What Is A Learning Stretch

What is Stretch and Challenge?

Stretch and challenge can exist described as an agenda or philosophy as opposed to an outright didactics strategy. The idea comes from the criticism that some children could be working at a greater depth or taking their ideas to new levels. We sometimes forget that learning is hard work, particularly the thinking part. It might seem that in some of your classrooms learners will do everything they can to end as quick as possible and bypass whatever opportunities for an additional level of challenge. Adopting a challenge model in your school volition crave an in-depth understanding of the pupils. Revisiting concepts such equally the zone of proximal development helps us reframe learning experiences and seek out opportunities for deeper thinking. In this article, we will provide some applied ideas for a stretch & challenge programme in your school.

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Why is Stretch and Challenge an important calendar?

To respond this question, let'south consider the curriculum equally a vehicle for social mobility. Every school has a range of power levels and challenge activities should be designed to move classroom thinking forward. The level of claiming should be suitable for the student which requires a certain level of differentiation. What is hard for me might exist easy for you. We want every pupil to become beyond their current understanding and where possible, adopt threshold concepts, the blazon of thinking that changes the way you view the world forever. In many state schools, the pupil premium agenda skews curriculum admission over a rigorous stretch & challenge plan.

To transform challenges into activities for the classroom, our members accept adopted the universal thinking framework. This practical planning and delivery tool enable educators to pattern challenge teaching strategies that really gets everyone thinking. The learning actions extend the opportunities to provide claiming across a wide ability range. Instead of ability streaming, teachers can create lesson plans that have different tangents embedded within them. The learning objectives tin can be seen as a compass (giving the task direction) whilst the challenge activities are advisedly mapped out to cater for the wide ability spectrum. This arroyo has meant that classrooms can have on prefer an 'access and challenge' agenda. Instead of but providing additional learning materials for those who take finished the chore, the framework enables children to deepen their learning experiences by irresolute perspectives and looking at topics from dissimilar angles. The best performing schools see additional learning opportunities throughout the curriculum to develop avant-garde knowledge. This is non just 'more stuff' but new perspectives and ways of using that knowledge to accomplish different goals.

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Designing activities to really stretch pupils

Designing and assessing challenge activities

Using frameworks such as solo taxonomy and blooms enables educators to explore the bookish potential by subtly reframing the learning objective. These types of frameworks enable teachers to design learning experiences that tin movement classroom thinking into new territories. Mary Myatt recently discussed the idea that schools often talk about 'doing the romans'. Using a framework for pedagogy enables educators to outline bespoke learning opportunities for the entire class power range. The thinking and learning actions within our framework accept also been used as an cess method. For example, if nosotros accept the Roman topic, can a pupil:

1) Place what the Romans have done for usa?

2) Categorise those benefits into different criteria?

3) Provide local examples of those benefits?

iv) Detect suitable adjectives to describe these benefits?

5) Imagine what life would exist like without the Roman occupation of Britain?

The UTF deportment can be carefully ordered into an engaging assessment methodology that gradually increases with cognitive complication. In other words, we are not asking the child to just do 'more stuff', we are asking them to retrieve about the concept in different means thus developing a greater depth of noesis. We have seen many schools create assessment procedures that put the pupil's cognitive abilities at stage heart. These tin exist facilitated 'on the fly' and challenge learners to adopt new perspectives on familiar knowledge. In time, our members take too used attitudinal challenges. This is the idea of entertaining a thought before accepting information technology.

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Stretching a learners thinking with the Universal Thinking Framework

Oracy for Stretch and Challenge

Challenge activities don't accept to always involve writing. Asking students to elaborate in unlike ways nearly the curriculum content tin be equally equally impactful. Having to have superior writing skills might act as a barrier for embracing a stretch and claiming for all policy. Nosotros know that talk can extend thinking and that's why, in recent years, Oracy has begun to get the attending it deserves.

Why not challenge students to:

Explain their knowledge to another person.
Take on a different perspective that they are non necessarily comfortable with.
Prepare a voice communication to convince the rest of the class to take a detail activeness.

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Stretch and Challenge activities using visual tools

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Neil Mercer'due south work has shown united states that oral reasoning skills affect cognitive skills. Students tin can demonstrate an array of abilities through the spoken word without being anxious about the quality of handwriting or grammatical structure. Using the Universal Thinking Framework's question and answer stems enable classrooms to gear up up interactive experiences that develop pupils' passion for learning. Even though using a learning experience such as oracy doesn't ever end upwards with written testify in a book, progress can be documented with the right assessment approaches. Within our learning skills framework, you will find diverse scales that outline the blazon of behaviours associated with these competencies. The instructor tin can utilise the framework to certificate wider knowledge and skills progression.

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Using resources such as 'Writers Block' to stretch students comprehension

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A complex question can really provoke deep thinking. The bank of Socratic and exploratory questions embedded within the framework enable teachers to turn a bones question into a more complex task that advances the level of thinking. To go one pace further, the graphic organisers included in the membership are an engaging tool for calculation shape to your pupils thinking. Using these type of accessible resources causes the learner to actually retrieve about how all of the parts fit together, a gateway to disquisitional thinking.

All of these resources are available for our members to use across their school. If you lot would like to talk anything through, please do get in touch for an breezy conversation.

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