Professional Development
- PD Operations / HELC
- Design, Media, and Online Learning (DMOL)
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Effective Practices
- PL Toolkit
- PL-1 Develops Student Learning Goals
- PL-2 Data-driven instruction
- PL-3 Design Effective Lesson Plans, Units & Assessments
- I-1 Objective Driven Lessons
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I-2 Check for Understanding
- Assess Mastery
- Begin with the End
- Checkpoints
- Chunking Text
- Closure
- Cold Call
- Exit Ticket
- Graphic Organizer
- Guided Practice
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Post It
- Randomizing Responses
- Right is Right
- Running Roster
- Stretch It
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student Conferences
- Student-Generated Questions
- Teach Back
-
I-3 Differentiation
- Chunking Text
- Double Plan
- Exit Ticket
- Flexible Grouping
- Graphic Organizer
- Grappling
- HOT Question
- Independent Practice
- Leveled Text
- Multimedia
- Open-Ended Responses
- Post It
- Product Menus
- Right is Right
- Running Roster
- Stretch It
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student-Generated Questions
- Take a Stand
- Tiered Assignments
- Workstations
- I-4 Higher Level Thinking
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I-5 Maximizing Instructional Time
- 100 Percent
- Academic Posture
- Call and Response
- Cold Call
- Do Now
- Entry Routine
- Exit Routine
- Job Assignments
- Material Organization
- Non-Verbal Interventions
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Pacing Tools
- Right is Right
- Stretch It
- Strong Voice
- Student Conference
- Teach Back
- Tight Transitions
- Work the Clock
- Workstations
- I-6 Communicating Content/Concepts
- I-7 High Academic Expectations
-
I-8 Student Engagement
- Academic Posture
- Call and Response
- Closure
- Cold Call
- Do Now
- Engage and Connect
- Graphic Organizer
- HOT Question
- Independent Practice
- J-Factor
- Job Assignments
- Leveled Text
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Product Menus
- Randomizing Responses
- Real-World Connections
- Reinforcers
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student-Generated Questions
- Workstations
- Work Hard, Get Smart
- I-9 Classroom Management
- I-10 Classroom Climate
- Literacy Routines
- Academics
- Swivl Pilot Program
- eLearning
Description
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Learning shouldn’t end at the first “right” answer. Stretch It rewards “right” answers with more knowledge and further challenge (Lemov, 2012). This practice has two primary benefits. First, teachers can ensure that student responses are more reliable. By asking more questions it can eliminate the possibility that a student gave the right answer by chance. Second, the technique motivates students to apply knowledge in new situations, think spontaneously, make real-world connections, and/or engage with questions that are more challenging.
- Ask a check for understanding question.
- Solicit a response from a specific student or from the whole class.
- Allow student(s) to share the correct answer. Stretch it by choosing one of the following approaches that best suits the content or student needs:
- Inquire how or why: Provide students opportunities to explain their thinking process. (How did you get that? Can you elaborate?)
- Inquire for another way to answer: Ensure students know multiple ways to answer a question. (Is there a simpler way? Can you give me another alternate answer?)
- Require for a better word: Ask students to use new words, re-phrase the answer using more rigorous vocabulary, or to use more specific descriptions. (Can you answer with a different word? How about using one of our vocabulary words?)
- Demand for evidence: Train students to defend their conclusions and support opinions. Teachers do not have to agree, just ask for the proof. (So you said the character was angry. How do you know the character is angry?)
- Ask students to integrate a related skill. (How can you put that in the past tense?)
- Invite students to apply the same skill in a new setting: Ask students to apply a mastered skill in a more challenging situation. (If you were that character, what would you do? If you could move this character to a different setting, how would that character react?)
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Alerts
Stretching the response too far can get the teacher or student off topic and derail the conversation from the main objective. It can also get students discouraged. Help them stay focused by giving probes or clues to enrich their responses.
Students that lack the content knowledge or vocabulary will struggle stretching their responses. Make sure you introduce or interact with both the content and vocabulary as many times as possible.
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Quick Tips
Stretch It can be used as a simple differentiated instructional strategy by tailoring questions to meet students where they are and push them to the next level.
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Other Strategies
Wait Time
Wait Time refers to a few seconds delay that teachers can add after a question and before a student answers. How much time you provide is a critical factor in determining the quality of the answers you get and the number of students who participate. (Lemov, 2012)
Probing
Probing is a series of questions, which require students to go beyond the first response. Subsequent teacher questions are formed on the basis of the student's response. Once a student gives a response, probing can help stretch student thinking and have students rethink their answers. Probing is helpful when students answer incorrectly or give a limited response.
Rephrase
The teacher can ask the same question using different verbiage to get the most student responses. The goal is to encourage students to respond in their own words.
Redirect
Redirect is when the teacher asks the same question to another student to build on student responses. This will also refine the original response and extend student thinking.