10 January, 2015

Lance King
taolearn@xtra.co.nz

ATL Implementation
Key points from 2013 - 2015 ATL implementation
workshops
Having run 10 or more (very similar) ATL1 workshops in 2014 my greatest
concern is that I am continuously re-inventing the same wheel. All schools seem
to me to have the same concerns and the same key issues in the initial stages
of implementation anyway - and in order to make everyones process more
efficient I want to outline here all that I have learned in 2014 so we can all move
forward together into Phase 2 of implementing a viable ATL Skills programme.
Hopefully this document will help schools to take the first steps in the process
themselves along the most efficient path.
I will however still be available for ATL1 and ATL2 one-day workshops in 2015
and also now offer a consultancy service for ATL implementation. I can be
available to work with one school or one group of schools from one day up to a
three months residency on site to help:
- complete all planning and mapping of ATL skills
- create a model of sustainable self-development of ATL skills
- work with individual teachers on unit plans, lesson plans, teaching
methods and delivery strategies through classroom observation and feedback
- deliver ATL workshops for teachers, admin staff, students and parents as
needed
I see the whole ATL implementation process as following the model of
experiential learning which itself is embodied throughout the IB from the PYP
through the DP in both the inquiry learning cycle and the design cycle:

reflecti
on

action

inquiry

taking
action

observing and
reflecting

questionning
and planning

thinking and
conceptual
understanding

Inquiry Learning Cycle

Learning Cycle

Experiential

One key feature of experiential learning is that it doesnt matter where you start
as long as you complete all four phases but for the purposes of this discussion I
am going to start the whole ATL implementation process at the Planning stage.
Also because I am a simple thinker I am going to condense this cycle into four
simple words:

pla
n

do

thin
k

look

For the PLAN section I am going to try to describe all the significant things I have
learned in the last two years about mapping, planning, vertical and horizontal
articulation, key skill step-ups, Core Generic and Subject Specific cognitive,
affective and metacognitive skills and their respective teaching methods, formal
assessment and self-assessment and feedback loops.
Then we can all move onto the DO section where we can actually start getting
something done.
One thing I need to make clear before I start is that I am not an IB teacher or an
official IB workshop leader, nor am I currently engaged by the IB to deliver my
work. I have not sought nor received any sanction from IB Head Office for any of
the ideas and thoughts I am presenting here and so I do not know whether my
ideas are completely in line with current IB Head Office thinking. I did however
design the MYP ATL framework as it appears in the most recent MYP Principles
to Practices manual, I helped design the category 3 ATL in the MYP workshop
and I was a major contributor to the document released on the OCC in Dec 2014
titled Approaches to Teaching and Learning in the Diploma Programme
(pre-publication).
Once finished, I will be sending a copy of this document to both Robert Harrison
and Malcolm Nicolson and will then pass on to you any feedback and comments
they care to make.

All the people who initially receive this document are all people I know through
my work in many schools and I welcome and will value any feedback you can
give me on this document.
My aim with this document is to help all IB schools and all teachers within those
schools to move forward on this ATL path but you need to be aware that the true
focus of all my work has always been and will always be, what is best for
students.

Introduction:
One major mistake I made early on in this whole ATL process was calling the ATL
Skills framework a curriculum. Please do not make this mistake yourself when
describing ATL Skills to any of your colleagues. Unfortunately when (most, maybe
all) teachers see or hear the word curriculum they immediately build a mental
model of subject matter stuff to teach and then that idea leads them to the
idea of assessment and they start to be concerned about two things :
1) How am I going to teach this stuff when I know nothing about it?
And
2) How am I supposed to assess this stuff that I know nothing about?
Both concerns tend to create unnecessary blocks and can even derail the whole
ATL process before it starts. Both those issues are worth addressing but by
starting with different languaging maybe we can get all teachers on-board with
the ATL skills idea first. I would suggest you describe ATL as a framework or
structure of the skills needed to be an effective learner rather than a curriculum.
The other key point I would like to make at the beginning is about the overall aim
of the ATL programme. I see this very clearly as the development of selfregulated learners. What I mean by this is that I think the overall aim of the ATL
programme is to give students all the skills they need by the time they finish
school to be able to learn effectively and efficiently from any person or any
information source, in any format, at any time, in any place, under any
conditions, through any media, using any technology, for themselves or others
and by themselves or with others. To have all the most important 21 st Century
skills of effectively thinking and learning at the highest level of proficiency, that
is the self-regulated level, so they can be fully independent in all their learning
should they want or need to do so.
For this paper I will be roughly following the structure of my one day ATL1
workshop the powerpoint slides for which you can access at
http://taolearn.com/atl_resources/article161.pdf
The full MYP ATL Skills Framework is available at
http://taolearn.com/atl_resources/article159.docx and has 3 levels of descriptors.
I will be using the following words to differentiate between levels of ATL Skills
descriptors:

Categories there are 5 Categories of ATL skills which are now promulgated
through all three levels of the IB programme. They are:
- Communication
- Social
- Self-Management
- Research
- Thinking
Clusters these 5 Categories of ATL skills, at the MYP level, are then broken
down into 10 Clusters:
Communication
1. Communication - Interactive and
Language
Social

2. Collaboration
Self-Management

3. Organization
4. Affective
5. Reflection
Research

6. Information Literacy
7. Media Literacy
Thinking

8. Critical Thinking
9. Creative Thinking
10. Transfer
Practices the 10 Clusters of Skills are then broken down within each Cluster
into over 160 examples of skills Practices eg. within the Organization Skills
Cluster the first few skill Practices are:
3. Organization
3.a Get to all classes on time
3.b Plan short and long-term assignments,
meet deadlines
3.c Create plans to prepare for summative
assessments
I have numbered all the skill Practices to make it easier for teachers to discuss
skills by using the same system to identify them, eg:
Self-Management
(this is the skills Category)
3. Organization skills
(this is the skills Cluster)
Managing time and tasks effectively
How can
a. Get to all classes on time (these are the skills
students
Practices)
b. Plan short- and long-term assignments; meet deadlines
demonstrat
c. Create plans to prepare for summative assessments
e
(examinations and performances)
organization
d. Keep and use a weekly planner for assignments
al skills?

NB: this whole ATL framework is not to be considered to be either

totally exclusive or totally inclusive. It was designed to be a guideline

only for schools to use to design their own ATL programme from. Noone will ever be required by the IB to teach all these skills practices or
to include all the Clusters of skills in their planning. Individual schools
and individual teachers are welcome to include more skills, to take out
irrelevant skills and to modify this framework to suit themselves.

Justification:
At some point early on in the process it will be important to demonstrate to
teachers, students and parents that implementing a viable ATL Skills programme
will help all three parties to achieve all their goals more effectively and more
efficiently.
a) Teachers are of course often very sceptical about what they may see as
a new flavour of the month and sometimes suspect that a new initiative
like this is actually a thinly disguised mechanism to get them to work
longer, harder or to increase their assessment or accountability burden. It
is very important that teachers realise that:
- Helping students to learn more effectively is what good teaching has
always been, and will always be, about. Good teachers have always
helped students to achieve subject objectives by focusing them on the
processes they are using and how to improve those processes. Every
teacher is already a teacher of ATL Skills the only real change with
this programme is to try and make these skills more explicit more
directly addressed in every classroom.
- Implementing an ATL Skills programme will not increase their
assessment burden. There is no requirement from the IB at either the
MYP or DP level (that I have seen to date) for the assessment of ATL
Skills.
- There is good evidence to show that students at school often do not
have good learning skills and also that the teaching of learning skills
does improve academic (and social and behavioural) performance
see my literature review for the evidence
http://taolearn.com/atl_resources/article156.pdf
- Helping students to improve their ATL Skills will improve their
classroom performance, help eliminate re-teaching and make teaching
both easier and more effective
- Teachers do not need to be experts in the skills of effective learning, all
they have to learn how to do is to make more explicit all the learning
processes that are already happening in every classroom
b) Students in my experience all students are very pragmatic, if they can
see a direct benefit in improving a certain process or skill then they will do
so without hesitation. Students need to be made aware of the skills that
they use in all learning tasks and the skills that the best students in school
have. They then need to realise that they could all learn the skills of the
best students and improve both the efficiency and the effectiveness of
their own learning. Once students realise that focusing on skills could
make their learning easier, quicker and better they will be intrinsically
motivated to improve those skills. I suggest using student surveys of skills

at the MYP, DP and post DP levels to involve both present and past
students in helping to design a programme of skills that they will see as
being most useful for them.
c) Parents they are the key players in this tripartite relationship. I think
parents need to be made aware of a few key points:
- The secret for success for their children in the 21 st century lies with
skills, not content
- Skills programmes, teaching 21st Century Skills are presently being
implemented in many countries, businesses and schools
- The IB is leading the way with a comprehensive skills based
programme permeating all levels of the IB
- There is good evidence showing that many students today do not have
good learning skills and that such skills can be taught use the data
from my ATL skills literature review mentioned before
- Improving learning skills will also improve subject based and exam
based outcomes and prepare their children well for the world beyond
school

Process not Content:

Teachers need to realise that ATL is not a subject in itself, it is a collection of the
processes, skills, techniques and strategies needed to learn any and every
subject. ATL skills are not more content to be learned they are processes to be
noticed, experienced and improved.
From this point of view then, any lesson at all can be oriented towards the ATL
skills students are using without taking away at all from the subject matter being
taught simply by adopting a dual focus on both what the students are learning
and the skills they are using to learn that subject.
An interesting exercise for teachers to go through is to think about any lesson
they have delivered recently and write down all the learning skills students used
in order to manage that lesson.
They probably had to:
- Turn up on time time management skill
- Get themselves organised resource management skill
- Think about what was covered in the last lesson in this subject to get
themselves up to speed for todays lesson information review and
memory skill
- Listen to instructions, follow instructions, write coherently, research
information, summarise key points, analyse information, draw
conclusions, etc. etc.
All skills that some students are better at than others but which all students can
become proficient in given the right instruction.
The only thing I think we are doing when we implement an ATL skills programme
in teaching is to get students to start to notice the skills they were using already
and ask them to consider the possibility of working on improving those skills in

order to make their learning more effective. But not separately from their
subjects but while they are learning all their subjects to develop for themselves
a dual focus on both what they are learning and how they are learning it.

ATL Skills Structure:

I define any skill as a collection of strategies and techniques, harmonised for a
common purpose which improves with practise.
ATL Skills are a combination of:
Cognitive
Affective and
Meta-cognitive
- processes, skills, techniques and strategies
Cognitive skills - active information processing and retrieval strategies (what
often get called study skills although I suggest you never call them that). The
following are the cognitive skills that research has identified (John Hattie) as
having the greatest effect on improving students learning:
Organising and transforming information
Asking good questions
Taking good classroom notes
Using memory techniques
Goal setting
Reviewing information regularly
Time management
Organising the study environment
Affective skills - enabling the student to gain some control over mood,
motivation and attitude. The following are the ones I have selected for inclusion
in the skills framework, mostly on the basis of them being teachable as well as
significant for the learning process:
Persistence and perseverance
Focus and concentration
Self-motivation
Mindfulness
Emotional management
Resilience
Metacognitive skills - are a combination of:
- Metacognitive Knowledge - students gaining awareness of the
thinking and learning strategies, techniques and skills they use at
present
- Metacognitive Performance using that knowledge to improve
performance, change ineffective strategies, try new techniques, learn
new skills

The development of each type of skills can be achieved through different

teaching techniques which will be explored later.

Planning and Mapping a place to start:

If we look at all the ATL skills a child will need to succeed at school and beyond
and the way those skills are gained through schooling I think we can group them
into two groups
- Core Generic ATL skills those which every student in every class in
every school will need in order to cope with learning in a school
environment
- Subject Specific ATL skills those which are involved in the processes
of thinking, data capture, information research, representation,
manipulation and delivery specific to particular subject disciplines
And within any selected group of ATL skills we will probably have two sub-groups:
- those already taught and assessed - those ATL skills that are already
incorporated into unit plans, are already taught within subjects and for
which clear developmental stages have been identified
- those not yet taught or assessed the new stuff.

Core Generic ATL Skills:

These are the ATL skills that apply to every student, that are essential to the
learning process and not age specific. These are skills that persist throughout the
life of the learner as the most fundamental skills and do not change in nature but
may well increase in complexity with the age of the learner. For example
research skills needed by students of all ages but research for a 7 year old
looks quite different to research for an 18 year old same group of skills but big
differences in the complexity of the skill practice.
There are many ways within your school that you could go about generating a
list of your most important Core Generic ATL skills:
1) Different year groups or subject groups of teachers could get together and
consider possibilities and then compare lists, but I have found that this is
usually an inefficient process which creates incomplete lists which often
need to be modified later.
2) Students can be surveyed at critical points in their school careers and
asked what skills they have noticed they need at what points in their
schooling, but often they dont know what they dont know and they are
not aware of the skills they are using every day in classes at different
levels
3) You could start with a generic list like I have provided below and modify it
as needs be.
I have made up a list of what I consider to be some of the Core Generic ATL skills.
It is only a suggestion, a place to start. I have tried to make it as simple as
possible, only focused on very basic skills that apply to all students. Please feel

free to change the list, take some out, add in different ones, whatever suits your
school, your students, your cultural environment and your country. I have
grouped the skills under 11 general headings and added in brackets the skill
descriptors from the IB MYP ATL skill description framework available with all
these Core Generics highlighted (in yellow) at
http://taolearn.com/atl_resources/article160.docx.
1. Managing time get to school on time, get to class on time, plan and
timeline the completion of assignments, plan out study for tests and
assignments (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d)
2. Listening listen actively to others perspectives and ideas, follow
instructions accurately, ask questions to facilitate understanding (2.i, 1.1a,
8.d)
3. Note making take accurate notes in class, make effective summary
notes for studying, (1.2i, 1.2j)
4. Staying on task concentrate, focus, overcome distractions, persevere,
persist with specified tasks (4.1a, 4.1b, 4.1c, 4.2a)
5. Working well in a group listen actively, work collaboratively through
different media, build consensus, negotiate effectively (1.1h, 1.1j, 2f, 2h,
2j, 2k)
6. Being organised bring all necessary equipment to class, keep all notes
and information well organised (3g, 3h)
7. Setting goals - set academic and personal goals, plan strategies and
take action to achieve goals (3e, 3f)
8. Researching select appropriate information sources, collect, verify and
record information, make connections, process data and report results (6a,
6c, 6h, 6i)
9. Reflecting reflect on understanding of subject matter, changes in
proficiency of ATL skills and effectiveness of learning strategies utilised
(5e, 5f, 5g)
10.Remembering use memory techniques and regular review of subject
matter to improve retention and recall (3j, 6e)
11.Learning from mistakes practice analysing and accurately attributing
causes of failure, practice bouncing back after failure, practice failing well
(4.4a, 4.5a, 4.5b)
Key Step-Ups:
The next thing to consider is in the life of a student, are there key points when,
because of changes to the nature of instruction, a students core skills need to
step-up to a higher level in order for that student to succeed at that level?
For a full IB school most teachers seem to agree that there are at least 5 easily
defined Key Step-Up points:
At the entry into the PYP or junior school
At the entry into the MYP or middle school
Half-way through the MYP or middle school
Entry into the DP or senior school

And of course if the whole aim of the ATL programme is the development of selfregulated learners by the time they finish school then there will be one more
crucial step-up point
At the completion of the DP or graduation
But you may identify more skill step-up points and if your school is not a full IB
school, you will need to generate your own key learning skills step-up points
appropriate for your curriculum.
At this point it is worth doing an exercise with teachers groups:
Core Generic ATL Skills Exercise:
1) Form one group of teachers for each key skills step-up point made up of
teachers who are very experienced at that level
2) Take one Core Generic ATL skill
3) Get each group to map out the proficiency they would expect of their
students in that particular Core Generic ATL skill at their particular step-up
point. What would they expect a student at this point to be able to do with
respect to that skill in order to be successful at that level?
4) Put the results from all five groups (if you have five step-up points)
together in a line and adjust the skill proficiency required at each point by
consensus until there is a smooth flow of proficiency development required
in that skill from the youngest to the oldest students
5) Then move on to the next Core Generic ATL Skill and do the exercise again
The point of this exercise is to identify in practical terms what the use of any ATL
skill looks like at different stages of a students life and to make sure for every
skill there is a flow of development from low to high proficiency (from Novice to
Expert - see Self-Assessment later) which meets the needs of teachers at every
level of learning across the school.
When this exercise is finished you will have completed both horizontal and
vertical articulation of all the important Core Generic ATL skills.
NB: I think the main point here is not to get too tied up in the description of the
skills but try to move as quickly as possible to the implementation of the skills
themselves. Rather than mapping out 10 or 12 Core Generic ATL skills across the
whole school why not just start with one or two, but take them all the way to the
implementation stage and get them happening in all classrooms. Then once the
first one is established, come back and alter the map to suit what is really
happening in the classroom and then move on and add on one more skill, and
then another, and then another.
I think the most important thing at this point is to think small, just the absolutely
most important skills first and only one or two and focus very practically on
concrete examples of what proficiency of technique, strategy or skill looks like.
-------------------------------------

I will give you one very simple skills mapping example I have worked with
teachers on recently:
1.2.i Take effective notes in class.
Notice first that the skill isnt defined as just note-making which is a very general
skill which could encompass making summary notes for studying, writing
scientific reports, creative writing etc etc.
It is just one ATL skills Practice as defined in the framework 1.2.i. Very clear
and precise.
Step 1:
Decide if this is an important skill for your students to have. One which all
students need and one which it would be useful for students to eventually
master completely.
Step 2:
Decide by discussion with relevant teachers on a few models of note-making in
class that would encompass all experiences students could have across the
school in all subjects from the lowest to the highest levels. After much discussion
the group I was working with decided on 5 models:
- Mind mapping, spider diagrams, THOrTmapping
- Linear notes headings, sub-headings, bullet-points
- Visual note making picture series, storyboard, cartoon strip, flowchart
- Cornel notes page divided 1/3 2/3, notes written on 2/3 side in class,
summaries added in 1/3 column at a later date
- Annotation highlighting the minimum key words and significant concepts
and ideas in printed text
Step 3:
Decide on the key Step-up points for this skill - when in a childs life at school will
they need to be able to take coherent notes in class in order to succeed, or
when, if they werent able to do this would their learning be likely to suffer?
Within the group I was working with they decided that each one of these 5
techniques was suitable for a different level of student and so they could be
taught in a progression across the years:
- Year 4 - Visual note making picture series, storyboard, cartoon strip,
flowchart
- Year 6 - Mind mapping, spider diagram, THOrTmaping
- Year 8 - Linear notes headings, sub-headings, bullet-points
- Year 9 - Annotation highlighting the minimum key words and significant
concepts and ideas in printed text
- Year 11 - Cornel notes page divided 1/3 2/3, notes written on 2/3 side
in class, summaries added in 1/3 column within 24 hours
Step 4:
Decide when to teach each note making technique:

If Visual note making is a necessary skill at Year 4 then maybe the best
time to teach it is at the end of Year 3 or at the very beginning of Year 4?

Step 5:
Decide who will teach each technique:
- Survey teachers and find out who already teaches these techniques within
their normal teaching and when.
- If no-one does already at the right time, call for volunteers
Step 6:
Get agreement from all teachers to reinforce the writing of classroom notes in
their classroom using these 5 methods as the preferred methods.
Get all teachers to understand at what points in a childs life they will be
specifically taught each method.
Step 7:
Print up a poster showing all 5 note making methods clearly, with Year level
expectations and get one put up in every classroom.
Step 8:
Get teachers to start teaching and reinforcing these methods.
One proviso. I would also make sure that teachers in every class, allow for
personal difference. If a child can demonstrate that they have their own method
for note making in class which is different from the basic five but works well for
them and produces effective notes then they should be allowed to use that
method. And maybe that method could even be included in next years round of
strategies for everyone.
The aim of the exercise is not to become rigid about how we take notes at this
school, the aim is to make sure that every student has been specifically taught
and had reinforced some methods of note making which will serve them well in
all areas of learning at school.
--------------------------------------

Once some basic Core Generic mapping is completed for a few key skills the
important questions to consider are:
1) Do we teach these skills as stand-alone ATL skills lessons or do we
incorporate the skills teaching and practice into subject teaching.
The research by Hattie and others would suggest that the best way to teach any
skills of effective learning is to incorporate the teaching of those skills into
normal subject teaching. One thing to remember however is that if we are talking
about very simple skills to begin with eg note-making in class then it will only

require one teacher to teach it once and all other teachers to reinforce the same
note making method in their own classes. The most important things are
probably that all teachers are informed of what method of note-making is taught
and when it is taught to their students so that after that point they can also
reinforce the same method.
In support of teaching ATL skills through stand-alone lessons, this is the work I
have been most involved in for the last 20 years. I visit schools as the outside
expert and deliver lessons to students in the skills of effective learning without
using their subject matter at all. My subject matter is the skills themselves. My
courses have been taught to over 160,000 students to date in more than 200
schools in 20 countries and my results are good. I think I can confidently say that
students can learn how to learn more effectively by being taught specific skills
outside of their subject lessons but the onus is always on them to transfer the
skills from my lessons to their own subject lessons.
In order to make my ATL Skills lessons available for schools to access and use
with their own students I have created a mechanism to allow schools to have as
many staff as they want trained in how to deliver my proprietary student
learning skills courses. These staff can then deliver my courses themselves as
stand-alone skills training courses within the school as often as they see the
need for them. I call this option my Art of Learning Site Licence Programme
and if anyone is interested in pursuing this idea they can get in touch with me
directly.
I guess my thinking is that some Core Generic ATL skills can be taught directly as
stand-alone lessons and then reinforced by teachers in subject based lessons
and some are probably better taught through subject lessons. You will need to
decide which lend themselves to which approach.
If you are going to try teaching some of these skills directly in a subject-free
manner, the question then becomes one of timetabling. Is there room in the
timetable to insert an occasional lesson focused on teaching ATL skills? I have
seen some schools take the somewhat radical step of inserting into the timetable
once a week a process-focused lesson in which the key questions asked by the
teacher are: How are you going to learn all the stuff you have received from
teachers in the last week? What are your problems? What skills can I teach you
to help with that? These lessons can then be used as the platform to insert all
the important skills for students which can then be reinforced by subject
teachers in their own lessons. I have also seen other schools where ATL skills
lessons are put into Homeroom classes or PHSE classes or Advisory classes. This
may work well but unfortunately sometimes those are the places where much
stuff that no-one else really wants to take responsibility for is dumped and
students often dont take those lessons very seriously. The last thing we want is
for ATL skills to be relegated to the same dark corner where sex education and
other essential but distinctly unpopular topics are found.

I think we need to do what we can to raise the profile of ATL by making the skills
of effective learning a hot topic of high importance that will help students to
achieve success at school, rather than an add-on or a passing phase.

2) When are these Core Generic ATL skills best taught?

If you complete the mapping exercise as outlined previously for each Core
Generic ATL skill then that exercise will identify the critical times for installation
of each skill. I would suggest two things with regards timing:
a) Earlier rather than later is a good idea. In order to master any skill
children need to be first taught how and then have ample time to
practice the skill to develop the level of mastery necessary to use that
skill with competence.
b) However, in my experience students are very pragmatic and if they are
learning a skill for which they see no direct application in the near
future they are unlikely to practice that skill and develop competence
with it. A good example would be all the skills necessary to take tests
and exams well making a study timetable, making study notes,
overcoming test anxiety etc. If you teach these skills to students who
have no imminent exam on their horizon they will not practice them.
The best time to teach these skills is three months or so before their
first major test or exam. Then they are intrinsically motivated to put
these skills into practice and they will usually start using these skills
immediately and build up their competence.

3) Who will develop the acceptable model of each skill and who will
actually teach it the first time?
I would suggest that once the key skills are decided on that teachers are
surveyed as to who has an interest in each one and also to find out who amongst
the staff already teaches that skill in their normal subject. It is always intriguing
to me to discover how much skills teaching is already going on in individual
classrooms, simply because great teachers have noticed a skills lack and tried to
fill it, and also how little is known about this skills teaching by other teachers.
One advantage of an ATL skills programme may be to reveal a lot of hidden
talent amongst your own staff.
As in my Note-making example, the models of skills practice can often be
formulated by committee and then the key considerations are to do with:
- Getting that model of skills practice out to and understood by every
teacher so they can incorporate it into their own teaching, and
- Deciding who is going to teach it first?
Q. Who is the worst person ever to teach Time Management skills?

A. The teacher who is consistently late for class.

You may well find that some teachers have a natural inclination towards some
ATL skills and maybe they will become the best people to teach them. Individual
teachers within a school could even take on responsibility for one ATL skill and
oversee the development and promulgation of that one skill across the school
become a Skill Champion!
Imagine being the Resilience Champion, the Collaboration Champion, or the
Creativity Champion!
4) How will you guarantee consistency of reinforcement of each Core
Generic skill in each classroom?
This is about making sure there is adequate provision for Professional
Development for all staff in the implementation of each skill. But once again, if
you start small, with just one or two skills to begin with, ones that are used in
every classroom, and make sure that teachers are kept well informed as to:
- how the skill is going to be taught
- who is going to take responsibility for the development of the skill across
the school
- when each skill will be taught to every student
- the models decided upon for the use of each skill in subject classrooms
Then most teachers will be able to incorporate the same skill, in the same way,
into their own teaching.
I would also suggest producing some visual resources outlining the correct use of
each skill which can be put in every classroom for students and teachers to refer
to.

Subject Specific ATL Skills

These are the skills that are involved in the processes of thinking and learning
specific to particular subject disciplines. The skills of:
- Scientific literacy
- Mathematical literacy
- Creative literacy
- Language literacy
- Technological literacy
- Physical literacy etc.
I think that planning and mapping of Subject Specific ATL skills is quite a different
exercise to that of Core Generic ATL Skills and obviously needs to be done by subject
specific teams. These teams need to consider:
- what the particular ATL skills are that students need in order to think and
learn like a Chemist, Biologist, Artist, Geographer etc. outside of the Core
Generic Skills

the development of these Subject Specific ATL skills over the school life of a
student and when each skill will need to be developed by in order for that
student to cope with the complexity of the subject at each level
where within the existing framework of the subject these skills are specifically
taught at present and if not then at what points they need to be taught.

If schools are well down the track with creating Unit Plans then including ATL skills
into those plans will have already happened and a lot of Subject Specific ATL skill
mapping can be drawn directly from the existing Unit Plans.
ATL Planning:
ATL skills often remain the same across the years but the complexity of the
use of each skill may well increase
The skill is identified in the ATL section of the unit planner and the complexity
of the use of the skill is specified in the ACTION section of the unit planner
The increasing complexity or changing context of the use of each ATL skill is
defined by the learning experiences and the summative task
The skill is manifested through the successful completion of the summative
task
If the school has the right software, the extraction of all ATL skills from Unit Plans can
be a very simple exercise.

I have recently been introduced to Managebac and their on-line system for
designing and building Unit Plans across IB programmes. Once Unit Plans are
created, through this system it is now possible for teachers to draw out maps of
ATL skills vertically and horizontally, by programme, by year group, by subject
disciplines and by objective strands. I encourage teachers to check out the
Managebac system and see if it will work for your school. I have found the
Managebac team to be very understanding of issues facing IB teachers and very
responsive in making changes to make their software work more effectively.
As with the Core Generic ATL skills it is important not to get too bogged down in the
mapping and planning of Subject Specific ATL skills but it is more important to focus
on the development of maybe one or two critical skills and make sure they are being
addressed by teachers in a coherent flow across the years. The aim of Subject
Specific ATL skills is to complement the Core Generic ATL skills development to
produce effective learners competent in the specific thinking needed in specific
subject disciplines.
Once the initial map of key Subject Specific skills is developed the same questions of
Who, What and When need to be thought through in the same manner as for the
Core Generic ATL skills.

Assessing ATL Skills:

First establish which ATL Skills are already assessed within the current programme:

In Languages researching, reading, writing, note making, key word

summarising, paraphrasing
In Science creating research questions, researching, developing
hypotheses, running experiments, gathering data, analysing data, drawing
conclusions, reporting findings
In TOK critical thinking
In Maths?
In the Arts?
In IT?
In PE?

Then consider, is it necessary to have measurable standards for all ATL skills?
This is a very important question because I am seeing a lot of effort, in many
parts of the world, being put into creating sequential frameworks of age
appropriate ATL skill standards that children can be measured against to
determine their ATL progress in much the same way as their Maths proficiency or
their Biology or Languages understandings might be measured. The problem
with this approach is that if ATL is a collection of skills of effective learning then
in assessing ATL what we are attempting to assess is the efficiency and
effectiveness of leaning itself. And the process of effective, efficient learning is a
very complex amalgam of the influences of many skills, techniques, strategies,
aptitudes, attitudes, understandings, motivations, environment, culture and
context. It is very difficult (I think virtually impossible), to objectively and
externally measure improvements in the effectiveness (and efficiency) of the
learning process. I think only the student themselves is in any position to
measure this at all by maybe noticing an improvement in the end result of them
understanding, remembering and applying their subject based understandings
more effectively than previously though having applied a collection of useful ATL
skills.
Of course some ATL Skills are measurable, do lend themselves to objective
measurement and many are already measured within standard curriculum
subjects.
Eg. 1.1.d. Use appropriate forms of writing for different purposes and
audiences
It is perfectly reasonable with this ATL skill for a teacher to define appropriate in
terms of age appropriateness and to generate standards to suit and measure
against them.
But for many ATL skills there is no simple objective measure and what I am
seeing in some areas are standards being produced for assessing ATL skills which
are something like:
1.1.f Use a variety of media to communicate with a range of audiences
Level 1 occasionally uses a variety of media to communicate with a range of
audiences

Level 2 - usually uses a variety of media to communicate with a range of

audiences
Level 3 often uses a variety of media to communicate with a range of
audiences
Level 4 always uses a variety of media to communicate with a range of
audiences
Unfortunately what is being measured here is not an improvement in the
individuals skill proficiency it is an increase in their frequency of use. They are
not the same thing. Increasing proficiency means getting better, more capable
in the execution of the skill not simply more frequent in the use of the skill.
My point is that just because some ATL skills can be measured and are measured
does not mean that they all need to be measured and assessed. The last thing
ATL needs to be is another assessment burden for teachers.
I think the best way to assess a well-structured ATL programme is to use student
self-assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of their own learning based
on their practise of useful ATL skills in their own learning of their school subjects.
To help with this I have developed a simple four level structure of assessment of
skill proficiency which runs from the Novice to the Expert where the increasing
levels of skill proficiency can be simply described as Watch, Copy, Do, Teach
(with thanks to Barclay Lelivre at NIST).

Self-Assessment:
Novice
Watch
Can watch others
performing tasks
and using the skill
High levels of
scaffolding from
teacher needed

Learner
Copy
Can copy others
performance of the
skill
Medium level of
scaffolding needed

Practitioner
Do

Expert
Teach

Can demonstrate
the skill on demand
Minimal teacher
scaffolding required

Can teach others

the skill
No teacher
scaffolding required

I have then taken the Do section of the rubric and broken it into three
subsections I call Practicing, Getting there, and Got it! This then makes up a
simple format for students to use for self-assessment of ATL skills.
ATL Skill

Novice

Learner

Practitioner

Expert

Watch
Watch

Copy
Copy

Do
Practicin
g

Getting
there

Teach
Got it!

Teach

General ATL Skills Development Process

decide on the ATL skills to focus on
make the skills clear good description of the skill, examples of high and low
proficiency
have students self-assess skill proficiency
analyse class results for general skill deficiencies
develop lessons to bring all students up to the same skill level
build skill practice into subject lessons
encourage students to regularly self-assess proficiency up to mastery level

I think the focus for teachers needs to be on teaching students the particular ATL
skills that will help them to learn their subjects well, not on assessing the degree
of inculcation of those skills.
If we teach our students the techniques, strategies and skills they need to learn
their subjects more efficiently and more effectively they will practice those skills
and they will use those strategies simply because they work, not because they
are going to be assessed or tested to see if they have learned those skills.

Requirements for Reporting and Accreditation:

You have probably seen the next piece on assessment and reporting
requirements before but it is worth reiterating in case some have not:
The Message from the Top:
In March 2014 Lisa Nicholson, Aloha Lavina and myself conducted the first official
IB Category 3 ATL Development workshop at NIST in Bangkok. As part of the
preparation for that workshop we were in touch with Robert Harrison (Head of
MYP Development) and he was able to give us some clear answers to comon
questions from schools about ATL especially around issues of assessment and
planning.
The following are his answers to some FAQs:
1) Should I give students ATL grades?
No.
2) Are schools required to give parents/guardians feedback about student
development of ATL skills?
No, but some schools find this to be
a useful component of a standard or alternative reporting cycle,
at least for some ATL skill clusters. Where possible, team-level
conversations about the development of individual students ATL
skills can promote a more holistic approach to assessment and

reporting. To increase student ownership, some schools promote

students self-evaluation of growth in ATL skill development, with
an opportunity for teachers to comment on the students
reflection. Portfolio assessment can also be used to demonstrate
growing competence from novice learner practionioner
expert.
3) Does the MYP require schools to report on students ATL skills
development?
No.
4) Is it good practice to provide students with feedback about ATL Skills
development?
Yes, meaningful formative feedback can bring
about lasting change. The long term goal of the MYP ATL is to
help students grow in their ability to monitor their own learning
and manage themselves (alone and in a community of practice)
5) Do schools have to develop a detailed scope and sequence, or formal
curriculum map for teaching ATL skills?
No.
6) Is it necessary to plan for teaching, assessing and reporting on all 5 IB ATL
skill categories? No, but these categories provide a useful
organizing tool for managing the horizontal and vertical
articulation of ATL skills.
7) Is it necessary to plan for teaching, assessing and reporting on all 10 MYP
ATL skill clusters? No.
8) Is it necessary to plan for teaching, assessing and reporting on all 140
skills listed in the MYP ATL framework?
No.
9) Can we still use the detailed student learning expectations (and previous
work on the vertical and horizontal articulation of organisation,
collaboration, communication, information literacy, research, thinking and
transfer) that we developed as part of our previous work to support
approaches to learning as one of the MYPs former areas of interaction?
Yes, many SLEs track very clearly into the new skills
framework. The introduction of MYP ATL skills clusters offers a
good opportunity to reflect on and update existing documents,
plans, activities and curriculum review processes.
10)
Do we have to provide documentary evidence of horizontal
articulation of ATL skills? No, but at evaluation and authorisation,
schools must be able to identify resources for and commitment to
collaborative planning that includes opportunities for both
horizontal and vertical articulation of the curriculum.
11)
Is horizontal articulation of ATL skills required? Robust horizontal
articulation (year level planning across subject groups) will
include discussion about ATL skills that cross disciplinary
boundaries.
12)
Is there a specific IB format for the required ATL planning chart? No;
evidence that shows how the school has met this requirement
may take many forms. The chart exists as a record of important
conversations and commitments in the past as well as a revisable
blueprint for the future. It is meant to be evidence from a lively
process not an overly-complex tool that is onerous to create,
difficult to use and sits unused on the shelf or as a digital asset.

13)
Can I use my schools LMS or curriculum planning software to create
an approaches to learning planning chart.
Yes
14)
Can my school develop its own Approaches to Learning chart? Yes!
Using your creative professionalism, please pursue the objectives
for vertical and horizontal articulation of MYP ATL skills. Refine
your approach with other schools and networks. Then share your
work with the wider MYP community on the OCC and in IB
professional development workshops. We have much to learn
from each other.
15)
Is it OK simply to copy another schools ATL planning chart and
make it our own through some simple modifications? A strength of the
IBcommunity is its willingness to share information and
experience in formal and informal networks. School examples can
provide inspiration and possible models to follow. However, it is
the development of context-specific horizontal and vertical
articulation, ATL charts, subject group overviewsand MYP unit
plans that creates effective and authgentic learning
environments.
Keeping in mind that these answers only apply to the MYP and things may be
different at other levels, what I take from these answers is, to summarise:
- It is important to consider the ATL skills to be focused on in your school
and to have discussions on how ATL skills are going to be promulgated,
taught and developed both across any year group subjects and in
consideration from year to year.
- It is important to create a plan for ATL skill implementation and teaching.
- It is not important to measure, assess, grade or report on ATL skill
acquisition or proficiency.

Teaching ATL Skills:

All ATL skills can be taught in a great deal of different ways but the significant
distinction in teaching methods that I make is between teaching Cognitive and
Affective ATL skills.
I think that with cognitive skills we can propose a model for students to use, we
can point them at the best practice of the best students in the world, we can
directly train them in proven strategies and techniques, we can give them
exercises to demonstrate the skill and we can help them to practice and practice
until they get it right. A basic, explicit, installation pedagogy.
Teaching Cognitive Skills:
1) Define the parameters of the skill engage students in a discussion about
what the characteristics of the skill are, how could you tell that someone
was an expert in this skill, what would they be able to do that someone
who was not very good at it would not be able to do, what are practical
examples of high and low proficiency in this skill?

2) Describe best practice in the field what are some of the models,
techniques, strategies that people who are good at this skill use, how do
the best students do it? Try asking those students in the class who are
good at it how they do it. Get senior students in to explain how they do it.
3) Break each skill down into a straight-forward series of steps, strategies
and techniques.
4) Teach your students through practical examples get them to practice the
skill in simple situations or on simple subject matter first until they feel
they are gaining some mastery of the skill and then move them onto more
complex content or situations.
5) Allow for personal difference if someone can come up with a different
way to achieve the same skill that works as well or better than the
prescribed way, it would be good to allow them to do it their way.
Eg. Time Management Six Steps to Managing Assignments:
1) Buy or make a full year planner, put on it
- whole school year with all semester/term dates & holidays
- all test and exam dates
- all assignment due dates
2) Doing assignments break each one down into steps:
a) as soon as you get an assignment mark the due date in your phone
calendar and later transfer that date to your year planner
b) time-line every assignment
What are the stages of completing an assignment?
I.
Research - finding the information
25% of
the time?
II.
Processing the information reading
25%?
III.
Planning the piece of work sequencing ideas
5%?
IV.
Doing the writing
40%
V.
Proof reading, making corrections and handing it in?
5%
c) Mark on your year planner when you need to have each stage of each
assignment completed
3) Overcome procrastination by treating each stage as a deadline due in the
next day
4) Create To Do lists each week
5) Update your To Do lists regularly cross off everything done as soon as it is
done
6) Make your year planner a living document
A very simple series of steps that can be taught in a very short time to any group
of students. Each step will need some explaining and some examples but it is a
simple process, easily understood but often not made explicit. Best introduced
the first time the students have an important assignment to complete where the
deadline is actually serious. If we make the deadline a flexible point and we allow
students to hand in work late and still get marked or if we continually allow
students to re-submit assignments then we will not be teaching them time
management. We will be teaching them procrastination. And they probably
already have that skill.

Teaching Affective Skills:

Affective skills (things like perseverance, resilience, concentration) can be taught
the same way as cognitive skills using installation strategies but I have there are
other ways as well which I think are more effective. These are methods which
rely more on an extraction pedagogy than on installation.
a) Drawing out and transferring internalised strategies
1) Define the parameters of the skill as with cognitive skill teaching but first
get very clear about the definition of the skill (use a dictionary) because
there are sometimes only subtle differences between affective skills and
they often overlap eg. What is the significant difference between
perseverance and resilience? I see the key characteristic of resilience as
being getting back up each time you fall down (physically or
metaphorically) whereas I see perseverance as being characterised by
keeping on keeping on no matter what. The two often go together but they
are not the same. Having defined it then engage students in a discussion
about what the characteristics of the skill are, how could you tell that
someone was an expert in this skill, what would they be able to do that
someone who was not very good at it would not be able to do, what are
practical examples of high and low proficiency in this skill?
2) Then ask students to remember a time when they were exhibiting this
skill. This can be done as a straight memory exercise or with eyes closed
as a visualisation exercise.
3) Get them to describe their experience in detail, in writing. Focusing on
sensations, images, thoughts they remember from that time, ways of
talking to themselves, strategies and techniques they employed then.
4) Once they have a description of how they manifest this particular skill the
teacher needs to set up an experience for the students where they can
deliberately practice this skill.
5) The more they practice it the more aware of the skill they become and the
better at it they become.
6) Then when they need it they are able to do it on purpose.
b) Experientially
Teachers can also sometimes set up experiences for students that bring about
the development or use of Affective Skills like self-motivation, resilience,
perseverance, concentration, focus, leadership, bouncing back after mistakes
and learning from failure.
PE many aspects of Physical Education can be used to highlight the
development of affective skills

Outdoor Education taking students out of the classroom can create

opportunities for the development of affective skills
In these situations it is most important for the teacher to simply notice instances
of the manifestation of the skill and draw attention to it, maybe asking a student
to think about how they did it to make it more explicit.
Eg. I noticed in that basketball game that you got knocked down several times
but each time you got straight back up again and joined back in with great

energy. Do you know what that is called? That is resilience. How did you do it?
Did you notice what you said to yourself or what you imagined that helped you to
get back up again straight away? That is a great skill and all the students in your
team could learn from your example
The point with this type of extraction pedagogy is that it implies for the student
several things that I think are very important:
1) I (as the teacher) dont know the best way to do this skill
2) Everyone already know how to do it and does do it sometimes
3) Everyone does it differently
4) I cant teach you how, all I can do is to help you to understand how you
do it for yourself and then help you to practice it until you get really
good at it.
5) Once you are good at it you will have that skill as a resource you can
call on any time that you need it.
For more information on teaching all the Affective Skills please see
http://taolearn.com/atl_resources/article148.pdf
One last method that could be used is to have students teaching students.
According to Hattie this method can produce the highest levels of learning
improvement for students.
If you go back to my self-assessment rubric, you could try:
1) Defining the skill as before
2) Then have students self-assess their proficiency in that skill into Novices,
Learners, Practitioners and Experts
3) Ask the Experts if they could teach the rest
4) Create learning opportunities within the class for:
Watchers
Copiers
Doers
With the aim of moving them all up one level.
The only real problem with this method is that students who are very proficient in
a skill do not necessarily want to teach others or are simply not very good at it. If
you can get a proficient student to teach others effectively this method can work
well.

----------------------------------Please let me know if this was useful for you and what questions you have.
I welcome any feedback.
Email me directly at taolearn@xtra.co.nz
The piece I havent covered here is on developing metacognition which I will
write next.