LEAP

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LEAP is a training methodology based on research and best practices. It promotes the combination of learning elements that engage students and infuse technology into the learning experience.

LEAP provides process and in-classroom support for a sustainable, effective, efficient and scalable approach to raise the level of achievement of students and the quality of the knowledge, skills and experience of the teacher.

Designed around a unique partnership, TechKNOW Associates and District staff work together to provide highly effective project based mentoring to your teachers. District staff receive training which allows processes and methodologies learned to continue between mentoring sessions and after the initial classroom student projects are complete.

Teachers involved in this workshop will work in groups to create tangible learning products to present to their fellow “classmates” at the end of the day. Just as the LEAP program has been doing for teachers and their students in districts all over the country, this process will instruct the participating teachers in how to utilize and leverage the technology and information available to them in a manner that is retainable and directly related to their class work.

Teacher Experience

LEAP provides the pedagogical retraining of teachers supporting clearly defined instructional objectives with projects for students to direct their own work and take control over their own learning. Teachers will be mentored to integrate a comprehensive approach to instruction and customize projects to their existing curriculum using resources available within the school and district.

Student Experience

Students will be able to participate in engaging, mutli-faceted investigations and develop an array of multi-disciplinary skills as they collaborate with peers to take real-world problems using primary source documents, experiments, models, interviews and surveys. Students will decide how to demonstrate learning and present their products to parents, teachers and district administrators.

Orientation on Project Based Learning Summary

• Groups of four to five Teacher Students work towards the same essential question.
• Teacher computers are used for research and produce a product based on the essential question
• Establish an essential question for the group to answer.
• Teachers will experience Cooperative Learning using different strengths of colleagues.
• Inquiry Based Learning is exercised to reflect research, decisions and answers to the essential question.
• Differentiated Learning; how each student individually shows understanding with final product presentation.
• Groups will experience engaging thematic activities through collaboration, creativity and decision making.
• Final Activity Product is created based on the essential question to present at the end of the day.

Workshop Activities

Up to 32 Teachers will be split into groups of four and assigned an Essential Question. Each group will discuss, research and analyze their question, using district-provided tools, produce their group’s answer. Each group will choose a presentation format and create a “Learning Product” that will be used to communicate their findings and conclusions to the rest of the groups. Common presentation formats include blogs, wikis, Podcasts, short videos and multimedia slide shows.

LEAP is founded on best practices

Classroom Management

Techniques and processes that support taking the teacher out of the front of the classroom and bringing them into closer contact with the learning experience as facilitators. The need for the enforcement of student discipline is reduced as students take control of their own learning.

Cooperative Learning

By grouping students in small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, a variety of learning activities are implemented to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning the subject matter but also for helping teammates learn, creating an atmosphere of achievement. Students work through the essential question until all group members successfully understand, contribute and are able to communicate it.

Differentiated Learning

All students are different. Based on this knowledge, differentiated instruction applies an approach to teaching and learning so that students have multiple options for taking in information and making sense of and communicating ideas and thoughts. Differentiated instruction is a process to approach teaching and learning for students of differing abilities in the same class. The intent of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student’s growth and individual success by meeting each student where he or she is, and assisting in the learning process.

Inquiry-Based Learning

Starting with an Essential Question and with the guidance of the mentor, students identify their own issues and questions. They then examine the resources they need to research the topic, thereby acquiring the requisite knowledge. This new knowledge and experience is more highly retained because it has been acquired by experience and in relation to a real problem that the student is engaged in.
It is essential that our students are educated for knowledge creation, lifelong learning and leadership. These skills will enable them to take on leading roles in their future working environments: directing change, asking important questions, solving problems and developing new knowledge.

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