Vision For Learning
At St. Luke's College, our Vision for Learning team have identified areas of improvement and collaboratively compiled a variety of pedagogical practices which all teachers are able to engage with. For each school term, every teacher will select one out of a potential three Teaching Sprints which fall under our key focus areas, described by our 'Boulder, Pebble and Sand'.
What are Teaching Sprints?
The Teaching Sprints framework is a practical approach to professional learning that helps teachers improve their teaching practice through evidence-informed teaching strategies. The framework consists of a simple cycle consisting of 'Prepare', 'Sprint' and 'Review' phases, allowing teachers to refine their practice to provide meaningful improvements on student learning.
More information about Teaching Sprints can be found through the Teaching Sprints book by Simon Breakspear or at the website The Teaching Sprints .
Boulder, Pebble, Sand
At St Luke's, the specific teaching strategies we use in our lessons should relate back to our broad aims for improvement and the instructional principles that guide our practice. We use a protocol called 'Boulder, Pebble, Sand' to achieve this. The protocol uses the metaphor of boulders, pebbles and sand to show how different elements of teaching and learning improvement connect.
Boulder
Empowering Personal Excellence Through Assessment and Feedback
The broad aim for our teaching and learning improvement work.
Pebble
Making Student Learning Visible
The instructional principle or strategy we are focusing on.
- Sand: Mini Whiteboards
- Sand: Cold Calling
- Sand: Say It Again Better
Feedback that Feeds Forward
- Sand: Whole Group Feedback
- Sand: Pre-Flight Checklist
- Sand: Feeding Forward with ATOMI
Sand
The specific technique (tiny shift) we will trial. Over time, many small shifts stack up to significant improvement in teaching and learning.
