Learning to Learn

St. Brigid’s College in collaboration with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment are introducing a new initiative called “Learning to Learn” which will be implemented with all of our first students. The purpose of this ground-breaking initiative is to demonstrate to students the way in which they learn and to make students more aware of their own learning styles. This will then (1) Make students more independent learners (2) Build self-confidence and (3) Aid students to raise their academic standards.

Having already worked closely with the NCCA on various projects, including (i) Subject Department Planning and (ii) The drafting of Transition Units St Brigid’s were again chosen to pilot this initiative having previously demonstrated its openness to innovative ideas and teaching styles. St Brigid’s are accredited with being this first school in the country to implement this programme.

This initiative is also mainly focusing on the students individually and their ability to learn.

Learning to Learn began with an introductory workshop facilitated by a team of Teachers namely Karen McLoughlin, Siobhan Murphy and Donna Ivers and Education officers Majella Dempsey and Janet Malone representing the NCCA.
This was essentially about introducing students to the Key skills framework, which concentrates on five various competencies, considered to be necessary prerequisites for the classroom and beyond. The skills include (i) Working with others, (ii) Communicating, (iii) Information Processing, (iv) Being Personally Effective and (v) Critical and Creative Thinking.

The day was a fun and interactive learning experience, which left students motivated about what they are undertaking during the coming year. During the course of the day students undertook various activities which included an introductory game of People Bingo where by students got to know one another through asking a series of personal questions about each other’s likes and dislikes. Following on from that Education Officer Majella Dempsey then introduced students to the Learning to Learn initiative and the advantages of it for studnets. Next on the agenda students were then asked their opinion of what they imagined each Key skill was. Following on from that Karen McLoughlin gave an informative talk on each Keyskill and how it is integrated into the classroom. Finally students were introduced to their Learning Portfolio, which is a log which students will maintain throughout the year. This will provide an insight into the learning processes which learners are engaged in. Students were allowed to add a personal touch to their folders, which included students adding in photos of themselves and of images representing their likes and dislikes.

In this folder students will encounter five different areas:

About me – interests, favourite websites, music and so on. It is also, where the learner hosts their goal setting for the year.

The Learning Log – is a learner’s reflection on their own learning and how they feel they are performing in each of their subjects. This provides an insight into the learner’s perception of what they see as barriers to their learning, areas that they have found interesting, areas they would like more information on, the degree of interest in a particular subject and so on. It will also identify opportunities for learning and personal development outside the curriculum.

Learning reflections – reflective journal maintained by the learner and contains their reflective comments associated with their learning journey, classroom relationships, events, dreams and aspirations, and their reflective writings, which demonstrate their skills.
This is where educators and parents can see the learner’s disposition towards their learning and can give feedback.
It will also aid students to develop skills in Self-Evaluation, Self Reflection and Self-Awareness.

Each class group has been assigned a learning tutor. The role of the tutors will be to sit down with students and examine what they are doing and identify where they are succeeding and what areas they will need to improve on. Tutors will also outline to students how they can achieve and plan for their personal, educational and career development.

The Learning Showcase – this will be a segment, which will allow learners to accumulate a range of artefacts from class that they enjoyed, and highlights of their learning experience around the five “Keyskills”. Students can include examples of a class test they might have had or perhaps done well in or a project they might have done for a particular subject. They may also include their thoughts on a particular activity done in class.

Feedback and feed forward – here learners get feedback on their work and feed forward. They will be aided in identifying opportunities for learning and personal development outside the curriculum. Students will be encouraged to plan their learning and encouraged to set goals in relation to their learning.

This learning showcase also has many advantages for teachers and well as students. It will firstly aid the facilitation of more effective monitoring of students progress. It will also enable teachers to provide more support to students and finally it will assist teacher’s preparation of students for other educational settings of workplaces.

One of the first year teachers commented that “I has have found it hugely beneficial. Student’s ability to look at themselves, evaluate their performance, take advice and direction and respond to it has helped them become more independent and self-aware. It has helped them focus on their strengths and areas of development and most importantly are more conscious of those areas”.

When asked about her experience so far one first student added that “It has been great for me to see that I am good at different things like communicating and information processing and I am working on my critical and creative thinking. Overall I would say I am being much more personally effective. My mammy smiled when I was using these word and ideas when I told her what we were doing in school. I told her I am enjoying it”.

Mentaga Learn

To further develop students progress students in first year are also engaged in Mentaga Learn, which is facilitated by Career Guidance Teacher Siobhan Murphy. We are one of only 22 schools nationwide to be involved in this initiative. Mentaga Learn is a system, which aims to provide support for students of all ages, abilities and learning styles. This is an online platform with a questionnaire and 11 tests that look at students learning styles, their approach to learning and study. On completion of a combination of tests parents, teachers and students will get the results, which will provide feedback on:

Learning Styles
Time and Organisation management
Learning capabilities in a range of areas including Literacy, Numeracy, Concentration, General processing power

“It is an excellent initiative, which is suitable for all students. It help them see where they can flourish and again identify areas for improvement. It also has the added bonus of helping students to be aware of their happiness, diet and general well being” says Pat Power, Principal.

Lisa Carey, a sixth year student from St. Brigid’s added “I don’t find it difficult to use at all. Its good fun and all pupils will benefit from it because it helps you figure out what you want to do in the future.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers

St. Brigid’s College are also in the process of introducing its students to“The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers”.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has been positively impacting people’s lives all over the world since Steven Covey first published his famous book. We now as a school have the possibility to make a real difference in the lives of our teenagers with the development of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers”, written by Sean Covey, son of Stephen Covey. In the course of this initiative students will be looking at the following Habits:

1: Be Proactive
2: Begin with the End in Mind
3: Put First things First
4: Think Win Win
5. Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

The 7 habits Workshops deals with helping students

Gain Greater control of their lives
Improve relationships with their family and friends
Increase self confidence and self esteem
Make smarter decisions
Define values and what matters most to them
Recognise and prioritise their goals
Find the balance between studying and work, friends and everything else.

This new programme has already been introduced to Transition Year and will be introduced to 1st years in the coming months.

With the introduction of the above initiatives 1st Year students are being encouraged to look more closely at their Learning Styles and Learning Abilities. St Brigid’s College feels that this will not only help students to grow personally but also assist students in taking more control of the own academic and career development. This will help raise the academic standard of all 1st Year side by side with their personal development.

This structured and supported process undertaken by each student to reflect upon their own learning and plan for their own personal and academic development will help all students make strides in 1st Year

So these are exciting times for our first year students as they embrace the key skills in a cross curricular approach. These key skills, self-awareness and development, and life skills will help navigate through adolescence and underpin their learning into the future. Truly the girls are learning to learn, skills for the classroom and beyond.