Learnish

Talking about learning confidently and openly is a skill and a right. Educators can give students the tools to talk about their learning in meaningful ways. Speaking 'Learnish' is empowering for students and teachers alike.

Creating a shared language that can be used by learners, teachers, administrators and parents to discuss learning is the first step in speaking learnish. Agreed terms allow us to speak in the same language, to understand simply feedback, goals and progress. We call this mutually understood language, 'Learnish'.

Speaking learnish is best enculturated through a gradual release model whereby adults model and co-use before supporting independent student use. Feedback, conferencing and daily ubiquitous embedding allow for learnish to become part of our inner and outer dialogue.

Students whom have been given the tools to talk about their learning are empowered learners. They are able to name their specific goals, they have planned how they will work to achieve them, they understand what success looks like and can identify how they are tracking. When speaking learnish, students communicate a sense of control over their learning.

Learning Walks and Talks, as popularised by many education experts, including Lyn Sharratt and Judy Halbert and Linda Kaiser, give students frequent opportunities to have discussions adults, other than their teacher, about their learning. These discussions provide valuable feedback to teachers about the teaching and learning cycle and individual students. During a Learning Walk and Talk, students are asked a series of simple questions that provide powerful insight into their learning.

Creating a shared language that is used to discuss learning is a empowering tool for school communities. Learning is no longer secret teachers' business, it is the business of all. Speaking learnish allows the process of learning to become explicit for learners and for the process to be owned by all.