TLC 2- Challenge

This has been one of my favourite sessions to deliver. We started by talking about proxies for learning, and how incorporating challenging elements could help us ensure deep learning was taking place.

Then I showed the group this graph, and built some struggle time into the session. I felt this brought interesting and unexpected results, with staff reflecting on skill, ability and when it might be appropriate to challenge students. There was a long discussion about whipping eggs for meringue, which led to a debate about the importance of seemingly unchallenging processes. We concluded that even within the simplest element of a lesson, there are opportunities for students to aim to do better. 

The group shared all the things they have been trying and then looked at a few more ideas. It's clear Dalton's questioning, solo taxonomy, Bloom's taxonomy and synoptic tasks have been trialled by a few of us. 

Many of us felt that we wanted to reach the VIth form and a long discussion on how to challenge those students followed. Finally, I introduced a few more strategies to take away and try:

We left it with a few ideas about what we could try next.

And there were macaroons.