Teach Middle East Magazine Jan - Mar 2020 Issue 2 Volume 7 | Page 19

Sharing Good Practice it’s just as achievable in the long run. Like driving, some will take longer to master it and pass the test but that does not indicate how good their driving will be in the long-term. So this means in high performance classrooms, there is no easy work for some or lowering the cognitive bar as the first sign of failure; just a redoubling of efforts and exposure to different types of opportunities. It’s not “I can’t”, it’s just “Not yet.” Building self-belief in students is step one in building brains. Fortunately, we know a lot from research about how successful learners think and learn, and it is this that we need to replicate if we are to deliver high performance for the many rather than the few. There are a set of cognitive competencies that really make a difference and through their normal teaching, teachers need to prioritise their development. There are progress routes for 20 generic characteristics, students need to develop if they are to be high performers in cognitive domains (ACPs) and 10 Values Attitudes and Attributes (VAAs) that develop the wider learner dispositions, needed for cognitive and lifetime success. How students acquire mastery of these concepts is through frequent and regular practice in using them. Students need to practise these as a part of their day to day lessons, building ever greater proficiency. The approach must be deliberate and systematic, if it is to be effective. Like a training regime. Wellington International School (WIS), Dubai, is one of a growing number of schools in the Middle East that have adopted the high performance learning approach and has become an accredited HPL World Class school. Charlotte Grieves from WIS says, “The philosophy of High Performance Learning really has enabled our school to ensure that high performance is there for all students. The framework is embedded across the school to ensure that children systematically develop their cognitive skills, values, attitudes and attributes needed for lifetime success. For the past 2 years we have made this the focus of our Learning and Teaching pedagogy, and it is very evident when you are in the school that this is truly part of our learning culture; from the children articulating their learning in the classroom, to children working collaboratively and engaging in creative and critical thinking tasks across all areas of learning. We continue to embed High Performance Learning through carefully planned lessons which incorporate the 5 Advanced Cognitive Performance Characteristics (ACPs) or as our children understand them as ‘The 5 learning brains’: Meta- cognition Brain, Linking Brain, Realising Brain, Creating Brain and Analysing Brain whilst interlocking this with the learning behaviours to increase the children’s understanding of how they learn and think. Doha College, is also a HPL World Class School, which has adopted the HPL philosophy of expecting nothing but the best from their students. They have found being an HPL school really helps new students coming in, to push themselves and to want to strive for excellence. Uzma Zaffar from Doha says that HPL’s philosophy of, with children and not to them, gives them a voice in their learning, they are taught to question when they are unsure and taught the importance of failure. Taking time to demonstrate the learning opportunities from failure, has had the biggest impact on all students, especially the new students. From failure comes resilience, they have to learn to pick themselves up and try again. New students have said that this is what they love the most, it's OK not to know! It’s OK to get things wrong. What is not OK is to give up. visit www.highperformancelearning.co.uk [email protected] to learn more. Professor Deborah Eyre is a global educational leader, academic researcher, writer and influencer focused on helping good schools become world-class. She founded and runs the High-Performance Learning organisation. A widely published author in the area of advanced cognition, her most recent books, High- Performance Learning: How to Become a World-Class School and Great Minds and How to Grow Them were published in 2016 and 2017. Class Time Term 2 Jan - Mar 2020 19