The Learning Pit or (Learning Challenge) is a seven-step process, which helps children, understand how their learning can develop. In effect, it challenges us to be stuck in our learning and to seek ways to climb out of the pit – utilising skills such as our Learning Dispositions.
2, SOLO Taxonomy
SOLO, which stands for the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome, is a means of classifying learning outcomes in terms of their complexity, enabling us to assess children’s’ work in terms of its quality not of how many bits of this and of that they have got right.
SOLO is used not only in assessment, but also in designing the curriculum in terms of the level of learning outcomes intended.
It’s all about increasing the levels of complexity in tasks as pupils move through their learning. Think of it as a kind of do-it-yourself differentiation for students.
Solo uses symbols to represent where pupils are in their learning. For example, a circle shows that they are at the prestructural stage, where they are not yet sure about the concept they are learning about.
With time, pupils move to the unistructural stage, represented by one vertical line. This means that they are getting to grips with the underlying concepts and beginning to formulate basic ideas.
The next stage is multistructural, where children are beginning to make connections to other ideas, which is followed by relational and extended abstract stages, where they can confidently connect concepts to a wider field and see them in perspective.
3, Road to Writing
The Road to Writing is a consistent way of teaching Writing to our children. The concept of the ‘writing journey’ was launched as part of the St. John’s Green School’s Visible Learning programme. The RtW ensures that children have a clear starting point (Hook Lesson) and end point (Hot Task) during units of work. The RtW offers opportunities for feedback, reflection (linked to our Learning Disposition; Reflecting Roxy) and the explicit teaching of writing skills. Constant exposure to a range of high quality texts, anaylsis of genres and opportunties to edit and write sustained, coherent pieces enable our children to explore ways in which to write with a clear understanding of ‘Audience and Purpose’.