Iris | Key Pedagogical Considerations

September, 2015

Key Pedagogical Considerations | Table of Contents

Key Pedogigcal Considerations for Iris ........................................1
Student Learning Plans............................................................................. 1
Learner Profiles......................................................................................... 2
Workspaces .............................................................................................. 2

Superintendent |
Jeannie Everett, Superintendent of Learning
Contributors |
Dianne Roulson, Director

Iris | Key Pedagogical Considerations

Key Pedagogical Considerations for Iris

As schools begin to explore the possibilities for how Iris, as a teaching, learning and
leadership tool, might support them in meeting the goals of their school development plans,
questions arise about both current practices and directions for the future. Depending on
how Iris is used, there may be implications for instructional practices, approaches to
professional learning, collaborative practices, systems for documentation and
communication, and the evolving roles of teacher and student in teaching and learning.

There are things worth knowing about each and every child.
There are implications for all of us students, teachers and leaders to take action
based on what is known about each learner.
The way we lead and learn together centers on the learners we serve.

Student Learning Plans

How do we support our students in developing understanding about themselves as

learners?
What opportunities do we create for students to apply that understanding in a
learning context?
How do we support students in determining their own next steps in learning? In
taking those steps?
How do we create opportunities for students to communicate with teachers about
what they know and can do, the conditions under which they learn best, and what
they need to learn next?
How do teachers access information about student needs, interests and abilities to
inform the instructional design process?
What would it look like to truly recognize what each individual student brings to their
learning?
What avenues exist for teachers to provide feedback to students about their
learning?
How do we ensure that what is known in one context, or by one teacher, is not lost
in another?

Learning | Admin

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Iris | Key Pedagogical Considerations

Learner Profiles

How do we develop comprehensive understandings of what students know and can

do? About the conditions under which they are most successful in learning?
What is the nature of formative assessment information has the potential to
significantly impact teaching and learning?
How is the formative assessment information currently gathered? Shared between
teachers? Used in task design?
How might an orientation to formative assessment data and data-driven decisionmaking be developed?
How do understandings about individual students and groups of learners inform
instructional decisions?
What information about groups of students would be most beneficial for school
development planning?

Workspaces

How do we assess and design instruction so that each student is successful?

How are student insights, teachers formative assessment data, programs of study
and current research brought together in a way that directly impacts the nature of
the learning task?
How do instructional decisions reflect each aspect of the instructional core?
How do teaching, learning, and leadership become visible within both the
immediate and the broader learning community?
How do teachers gather together around student work in such a way that better
teaching and learning can occur?
How do teachers and leaders become students of their own practice?
How does professional learning become an embedded, integrated and responsive
part of each of our daily work?

Learning | Admin

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