Powerful Teaching and Learning

POWERFUL TEACHING AND LEARNING ™

The Four Habits of Powerful Teaching and Learning (AKA the Four Habits Framework) was developed over 20 years, through 50,000 classroom observations, and guided by current Cognitive Neuroscience Research. The Four Habits of Powerful Teaching and Learning describe what we know about effective teaching and learning from a neuroscience perspective. When we teach in a way that is aligned with how the brain naturally learns, then children learn better.

There are Four Habits and 12 indicators. Together they make up Powerful Teaching and Learning. The Four Habits Framework is organized around Model to Learn, Talk to Learn, What to Learn, and Ready to Learn. Within each Habit there is something the Teacher initiates, Student Collaboration, and Student Application. All four habits are organized the same way. Essentially the framework provides general guidance to the content and focus of effective teaching and learning.

READY to Learn

Ready to Learn: The teacher helps Initiate learning by creating a friendly and welcoming environment, establishes rituals and routines, and organizes the room to support positive student interactions and behavior. In response to this, students collaborate with peers to receive social support for learning. Students support each other and use established norms and language to guide academic discourse. Additionally, students work in a learning environment that is culturally responsive. Their backgrounds are recognized and honored. Their special needs are met. And finally, they get to pursue their own interests in learning and get to make choices about their learning process and environment.

In a nutshell: Teacher creates a warm, welcoming environment and the opportunity to interact with peers. Students then, support each other, use academic language, and learn through the context of their own culture, backgrounds, special needs, or interests. They have choices in what and how they learn and prove their learning.

TALK to Learn

Talk to Learn: The teacher helps Initiate learning by asking questions and/or providing the opportunity to respond to higher-order, open-ended prompts, tasks, or questions. If the question is a recall question, the teacher probes correct responses. If the teacher asks a Higher-order Thinking (HOT) question, the teacher has the students explain their thinking. In response to this, students collaborate with peers to process the questions, prompts, tasks. They explain their reasoning, and they elaborate and discuss. They exhibit true Question and Discussion. Additionally, students apply their learning by not only responding to questions but generating their own. They generate their own questions, they critique their own thinking and that of their peers. They provide feedback to themselves and peers. And finally, they refer to, develop, or otherwise use, success criteria for their critiques and feedback.

In a nutshell: Teacher asks questions and provides the opportunity for students to interact with peers. Students then, collaborate with peers to process questions, explain their thinking in a discussion, and apply in a metacognitive way their own ideas, critiques, and feedback all based on success criteria.

WHAT to Learn

What to Learn: The teacher helps Initiate learning by telling the students what they are going to be learning or thinking about during the lesson. They include why they think it is important and/or how it is connected to prior or future learning. In response to this, students process the purpose of the lesson with their peers. Students clarify the learning target, connect learning to real-life/relevant context, and/or review success criteria. Additionally, students apply their learning by revisiting the learning target throughout the lesson, they continue to clarify, connect, and review criteria associated with the learning target. And finally, they end the lesson with an exit slip that allows one more opportunity for reflection and personal application of learning.

In a nutshell: Teacher tells students what the learning target is, why it is important, and provides the opportunity to interact with peers. Students then, process the purpose with peers, revisit throughout the lesson, and end with a final reflection.

MODEL to Learn

Model to Learn: The teacher helps Initiate learning by using existing information, encouraging students to do something with that information like organize, sort, or sequence it, and the overall purpose is to form deeper meaning. In response to this, student collaborate with peers to show or demonstrate their understanding and application of information. They communicate with their peers and are involved in multisensory (hands-on) learning opportunities. Additionally, students apply their learning by using or creating models to show their conceptual understanding. They use visual or graphic organizers like thinking maps to build conceptual understanding, and they use non-linguistic representations of information (pictures) to guide or show conceptual understanding.

In a nutshell: Teacher provides information; then provides an opportunity to do something with it. Students then, collaborate with peers to build and demonstrate conceptual understanding using multisensory learning activities, especially pictures.