1. MSC 2012 Session #88
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2. MSC 2012 Session #88
Stretch Learning — Practical Strategies Aligned to Common Core State Standards
Applying the Six Conditions for Stretch Learning
The six conditions for stretch learning should initially be used for data gathering.
What evidence is there that these conditions exist within a school? How can schools
and districts build from what is already available? Second, schools and districts can
use the data to help prioritize and plan. It is best to phase in these conditions and ad-
dress one to three goals per year.
Once a good plan is in place, how will the school or district support teachers and
their classrooms? What professional development will teachers and administrators
need to be successful in implementing strategies for stretch learning?
Following are 20 indicators that stretch learning is taking place in the classroom.
These can help to refine the plan or determine the professional development needed
to increase stretch learning in the classroom. Not all of these characteristics may be
present for any one unit or lesson, but a combination of several indicators should
exist for learning to go beyond the basics. The indicators are divided into two sec-
tions: what students do and what teachers do.
20 Success Indicators for Stretch Learning
The 20 success indicators are divided into 10 for students and 10 for teachers.
Student Success Indicators for Stretch Learning
1. Students are curious and inquisitive about learning.
2. Students often encounter dilemmas and seek to resolve them or see both
sides of issues.
3. Students debate and wonder through question and inquiry.
4. Students are sometimes uncomfortable in the learning process as they work
through challenges.
5. Students demonstrate an appreciation of diversity.
6. Students collaborate in a variety of ways, such as face-to-face and via the
Internet.
7. Students are confident when tackling questions or unknown elements of
learning.
8. Students use foundational learning to adapt to known and unknown situa-
tions.
9. Students use their interests and passions to guide learning.
10. Students bring real-world connections into the classroom on a regular basis.
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3. MSC 2012 Session #88
Chapter 1: What Is Stretch Learning?
Teacher Success Indicators for Stretch Learning
1. Teachers draw students into the learning process through student interests
and relevance.
2. Teachers provide students with access to rigorous and collaborative learn-
ing via face-to-face contact or the Internet.
3. Teachers collaborate so that career/technical content and/or the arts often are
paired with foundation academic classes.
4. Teachers present situations or questions for which there are no clear paths
or answers.
5. Teachers lead students to paths or sources of inspiration where creative so-
lutions might be found.
6. Teachers are sometimes uncomfortable initially with the learning process as
they explore new ways of providing access to relevant learning or maximiz-
ing technological tools or as they deal with the more complex questions that
students pose.
7. Teachers reward students for thinking, creating, and problem solving, not
just for memorization, compliance with directions, and assessment scores.
8. Teachers use their own and students’ mistakes as an acceptable and honored
step in the learning process.
9. Teachers provide students with engaging instruction through connections
to the real world and integration among content areas.
10. Teachers encourage and teach students to negotiate ways of demonstrating
their learning.
These indicators can be used to plan for professional development and to design a
procedure to implement stretch learning strategies in the classroom and other learn-
ing environments, such as online or in the community or workplace.
A good approach is to assess what teachers already are doing and build upon that.
Incorporate a few indicators at a time and share what already is working across pro-
grams, grades, or courses to expand the repertoire of instructional practices. Then ex-
plore what it would take to include additional indicators. Adding one or two indica-
tors to each lesson will help right away. Use the indicators in concert with the Rigor/
Relevance Framework® (see Chapter 3) to plan instruction, and the benefits of stretch
learning will quickly become evident.
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4. MSC 2012 Session #88
Chapter 4: Stretch Unit Design
This chapter concludes with a template for designing units and design criteria to
help guide your work. Several examples of stretch learning units are provided in the
Appendix.
Template for Designing Stretch Learning Units
Unit Design for:
List Grade Level(s)/Content Area(s)/
Course(s) as applicable along with
Theme or Topic.
Teacher Name(s)
When will this unit be taught? How long will it last?
What is this unit about?
On which standards, grade level benchmarks/indicators, or course requirements is this
unit based? (Use Common Core State Standards or the most up-to-date state standards
and skill revisions.)
1. Which approach or combination of approaches did you pick?
Check all that apply.
¨ Invention
¨ Community Experiences
¨ Purpose Based
¨ e-Portfolio
2. What are the major concepts you will teach and students will demonstrate? Create a
web, tree map, or graphic with these concepts detailed.
3. What is the major relevance or real-world connection for this unit?
4. What is the critical question that will frame this entire unit? (All units must require
analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and/or creative solutions.)
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5. MSC 2012 Session #88
Stretch Learning — Practical Strategies Aligned to Common Core State Standards
5. Question Stems
Students can only do as well as the question they are asked, the ques-
tion they ask or the assignment they are given.
— The Education Trust
Another way to use stretch strategies to scaffold rigor is to get students to ask better
questions or form better prompts for their own learning. Start by giving them some
stems that gradually increase rigor throughout the lesson. Use the first set of question
stems when introducing new learning, the second in the middle of practice both in
groups and independently, and the third for closings or independent work at school
or for homework. Teachers may also use these stems for questioning in classrooms.
Explain and Describe
• Do you know anything about __________? How does it compare to
__________?
• Describe __________ using your sensory words and your new content words.
• Explain what is meant by __________. How does that compare to what you
or others believe/see/explain?
• What is an example of __________?
Analyze and Summarize
• What is the pattern?
• Why?
• Compare and contrast __________.
• How is this __________ the same or different?
• What is the cause or effect?
• Sort these into categories and label the categories.
• What attributes impact these functions?
• What is the most important idea and why?
• Summarize _________.
• From what point of view will you summarize __________?
Evaluate, Self-Evaluate, and Create
• Give me another example of __________, but this time __________.
• Defend your answer.
• Justify your conclusion.
• What are the pros and cons?
• What if __________?
• What is the relationship of __________ to __________?
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6. MSC 2012 Session #88
Chapter 5: Stretch Learning in Lessons
• Is this fair or right?
• Is this right or wrong and why?
• What is the importance, impact, or value of __________?
• How can you design a __________ to __________?
• Why not compose a song or write an original piece about __________?
• Can you see a possible solution to __________?
• If you had access to all resources, how would you deal with __________?
• Why don’t you devise your own way to deal with __________?
• What would happen if __________?
• How many ways can you __________?
• Can you create new and unusual uses for __________?
• Can you write a new __________ for __________?
• Can you develop a proposal that would __________?
• What if __________?
• Add a real or imagined scenario.
• Change a variable.
• Design __________.
• Solve this issue or situation.
6. Moving Through Levels
A sixth way to scaffold thinking is to move from one level to the next. Have students
use this chart to take notes throughout a lesson.
What is right there for me to see, read, write, draw, or discuss?
Search for evidence you can find.
Literal Level
Right There
What do I think this means? Search for, and think about, evidence
that is not necessarily written, visible, or given.
Inferential Level
Think and Search
What do I think about this? What do I wonder about? How is this
relevant to me or can this be used? What could I create with this?
Evaluative Level How can I justify this?
On My Own
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