Challenging more able students in geography

Jane FerrettiPGCE Tutor

University of Sheffield

• students should ….. “leave a classroom at the end of a lesson knowing, understanding and being able to do more than when they came in”.

Hughes. M (1997) Lessons are for Learning

Coalition Government 2010 

• Schools have a responsibility to meet the educational needs of all their pupils, and teachers should set tasks that take account of the varying abilities of children.  

• For pupils considered to be gifted and talented, this includes providing greater challenges in lessons, and perhaps also further opportunities for pupils to develop their gifts or talents outside of the normal timetable.

• http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/supporting-gifted-and-talented-children

“The demand of work observed was generally pitched towards the majority of the class, with some additional support for pupils who had learning difficulties and/or disabilities. More academically able pupils were often insufficiently challenged by the tasks set.

Pupils’ work often showed that, although there were episodes of effective learning, too often there was an emphasis on low-level tasks which did not develop their knowledge and understanding systematically. This indicated that teachers were not using geographical resources effectively or confidently enough to meet the needs of pupils, especially the more able.

Where teaching was least successful, the tasks set occupied pupils rather than challenged them..”

Geography-Learning to make a world of difference OFSTED 2011

Working with the most able in the classroom.

How are you going to support the two or three able geographers you may have in your classes?

Pole to Pole

Imagine you are making a journey from the North Pole to the South Pole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=ZUeGTTzZk-k

Pole to Pole

Imagine you are making a journey from the North Pole to the South Pole. Chose a line of longitude to travel along. It must be a line that passes through at least five countries.

Find out about the countries you will be travelling through from the internet, books or magazines. You could use information from travel brochures or your own experiences on holiday.

120E

70W

30E

Pole to Pole

Present information about the countries you visited, the people you met and adventures you had.

You could write a blog or send e-mails from internet cafes on your route. You could send home a postcard from each country or write a diary entry describing your adventures.

You could make a podcast, or a PowerPoint presentation or a MovieMaker presentation about the places you visited

You must include a map of your route You could include maps of the countries you visit.

Improving Questioning technique “the key to differentiation lies in the quality of teacher questioning…” Wallace (2000)

• Plan questions in advance

• Use more sophisticated vocabulary

• Expect better developed answers

• Ask open questions

• Ask probing questions

• Use the Socratic Questions or ‘Tools for effective thinking’ (on sheet)

Socratic questions

• What do you mean by…?

• How does that help….?

• Do you have evidence…?

• What would be the consequences of that…?

• What follows on from what you say…?

Layers of inference

• Students should…. “leave a classroom at the end of a lesson knowing, understanding and being able to do more than when they came in”.

What have you learnt that will help you to achieve this?