To implement Learning Routines in daily lessons, teachers use 8 Essential Skills. Essential Skills enable teachers to perceive student learning and support meaningful teacher interactions with students. Expert teachers continuously develop these Essential Skills and use these tools to adjust teaching in response to student learning.
Four skills support teachers in perceiving and understanding learning, listening, observing, experiencing, and task analysis. In addition, teachers use four tools to interact with learners that include giving directions, asking questions, providing information, and offering feedback.
The 8 essential skills are used to implement learning routines and, in turn, learning routines increase student independence necessary for teachers to listen, observe, reflect on experiences, and to problem solve. Through learning, deliberate practice, and reflection, teachers develop expertise at leveraging the essential skills to facilitate student learning. Agile Teacher Lab Tools and Routines provide the practice opportunities required for teachers to develop the 8 Essential Skills.
