As classroom teachers we are thrilled with ourselves when learning is ‘just-right hard’ or in the learning sweet spot. ‘Just-right hard’ means that there are going to be times when students are stuck. Being stuck is a good thing, something you want to see. Being stuck is a natural part of learning. We all get stuck. Students should expect to be stuck.
What do your students do when they get stuck? Are you their first go-to for help?
Do you unintentionally give students the impression that asking for help gets them off the hook from doing any thinking?
Of course, we don't want to leave students stuck, but we also don't want to provide too much help to the detriment of their learning and engagement in the cognitive demand of the task.
Being able to get ourselves unstuck requires us to manage how we react emotionally and use appropriate practical strategies. Critical to getting unstuck is persevering. The great news is we can learn to ‘Unstuck Ourselves’.
How do you teach students to get unstuck?
Idea 1: Make ‘Unstuck’ strategies explicit
Just because students know the strategies to get unstuck does not mean they will engage in the appropriate strategies. They need multiple opportunities to explicitly practice them so that they can become self-regulated. One of our favourite sites, Evidence for Learning, indicates that “These approaches are more effective when they are applied to challenging tasks rooted in the usual curriculum content” (2021).
Below are four examples of strategies that have been explicitly taught to students. Whilst these look very published and complete, it is worth noting that they are built over time and are a summary of the strategies.
Hot Tip: Refrain from simply copying these and co-construct them with your students. Some things need a bit of explanation and modelling, like when we invite students to ‘take a short brain break’. Your ‘short’ and their ‘short’ might be different things!
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Idea 2: Metaphors for being stuck
Metaphors can create a powerful shared language to describe being stuck and how to get unstuck. Examples include the learning pit and the zones of challenge. Stay tuned for more detail in a future Micro Move.
Have you ever seen the broken escalator video ? What strategies do the people in the video use when they are stuck? We have used this video with classes to introduce how we will think and act if we get stuck in our learning. How might you use this video to communicate getting unstuck?
Another idea!
You might also be interested in the Edutopia 60-Second Strategy: Teacher Queue for secondary students https://www.edutopia.org/video/60-second-strategy-teacher-queue or Ask 3 Before Me https://www.edutopia.org/video/60-second-strategy-ask-3-me
References
Metacognition and self-regulation | E4L. (2021, July). Evidence for Learning. https://evidenceforlearning.org.au/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/metacognition-and-self-regulation
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