About the strategy
Stretch it refers to challenging the students, showing them that you expect more than just the basics. This technique is put into place after you ask a student a question and they give you the basic correct answer. Instead of moving on after that ask them follow up questions. Ask them to explain how they got the answer or ask them a tougher question to challenge them and make them think. Using stretch it allows you to see if the students really know the material, not just guessing lucky answers and it allows you to find out every student's individual skill level.
There are several different ways to ask questions that make the stretch it technique effective:
There are several different ways to ask questions that make the stretch it technique effective:
- Ask how or why
- Ask for another way to answer
- Ask for a better word
Why this is a working strategy
This technique should lead students toward obtaining mastery goals. This means that their goals are to gain knowledge rather than just being able to get the correct answer for points or a good grade (performance goals). The students will be more motivated to master something if they know that there is going to be a follow up question. They will know that just having an answer isn't good enough, they will need to be able to explain it and maybe in more than one way. This will teach them that not everything is about just giving the basic correct answer. As a teacher it is better to show your students that not everything is about points and that truly learning a subject is something that students should strive for. This technique also represents a form of scaffolding. Scaffolding is helping students learn but not just giving them the answer. By prompting them to further their answer you are helping them put more thought into something. You may be the one pushing them to think further but they are the one who actually has to take it to the next level and come up with a more thoughtful answer.
This strategy in my classroom
As a teacher I want to encourage my students to be mastery learners. Though I know they need to have performance goals as well I don't want them just learning the basics to get a good grade. I will use the stretch it technique to encourage deep thinking. I want all my students to be able to expand on their ideas in an educated way. I will put this technique to use daily in my class because the more I use it, the more the students will learn to expect having to answer this way and they will learn to think deeply on a regular basis. I will also use it to assess how well my students are doing on a certain subject. Seeing if they know more than the basics will inform me of their abilities and will allow me to find out who needs extra help and who is developing a complete understanding of the material.