Clip 3: Benefits of modelling

Trevor:

In-class modelling is a huge piece of the work that we do, and it's two fold: one, it brings to life the research, so that in terms of content knowledge, you can really start to see what, you know, the research materials that we use, the research material that we produced, look like in the context of a classroom. So you can see what happens to kids when they’re engaging in those sorts of learning activities.

But it’s also significant for your own professional learning. By being an effective teacher of kids, by working with kids, by talking with kids, you learn so much about yourself. You imbed those understandings so that you come to a point in your work where you can make those on-the-spot decisions, that you learn about the ways you can talk to kids and to teachers about the sorts of things that are important for them in their curriculum areas.

So as you become more proficient, then you become more flexible, and you become an active problem solver. But you can’t solve problems until you can identify the issues, until you’ve had sufficient experience at actually engaging in those sorts of activities yourself.