ATLs in the Units

A screenshot of a unit, showing three selected ATLs

When unit planning it can be tempting to tick off a long list of the ATLs you think your students demonstrate in a unit. However, doing this will not be useful for you, the students or your colleagues. Most of the ATL skills are used throughout every unit, but not explicitly taught. Can you remember the last time your students had a lesson where they didn't 'give and receive meaningful feedback' or 'listen actively to other perspectives and ideas'?

When planning your units, you should only document the ATLs you are teaching explicitly.

There are two rules to help you with this

1. Am I preparing a learning experience that explicitly gives students an opportunity to practice the ATL? Example - If you have selected 'give and receive meaningful feedback' are you giving them a new strategy, like using the 'feedback sandwich'?

Take a look at the ATL Toolkit for examples of how you might explicitly teach the ATLs. The toolkit includes videos, worksheets, activities and more!

1. Does the selected ATL link to the subject objectives? A good way to test this is to try the following formula: 'In order to [objective/strand] students must [ATL skill]' Here is an example for individuals and societies, 'In order to "document sources of information using a recognized convention" (Ciii) students must "create references and citations, use footnotes/endnotes and construct a bibliography according to recognized conventions" (Research: Information Literacy Skills)'.