Extension Activity of the Week - 12

This Week: Pupil....you'll be the teacher, soon

This is especially effective if the pupils in question have a younger sibling because they will have willing guinea pigs on whom to test it.

Invite pupils to prepare a learning activity for children 2 or more years younger than they are. They will need to consider the lesson content and then pick out the most vital portions, simplifying it for a younger audience. This will encourage them to think deeply about the learning they have done during the lesson, and if they get to try out their activity, they will also be recapping their learning within 24 hours of it taking place - a prime strategy for cementing it in their brains.

Exciting AG&T courses at Braeside

Braeside, in Devizes, has provided enrichment courses for AG&T pupils for nearly a decade now and is an ideal setting for trying something out of the ordinary.

This autumn they are offering two courses to AG&T pupils at Key Stage Three - a survival skills day at the start of November, and a creative writing course in the middle of December. Full details, and an application form, can be found here. I would be more than happy to endorse any applications for places made by Matravers students.

Extension Activity of the Week - 11

This week: Superchallenge

At the AG&T parents' meeting this week, a parent commented to me that she'd like her son to be set some work he struggled with. A lot of high achievers rarely get a taste of failure and therefore don't benefit from the learning experience that comes with getting it wrong and trying again.

Therefore, if you're stuck for some extension work this week, break out the really hard stuff - those bits and pieces you keep tucked away for your year 13 students; sudokus or crossword puzzles you yourself might struggle with; the problems and essays from the obscure, undisturbed bits of the textbook that you never teach. Try to push your most able out of their comfort zone.

Extended Project

Yesterday, I found out about the Extended Project.

This is something that has come out of the new Diplomas, but pupils don't have to be completing the Diploma to take it. This year, we're piloting it with six of our brightest year 12s, who have been specially invited, and who are working with the Head of Dance, Mr Clark, as their mentor. The qualification details are here.

It all looks very exciting, for a few reasons.

Firstly, with my History teacher hat on, anything which encourages pupils to develop their research and extended writing skills is a worthwhile venture in my book, because those skills are directly applicable to my subject.

Secondly, I think this is what school should be about! The chance to research and study something of your own choice, in a supportive environment, with access to advice and guidance from people who already know you well, doesn't come along very often. The skills these pupils will be developing will prove invaluable at university - indeed, Cambridge is among the universities who are extremely supportive of the extended project - and tick a lot of boxes for independent working too, which will be helpful in the world of work: time management; developing and testing a hypothesis; and self-motivation.

I'm really excited that pupils at this school are getting the opportunity to complete this, and hope that it will be accessible to more in the future. Look out for updates from the pupils involved on how they feel about the project.

Extension Activity of the Week - 10

This week: Key word charades

Appeal to your kinaesthetic learners by suggesting they come up with a movement or sequence of motions to characterise the key words from the lesson. The movements could represent the way the word is spelled, its meaning or its place in the sequence of learning.

This could then form part of your plenary, as the rest of the class guess what key words they are demonstrating. You could then build on this by coming up with a range of movements to cover a whole unit of key words.