Are you looking to change the way your school operates? This intensive 2.5-hour short course, led by Gavin McCormack, provides educators with the practical tools to implement the seven steps of the Emotional Circle of Learning.
Traditional classrooms often involve Teacher Centred Learning, where students have limited movement, limited choice, and ultimately, no agency or freedom to experiment. This restricts skill development and limits opportunities for teachers to observe growth.
This course offers a revolutionary alternative by focusing on developing a deep emotional connection to learning in your classroom. We will explore the seven cyclical steps—Inspiration, Questioning, Exploration, Creation, Action, Emotional Impact, and Reflection—which are designed to empower students. You will discover strategies to encourage children to ask deep, investigative questions that genuinely guide their learning journey.
Furthermore, you will learn how to implement “Freedom within limits”, offering multiple options for students to demonstrate their understanding through various projects, artwork, or presentations. The course culminates by detailing how children put their work into action and apply it meaningfully to improve lives, communities, or environments, proving that education holds real-world transformative power. By avoiding external rewards or praise, this model ensures that the reward they get is the feeling they receive—pride, joy, compassion, or purpose—thus making the emotion itself the true motivator
10 Essential Concepts Covered in This Course
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💡 Understanding the Shift: Exploring the limits of teacher centred learning, such as restricted choice and limited agency, and why promoting ownership in the mainstream classroom is essential.
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💡 Step 1: Be Inspirational: Techniques for delivering engaging content that sparks curiosity and a desire to learn. This includes using rich resources, tactile experiences and sharing your own enthusiasm.
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💡 Step 2: Ask Questions: Methods for encouraging children to ask deep, investigative questions and helping them take ownership of their curiosity by choosing their own lines of inquiry.
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💡 Step 3: Research Time: Supporting students through independent research while allowing them to decide whether to work alone, with a partner or as part of a small group.
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💡 Step 4: Creation and Options: Applying the principle of freedom within limits by offering several ways for students to create a tangible piece of work such as a video, model, poster or performance.
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💡 Fostering Responsibility (Let Them Go): Strategies for allowing trusted students to work beyond the classroom, building trust, self discipline and responsibility.
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💡 Step 5: Share and Act: Structuring the sharing process so students can talk about what they plan to do with their work to make the world better.
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💡 Step 6: Use It for Good: Introducing a hands off approach as children extend their creations into the world, applying their learning in meaningful and purposeful ways.
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💡 Step 7: Emotional Impact: Helping students feel the emotional rewards of their efforts and understand that fulfilment, not external praise, is the true motivator.
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💡 Deep Reflection: Creating space for students to reflect on their journey, express how they felt at each stage and connect the feeling of pride with the value of meaningful work.
