Challenge For All- Seeds of Growth

What are the aims of The Seeds of Growth model?

• To improve consistency and visibility of challenge

• To make work harder for our students

• To create more opportunities for our students to think critically and work independently

• To improve the school's KHDA rating

Curricular elements assigned to this level demand extended use of higher order thinking processes such as synthesis, reflection, assessment and adjustment of plans over time. Students are engaged in conducting inquiries to solve real-world problems with unpredictable outcomes. Employing and sustaining strategic thinking processes over a longer period to solve the problem is a key feature of curricular objectives that are assigned to this level. Key strategic thinking processes that denote this level include synthesising, reflecting, conducting, and managing.

• The Sun

• Seeds

• Seedlings

• Tribulus

 

This level of the Seeds of Growth typically requires reasoning, complexity, developing a plan or sequence of steps, and have more than one possible response or solution. Items falling into this category demand a short-term use of higher order thinking processes, such as analysis and evaluation, to solve real-world problems. Stating one’s reasoning is a key marker of tasks that fall into this particular category...

• Sun

• Seeds

• Seedlings

• Tribulus

This level includes the engagement of some mental processing beyond recalling or reproducing a response. This level generally requires students to contrast or compare people, places, events and concepts; convert information from one form to another; classify or sort items into meaningful categories ; describe or explain issues and problems, patterns , cause and effect, significance or impact, relationships, points of view or processes. At this level “describe or explain” would require students to go beyond a description or explanation of recalled information to describe or explain a result or “how” or “why.”

• The Sun

• Seeds

• Seedlings

• Tribulus

 

Which level of the Seeds of Growth model builds automaticity and lays the foundations for complex thinking. Students are required to recall definitions, key terms, processes, stories and number facts etc.

• The Sun

• Seeds

• Seedlings

• Tribulus

In a Talk for Writing lesson, in which all the class are working on recall of a story; which symbols would you expect to represent the highest attaining students learning activity?

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As well as 'complexity', the other dimension of the Seeds of Growth is...

• Difficulty

• Choice

• Critical Thinking

• Independence

To promote student voice and ownership of their learning, we encourage our teachers to provide a level of choice for our students, so that they can self-regulate and drive their own learning. In KS1 and lower KS2, students would most often use:

• Embedded Choice and Simple Choice Menus

• Advanced Choice Menus

• Advanced Choice Menus and Independent Project

• Simple Choice Menus

At this level, students all work on the same main assignment or project. Here, every student is working on the same learning targets and tasks for most of the learning activity. The entire class has common grouping (individual, partners, or small groups) and generally works at a similar pace. However, within this learning activity, the teacher provides options on a sub-task/challenge. So, in a language class, students might all do the same reading and answer similar questions, but they have a menu of options for how they present their answers. They might record a podcast, make a slideshow, film a video, or write a blog post. Another variation of this might be that every student is writing a blog post, but they have a list of topics they can select. So, they don’t have a choice in the final product, but they do have a choice in the topic. In a maths class, students might have the same set of word problems, but they select from the menu. Or they might work on the same word problem but have a menu of options for how they solve the problems. For linear equations, this might include graphing, creating a table, or using an algorithm. Another time, they might all solve the same problem, but they have a choice in how they share their answers with classmates.

Which level of choice is this a description of?

• Embedded Choice

• Simple Choice Menu

• Advanced Choice Menu

• Independent Project

Which level of independence is this?

Students begin by selecting their grouping (partners, small group, or independent). Next, they select the specific learning targets. This is ideal for students who need additional review of certain content. It functions as a built-in intervention. After deciding on the learning target, students find related resources that they explore connected to the learning target. These might be tutorials, examples, articles, podcasts, or videos. Finally, students select from options in how they will present their learning. In a maths class, you might have a student choose to work with a partner. Both partners decide to work on dividing fractions. When they look at the list of curated resources, one partner chooses to watch a tutorial video while another partner chooses to read an online tutorial. Next, they complete a task where they are dividing fractions and then they select the video option where they show how they solved the problems together. While the example table above works well for this option, a more advanced variation would be share a digital copy with hyperlinks, with students selecting an option that leads to a new set of options. So, in science they might choose a learning target on adaptations. When they click submit, it takes them to the specific resources on adaptations. Once they select their resource to learn about adaptations, they click submit again and go to the form with the options for how they will share what they learned. Note that this option works best with older students (Upper KS2 (Years 5 and 6) who have a solid background knowledge of their topics or a solid understanding of the skills. This type of choice menu can easily overwhelm students. Therefore, teachers should use one of the first two options before moving to this one.

• Simple Choice Menu

• Complex Choice Menu

• Advanced Choice Menu

• Free Choice Menu