Course Description
For well over a century education’s purpose has been to feed industrialization. Today, the main aim of education is to produce people who will be successful in the economic field. Thus, education has turned into ways of sharpening the intellect in order to dissect and divide things, putting people on separate islands of their own bound by what they know. However, the blossoming of the human being, and so the possibility of building a better future cannot happen without inclusiveness and inclusivity. Successful classroom management of mixed-ability classes is exactly about inclusiveness and inclusivity through creating the right conditions where all our students flourish. Our classes have to be about expanding our student’s horizons, where not knowing something, differences between each other, and diversity in whatever aspects of life, are all great opportunities to learn. In this course we will look at strategies and methods of engaging all learners, and enabling their own potential to be discovered and realized through fun and enjoyable activities.
Methodology and Assessment
The vast majority of teachers will have taught a great number of mixed-ability classes and are aware of the challenges this presents in the teaching and learning process. So the main goal of the course is for participants to become equipped with the necessary tools to become the teacher who is able to overcome these challenges in their teaching and provide conditions where all their students can flourish.
Participants will prepare a personal action plan to implement ideas learnt on the course not only in their everyday teaching but also disseminate ideas in order to create a school-culture where teaching is about inclusivity and inclusiveness, and about expanding our student’s horizons. A place where not knowing something, differences between each other, and diversity in whatever aspects of life, are all great opportunities to learn.
Learning Outcomes
- Increased awareness of the different contemporary challenges in a mixed-ability class. Participants will gain a greater understanding of the challenges of the learning-teaching process in a contemporary mixed-ability class from various contexts across the world, including large classes
- Increased awareness of the factors that influence learning either positively or negatively in a mixed-ability environment. Participants will develop a deeper understanding of the various factors that influence learning in a mixed-ability environment. Participants will evaluate their own contexts and teaching within each of these factors and aspects, and identify their own solutions.
- Increased awareness of the influence of teacher beliefs, teacher presence and teacher roles. Participants will reflect on their own learning experiences and their influence on the kind of teacher belief they have formed. Participants will identify beliefs, the kind of presence and roles that enable all students to be engaged in the learning progress regardless of their abilities and identify an action plan to become this teacher.
- Enhanced teamwork and collaboration: Participants will gain the skills necessary to work collaboratively with team members, communicate effectively to achieve common goals.
- Sharing and learning good practices: Participants will have the opportunity to openly share challenges they experienced with their mixed classes, and possible solutions for various teaching and learning scenarios.
Planned Schedule
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 |
Course Intro:
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Preparing for a mixed-ability (MA) class:
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Managing the MA class:
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Ways of creating learning opportunities 1:
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Micro-teaching:
Participants teach the group a point from their area of expertise for 20 minutes applying the techniques learnt during this course |
SPRE:
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Challenges in the contemporary mixed-ability classes:
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Assessment in the MA class:
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Teacher roles and techniques:
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Getting better together:
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Feedback on our MA teaching and development:
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Self-directed Professional Development:
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Providing supportive feedback:
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Ways of creating learning opportunities 1:
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Assisted lesson preparation:
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Looking back:
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The designer and trainer of this course is Erika Osváth, co-author of Mixed-Ability Teaching, Oxford University Press, 2016
Dates and Prices
| Language level: | English B1 and above* |
| Locations: | Budapest (Hungary), Pula (Croatia) |
| Time: | 9 AM to 2:30 PM daily (extracurricular activities outside of learning activities) |
| Dates: |
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| Price: | Budapest: €430 (5 days), Pula: €510 (6 days) - including an extracurricular activity and a welcome lunch or dinner |
*The language of the course is English, linguistic aid may be provided for speakers of Hungarian with lower language abilities.
Conditions
The course complies with all rules as set in the Quality Standards of the Erasmus+ program. Courses are including an extracurricular cultural activity and a welcome lunch or dinner, and study groups are international. Note: should the latter condition not be met, participants will be informed 40 days in advance.
Payment facilities: participants with funding from the actual year’s project budget may ask to request a deposit of EUR 100 to guarantee their places on the course and pay the rest of the fees later.
It is possible to take part in 2 consecutive courses, please book both separately. A price reduction of 15% will be applied.
