Transformational Education instructional design is student-centered, wherein teachers and counselors act as facilitators in creating self-paced, experiential lessons that
are designed to appeal to students’ multiple intelligences and diverse learning styles.
Learning Is Fun
Somewhere along the line we realize that learning requires an investment. Thinking is hard work, yet work does not have to be drudgery. Learning can remain as interesting and fun as when we were in kindergarten.
For students who have lost their motivation to learn, Transformational Education challenges the idea that education is a wasteland. By creating an enriched environment, we not only show our respect for the
students and for the learning process, we stimulate the motivation to explore and discover.
Challenging The Mindset
Clearly education is designed to assist our children and youth to be successful in living life. Transformational Education is a means of stimulating alternative ways of thinking. It helps students
examine options... it even challenges their idea of what school is or can be. Non-traditional students often rethink their mindset and approach to education and life. They need to know that they have positive
options and the power to change. Transformational Education supports our efforts as educators to mentor that process.
Individual Learning Styles
Not only are we smart in different ways, we also vary in how we actually learn. Some of us are visual learners. We need to "see" things to understand them. Some of us are experiential learners
who need to touch and "manipulate" things. Some of us learn through reading and writing. Transformational Education supports a diversity of individual learning styles.
Integrated Curriculum
Real life is multi-sensory and integrated. In other words, our 5 senses (touch, taste, sight, hearing, and smell) merge together and allow us to interpret our environment and experience. TLC further enhances
learning by challenging students to view their experiences from a variety of perspectives. Called ASPIRE, it is an approach to teaching which adds meaning to each student’s academic and life experiences, whether
it’s a history lesson or caring for a hamster.
Aspire
We are challenged to see things from different points of view with ASPIRE:
A Aesthetic
S Spiritual
P Physical
I Intellectual
R Relational
E Emotional
Cultural Diversity
Just as it is important to understand our own experiences, we must develop an understanding and appreciation of others. Transformational Education assists us to appreciate diversity as well as to help us
recognize cultural similarities. While individually we may be different, we are all members of a world community.
