring and respectful climate

*students need to know the boundaries

*How do you create a safe classroom? Do students know whats

expected? Do they know what will happen if the dont meet
expectations?
The staffroom has a high level of relational trust
Bryk and Schneider activity
Dialogue vs Monologue
*Teachers take between 70 and 80 percent of class time

*Leaving less than 5% of class time for class discussion

Monologic teachers are concerned with the transmission of

knowledge

Dialogic teachers promote communication with and between

participants
Student dominated classrooms
Teachers ask between 200-300 questions per day

60% of the questions require students to recall facts

rather than think critically

Involve students in the lesson using clickers (all

students involved in answering questions and receiving
immediate feedback.

Find a balance between talking, listening and doing

3 Major Levels of Achievement
1. Surface level - what is needed to understand the concepts
2. Deeper understanding - how ideas related to each other
and extend to other understandings
3. Conceptual thinking

Do you consider these three levels when preparing,

teaching and evaluating your lessons?
Using Peers to Progress Learning
Peers can influence learning by helping, tutoring, providing
friendship and giving feedback as well as creating a sense
of belonging - kids want to come to school

*How do you use peers to influence learning in your

classroom?
Letting Go of Labels
Do not classify students into intelligences or gender

Rather - pay attention to individual differences

- teach and convey in several different ways

HIgh expectations for all students
If teachers have high expectations, they tend to have them
for all students

If teachers have low expectations, they tend to have them

for all students

*Find ways to raise the achievement for all

*Be prepared to be surprised - a way to change teacher

mindset

* Ask students to predict how they will do on the test/task

What is the effect we have on student learning
When students do not learn, they do not need more, rather
different

Choose a method of teaching and evaluate the impact on

student achievement.

Page 97
Key Questions for Teachers
How do I know this is working?
How can I compare this with that?
What is the merit and worth of this influence on
learning?
What is the magnitude of the effect?
What evidence would convince me that I am wrong?
Do I share a common conception of progress with other
teachers
Chapter 6 - The flow of the lesson: Learning
Attention needs to move from how to teach to how to learn -
teachers need to understand how students learn before they
are able to make decisions about how to teach
Piagets 4 levels of thinking
Sensorimotor - students view the world from their own
perspective
Preoperational - acquisition of motors kills and language
- able to adopt viewpoint of others
Concrete operational - students begin to think logically
Formal Operational - students develop abstract reasoning

Pg. 105
Phases of Motivation
See a gap - students see a gap between what they know and
what they need to know
Goal-setting - setting goals and making a plan
Strategies - students are able to search for strategies
to help them move closer to their goal
Close the gap - student determines if they were
successful and able to move on
How we learn
Students come to our classroom with preconceived notions of
how the world works. Teachers need to meet students where
they are at, build on that knowledge and work towards
students taking control of their own learning.

*pg 107-108
Phases of Learning
1. NOVICE - try to understand the requirements of the
activity
2. CAPABILITY - able to minimize errors and improve our
performance
3. PROFICIENT -
4 characteristics of Differentiated instruction
1. All students need to have the opportunity to explore and
apply the key concepts of the subject being studied
2. Frequent formative assessment - monitor the students
path to success in learning
3. Flexible grouping of students - independent, small group,
whole group
4. As much as possible engage students in an active manner
Checklist for Learning
Multiple ways of knowing
Multiple ways of interacting
Knowing that we are learning

*Examples for lessons page 113-115

*Work backwards - moving from outcomes back to learning

intentions