Date: 9th and 10th October 2020 (To be confirmed)
Rachel French, MA Ed, is a certified Independent Concept-Based consultant, presenter and trainer with Dr Lynn Erickson and Dr Lois Lanning. She is the Director of Professional Learning International (PLI) founded to support international schools to access leading professional development. Rachel is also the sole provider of the annual ‘Dr H Lynn Erickson and Dr Lois A. Lanning Certification Institute for Concept-based Curriculum and Instruction Trainers and Presenters.’ Rachel French, Dr Lynn Erickson and Dr Lois Lanning co-authored the second edition of ‘Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom’, published by Corwin, February 2017. Rachel French and Carla Marschall published ‘Concept-Based Inquiry in Action’ Corwin in July 2018.
Rachel has presented numerous workshops in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas and she has presented on Concept-Based Learning at IB Conferences. Rachel works as a consultant supporting schools to plan and implement Concept-Based Inquiry Units. She also coaches and provides feedback to teams of teachers on curriculum development. Rachel worked as a PYP Co-ordinator for seven years and is experienced in aligning Concept-Based Inquiry and the IB programmes.
Workshop Description
This workshop will support educators in planning learning experiences that scaffold students thinking and help them articulate conceptual understandings.
In this interactive workshop, participants will explore different type of inquiry and the benefits and challenges of each. They will participate in a variety of teaching practices that help students think conceptually.
Video clips of Concept-Based Inquiry will be shared to illustrate key strategies. Participants will have the opportunity to consider how specific, practical instructional strategies can enhance units they are currently teaching in schools. Educators will leave with a toolkit of strategies that can be immediately implemented in the classroom.
Rachel will facilitate exploration of questions such as:
• How do students acquire concepts?
• How is concept formation different than developing generalisations?
• How can we design instruction to achieve synergistic thinking between the factual and conceptual levels?
• What instructional strategies support conceptual thinking?
• What does Concept-Based Inquiry look like in the classroom?
• What role does the classroom environment have in fostering a culture of conceptual thinking?
