MODEL

Portrait of a Learner 4-8

Systems Change

Portrait of a Learner 4-8

Select one or more factors to see the strategies that support your chosen factor(s). For each strategy, we provide ideas for classroom and product application, videos, and further resources.

Factors (0)

Learner Background

Adverse Experiences
Background Knowledge
Hearing
Home Learning Environment
Identity
Physical Well-being
Primary Language
Safety
Sleep
Social Supports
Socioeconomic Status
Vision

Social and Emotional Learning

Emotion
Motivation
Self-Regulation
Sense of Belonging
Social Awareness & Relationship Skills
Stereotype Threat

Cognition

Attention
Auditory Processing
Cognitive Flexibility
Inhibition
Long-term Memory
Metacognition
Sensory Integration
Short-term Memory
Speed of Processing
Visual Processing
Working Memory

21st-Century Skills

Civic Mindedness
Collaboration
Communication
Core Academic Literacies
Creativity
Critical Thinking
Curiosity
Learner Mindset

Strategies (0)

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Portrait of a Learner 4-8

Joyous and Curious learning supports engagement and achievement

In middle childhood, students continue to develop fluency with Core Academic Literacies, engaging in increasingly complex concepts across the disciplines. As topics become more complex and learning becomes more formalized, how content is presented can have a big impact on students’ Curiosity and engagement.

  • It is important to ensure that classrooms continue to be a joyous and safe place that foster Learner Mindsets, where learners are encouraged to take on academic risks, ask questions, and make mistakes in order to solve increasingly complex challenges and create and innovate in a collaborative and supportive space.

Learners in their early adolescent years are working to define their place in the world, and therefore are more likely to engage in the classroom and learn when they can see themself in the content and connect the learning tasks with life beyond the classroom walls.

Learners have agency in their use and understanding of technology

As technology becomes ever present in the classroom, it is essential that we support learners in using it intentionally.

  • As digital spaces provide increased access to information, digital research skills, including critical source evaluation and digital problem solving skills, become incredibly important. As learners begin to use digital media and technologies more autonomously, these skills also incorporate understanding of online safety, digital etiquette and citizenship, and digital ethics.

Use of technology can support students in learning new information and expressing themselves across various modalities, empowering agency in their own learning.

  • However, while technology can play a supportive role in learning, fostering Creativity and problem solving, media multitasking can disrupt Attention in the classroom and beyond, and interfere with learning.

Learners are developing their own social identities and an awareness of how it intersects with society

During early adolescence, a key period of developmental neuroplasticity, students are exploring their Identity in the context of the larger world and their expanding social worlds. With this, they gain a more complex understanding of social categories and begin to form social identities.

  • Students in early adolescence are exploring the multifaceted aspects of their Identity and how they intersect with their social worlds, which increasingly include peers, teachers, and community members – each playing a key role in supporting a sense of Identity and Belonging.
  • The roots of individuals’ social responsibility are tightly related to growth of cognitive skills, Emotion regulation, empathy, and Identity.
  • When students are taught to think Critically and build empathy that encourages care for each other and their community, they also learn to live as a member of a community, fostering a Sense of Belonging and Civic Mindedness.

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Learners have agency in their use and understanding of technology

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Learners are developing their own social identities and an awareness of how it intersects with society

View Theme 3

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Joyous and Curious learning supports engagement and achievement

View Theme 1
Portrait of a Learner 4-8

Joyous and Curious learning supports engagement and achievement

In middle childhood, students continue to develop fluency with Core Academic Literacies, engaging in increasingly complex concepts across the disciplines. As topics become more complex and learning becomes more formalized, how content is presented can have a big impact on students’ Curiosity and engagement.

  • It is important to ensure that classrooms continue to be a joyous and safe place that foster Learner Mindsets, where learners are encouraged to take on academic risks, ask questions, and make mistakes in order to solve increasingly complex challenges and create and innovate in a collaborative and supportive space.

Learners in their early adolescent years are working to define their place in the world, and therefore are more likely to engage in the classroom and learn when they can see themself in the content and connect the learning tasks with life beyond the classroom walls.

Learners have agency in their use and understanding of technology

As technology becomes ever present in the classroom, it is essential that we support learners in using it intentionally.

  • As digital spaces provide increased access to information, digital research skills, including critical source evaluation and digital problem solving skills, become incredibly important. As learners begin to use digital media and technologies more autonomously, these skills also incorporate understanding of online safety, digital etiquette and citizenship, and digital ethics.

Use of technology can support students in learning new information and expressing themselves across various modalities, empowering agency in their own learning.

  • However, while technology can play a supportive role in learning, fostering Creativity and problem solving, media multitasking can disrupt Attention in the classroom and beyond, and interfere with learning.

Learners are developing their own social identities and an awareness of how it intersects with society

During early adolescence, a key period of developmental neuroplasticity, students are exploring their Identity in the context of the larger world and their expanding social worlds. With this, they gain a more complex understanding of social categories and begin to form social identities.

  • Students in early adolescence are exploring the multifaceted aspects of their Identity and how they intersect with their social worlds, which increasingly include peers, teachers, and community members – each playing a key role in supporting a sense of Identity and Belonging.
  • The roots of individuals’ social responsibility are tightly related to growth of cognitive skills, Emotion regulation, empathy, and Identity.
  • When students are taught to think Critically and build empathy that encourages care for each other and their community, they also learn to live as a member of a community, fostering a Sense of Belonging and Civic Mindedness.