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One only has to close their eyes and reflect on being in a typical class-
room and depending on past experiences; two images might come to mind. The
first image might include a teacher in the front of the room with chalk or book in
hand, asking students to read along with them. Perhaps the teacher is writing on
the board and asking the students closed-ended questions as they search for
facts that may, or may not have meaning to the learner. Unfortunately, much of
what existed in the past in education remains the same in present day teaching
as well. Many adult learners for example, might reflect on a workshop, confer-
ence, or class they recently attended and see a similar picture to the one de-
ABO UT T H I S I S S UE
Citation: Clapper, T. C. (2009). Moving away from teaching and becoming a facilitator of learning. PAILAL, 2(2).
Professionals Against Improperly
Labeling Active Learners
PAILAL Newsletter
MO V I N G A W A Y F R O M T E AC H I N G AND BE C O M I N G A F A C I L I T A T O R OF L E A R N I N G
BY TIM O T H Y C . C L A P P E R
This issue focuses on helping the teacher to move away from the deliverer of knowledge in a passive
environment, to one where all learners are actively engaged in the construction of their knowledge. In this
day of accountability, we hear too often the complaints from teachers that they are not able to teach the way
they would like to because of a need to prepare their students to be successful on a standardized examination
that may have surfaced with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The reality is that too many teachers
have not changed their teaching styles in years, perhaps even before any mandatory testing came about. For
those educators willing to step up and become facilitators of learning, the following article can be used to
guide their journey. Keep spreading the word that we need to stop trying to address poor behaviors in the
classroom, and instead address the root cause of the disruptive behaviors. Many active learners may be acting
out of boredom or from being lost. Recognizing the gift of the active learner and meeting them with actively
challenging lessons will surely go a long way in creating the optimal learning environment.
Volume 2, Issue 2
July 2009
ABOUT THIS ISSUE
MO V I N G A W A Y
F R O M T E A C H I N G
AND BE C O M I N G A
F A C I L I T A T O R OF
L E A R N I N G
1-6
Did You Know?
“The best professional development sessions are ones that are run
with the same message they are sending. If you want teachers to lec-
ture; then lecture. If you want them to develop an active and engag-
ing classroom, let them experience it for themselves.”
—-Timothy C. Clapper
MO V I N G AW A Y FR O M T E AC H I N G A N D BE C O M I N G A F A CI L I TA T O R OF
L E AR N I N G C O N ’T
Professionals Against Improperly Labeling Active Learners
Page 2
scribed above in their memory. Instead of being asked to read along or answer questions
that have been written on a chalkboard, they read information from a PowerPoint presen-
tation, often by someone with actual or claimed years of teaching experience. Many may
indeed have years of teaching experience, but little experience being a facilitator of learn-
ing. The latter, relates to the second image that some may have been fortunate enough to
experience and recollect. This would be the image of the facilitator and the classroom ex-
periences they have developed to make learning the best that it can be.
Many teachers may be able to put together a well-prepared lesson plan that lists
the objectives and standards that dictate why they must teach the lesson, a possible list-
ing of handouts and textbook chapters they will read from, and certainly some form of met-
rics for evaluating the session. The lesson plan may even have been assembled using a
pattern similar to Wiggins and McTighe’s (2005) Understanding by Design (UBD) ap-
proach which follows the algorithm of identifying the objectives, defining how assessment
will occur, and then determining the strategies for learning. However, this algorithm by it-
self is not a guarantee that the lesson plan will become an effective learning plan.
Therefore, the first thing that a facilitator of learning must do is spend some time
formulating a learning plan. For the educator that is tied to casting blame on standardized
testing requirements that may be associated with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
(NCLB) instead of concentrating their efforts on creating learning opportunities, this task
might not be so easy. What has to be asked is, “What are those things that my students
need to know and what activities can I use that will create real understanding for them?”
Additionally, one might ask, “What will it take for them to be successful on the standard-
ized test coming up while also preparing them for their future?” Tomlinson and McTighe
(2006) might refer to the first part of this question as determining the “big ideas”, or gist of
the lesson and certainly this will guide the formation of the essential question that will be
used to steer the entire lesson. For example, an essential question might include, “What
were some of the events that preceded the United State’s involvement in World War II?” In
doing so, we try to move toward understanding, and away from rote learning and memori-
zation.
Likewise, the objectives should be clear and functional. They are developed and
stated based on what you want the learner to do. An educator can self-evaluate their own
methodology by looking at the way they spell out their objectives. “Name each of the dates
in which…..and Name the people involved in” while sometimes acceptable, does little to
move the learner past rote memorization of facts. “Explain some similarities and differ-
ences between World Wars I and II” on the other hand asks the learner to assess and in-
ternalize what they know about the subject. Developing good objectives and a strong es-
sential question can lead the educator through the first part of transitioning from a teacher
to a facilitator of learning.
Again using Wiggins and McTighe’s (UBD) model, once the objectives are identi-
fied, the next part of the process is determining how learning will be assessed. Facilitators
of learning will note immediately the difference between evaluation and assessment.
There is often a heavy reliance on evaluation and summative-type assessments in les-
“What are those
things that my
students need to
know and what
activities can I
use that will
create real
understanding for
them?”
Volume 2, Issue 2 Professionals Against Improperly Labeling Active Learners Page 3
MO V I N G AW A Y FR O M T EA C H I N G A N D BE C O M I N G A F A CI L I TA T O R OF
L E AR N I N G C O N ’T
sons and not enough on formative assessment. As Williams and Dunn (2008, p. 176)
observe, many teachers are good at summative assessments, including end of chapter
quizzes and tests, or an end of unit paper. What is needed, they suggest is formative
assessment that includes feedback to both teacher and learners of next steps that need
to be taken, along with identifying areas requiring more attention, perhaps using different
activities. If one is truly concerned with performance on standardized examinations,
strategies must be used that lead to better understanding of the content. Assessing
throughout the lesson in varied ways including feedback and observation will inform the
facilitators of which strategies are working and which are not. For the facilitator, assess-
ment will also include recognizing when learners are bored, or not being adequately en-
gaged in the learning experience, and making the proper adjustments ‘on-the-fly.’ Per-
haps one of the boldest and most honorable things an educator can do is recognize that
their perfect plan and teaching style might not be working in a particular situation. When
they are able to recognize this and creatively adjust the lesson so that understanding
and the objectives can be met, they are moving toward becoming better facilitators of
learning.
Being a facilitator of learning means that strategies and activities are included
that brings the learner to a state of understanding that lead to accomplishment of the
objectives. We are natural constructivist. That is, we came into this world building our
own meaning and explanation for occurrences, based on our own findings, as well as
through socializing with others. Therefore, including activities that ask the learner to con-
struct their own meaning and then reflect their understanding off of other learners goes a
long way in creating understanding.
Further, cooperative learning activities included in lessons allow the learner to
move around and engage with others actively. Speaking, drawing, hand-waving, and
other tactile and kinesthetic gestures are encouraged in collaborative learning. Collabo-
rating with a few learners on content areas is also safer for many learners. Interpersonal
and intrapersonal intelligences can be developed in small groups while clarity and inter-
nalization of the content can be achieved. These intelligences may not be developed
fully in traditional classrooms where the learner may be lost trying to make meaning of
the content, which can lead to frustration and acting out. Other activities might include
simulation and role-play to act out experiences that lead to better understanding of con-
cepts and ideas. Sand tables and models may be constructed as interactive projects
that groups of learners tie to the content and the objectives. In explaining the events
leading up the World War II, for example, facilitators might have learners conduct re-
search on specific areas such as shipping and commerce, major factors preceding and
influencing that war, and cause and effect of major decisive engagements.
“...we came into this world building our own meaning and explanation for occurrences, based on
our own findings, as well as through socializing with others”
MO V I N G AW A Y FR O M T E AC H I N G A N D BE C O M I N G A F A CI L I TA T O R OF
L E AR N I N G C O N ’T
Professionals Against Improperly Labeling Active Learners
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Using the sand table as a simulation tool, each collaborative group can re-
search and then construct what they see as useful concepts for understanding that
leads to the objectives. Facilitators using simulations and role play in learning incor-
porate all three learning styles including: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic, as well as
nearly all of the multiple intelligences identified by Gardner (1983). Whatever strategy
is used, the facilitator of learning will ensure that it is one that will allow the learners to
become actively engaged with the construction of their learning and not be a passive
tool of teaching.
Additionally, facilitators of learning are very familiar with the process of trans-
fer and how this relates to learning. Reflect once again on the typical learning experi-
ence, and one might reflect upon experiences of being thrown into what seemed to
be the middle of a lesson, and while teachers only write the aim or objectives of the
lesson on the board, learners are left wondering what they are supposed to do, where
are they are going, and why. Enter the four-phase lesson plan outlined by Williams
and Dunn (2008). The four-phase lesson plan consists of active, brain-based learning
activities orchestrated in such a way that leads to better understanding of the content
and objectives. The learning activities in each of the four-phases are always followed
by a reflection process that helps the learners to reflect and internalize the infor-
mation, in what Kolb (1984) refers to as reflection-in-action, and provides the facilita-
tor with yet another opportunity to assess learning and understanding.
The process begins with the Inquire phase in which the facilitator helps the
learners to transfer in their base of knowledge. Personal meaning and relevance to
the lesson can occurs here. Relevance need not pre-exist however, for as Brooks
and Brooks (2001) observe, the facilitator can help the learner create relevance. Ex-
amples of activities might include the use of K-W-L charts that ask the learners what
they know (K), what they want (W) to know, and later, near the end of the lesson,
what they have learned (L). A variation includes the K-W-H-L chart that includes ask-
ing learners how (H) they might be able to find out what they need to learn. It should
be noted that during this phase, the facilitator is still guiding the learner to the objec-
tive, which helps to eliminate any criticism that may exist that student-centered, con-
structivism results in aimless instruction. What they want to know and how they will
learn it is still directly associated with the objective and the facilitator’s role is to keep
learning moving on that track. In fashion with constructivist principles, bringing in or
transferring in a base of knowledge including the schemas and frames of references
the learner currently possesses, helps the learner to build upon and alter those expe-
riences, leading to better understanding of the new concepts. Through the reflection
process, the facilitator then helps the learners transfer the knowledge into the next
phase, the Gather phase, where relevant information is gathered and meaning is
constructed by the learner. It is here that the learner might find a variety of relevant,
pre-determined web pages, short films, evidence-based information sheets for coop-
“The learning
activities in each of
the four-phases
are always
followed by a
reflection process
that helps the
learners to reflect
and internalize the
information”
Volume 2, Issue 2 Professionals Against Improperly Labeling Active Learners Page 5
MO V I N G AW A Y FR O M T EA C H I N G A N D BE C O M I N G A F A CI L I TA T O R OF
L E AR N I N G C O N ’T
erative learning, specific chapters of text, or portions of chapters that help them to
move toward understanding the objective. The gather phase might even include a com-
bination of all of these activities, or may include other sources not listed here as well.
Again, the emphasis is on meaning-making which can make a big difference for those
students that seems to be bored, as well as selecting activities that allow for physical
movement throughout the lesson.
During the Process phase, the next phase of the plan, movement is likely to be
a dominant factor in the activities selected by the facilitator. One might select activities
that allow for the development of weaker intelligences, while enhancing the learner’s
stronger ones. Here is where the learners will do something with the information to help
them internalize and come to grasps with the material. It might include constructing a
project, a class presentation by groups having responsibility for key components of a
lesson, or a demonstration or skit that ties it together. Facilitators will select activities
that will help them assess the process, as well as the depth or level of learning that
might be occurring. Again, this may be different from evaluation because any failure in
understanding still provides the facilitator with an opportunity to re-direct and clarify
misconceptions about the objectives.
Finally, the last phase, the Apply phase, asks the learners “So what now” and
“what can you do with this new information.” Here, the process of transfer surfaces
again as the facilitator helps the learner to transfer the new knowledge to other applica-
tions. This might include a community service learning event, or even some application
of the lesson to another school subject. If the lesson were graphic organizers for exam-
ple, the students might demonstrate how they can now use these tools to help them
achieve understanding in their math, or other classes. One might see here a clear ex-
ample of how this form of authentic assessment adds far more value than many quiz-
zes and examinations for assessing understanding beyond memorization of facts and
figures, another emphasis associated with facilitators of learning.
We are in a critical time where many adult learners may be asking whether any
lack of understanding during formal education endeavors was caused by own defect, or
by teaching attempts that missed their target entirely. For facilitators of learning, this is
less of a concern because it is already understood that they are responsible for creating
the conditions and environment that is most beneficial for learning. They know that lack
of understanding is not the learner’s fault and they must do whatever it takes to inspire
a love for learning. Great strides can be made so long as educators do whatever it
takes to reach learners. With the dropout rates in our nation still at alarmingly high lev-
els, a new charge goes out to educators: become facilitators of learning.
REF E R E NC ES
Brooks, J., & Brooks, M. (2001). In search of understanding: The case for constructivist
classrooms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
“...they are
responsible for
creating the
conditions and
environment that is
most beneficial for
learning”
MO V I N G AW A Y FR O M T E AC H I N G A N D BE C O M I N G A F A CI L I TA T O R OF
L E AR N I N G C O N ’T
Professionals Against Improperly Labeling Active Learners
Page 6
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind. New York: Basic Books.
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as a source of learning and devel-
opment. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Tomlinson, C. A., & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction + under-
standing by design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA:
ASCD.
Williams, B. R., & Dunn, S. E. (2008). Brain-compatible learning for the block. Thou-
sand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Photos from Microsoft Office.
We’re on the Web!
http://tccid.dover.net/
PAILAL.htm
We hope that you enjoyed this newsletter. Sharing information and strategies
can make a difference. There are so many great educators. They see in each
learner the full potential of what can be.
Contact information: Tim Clapper TCCID@Dover.net
