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I'm wondering how we can design the layout of the LC to resemble the language of learning diagram. Maybe a specific area designated as the pit where students can assist each other and move forward? -Flavia

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#visiblelearning
#learningpit
@TheLearningPit
@JamesNottingham

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Tweets by TheLearningPit

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The reason why using the Learning Pit analogy is so important is that it gives students control over their own learning. They are not victims sitting at their desks waiting for teachers to give them the next lesson of "sit and get," or Death By Ditto.

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Education Week - Peter DeWitt's Finding Common Ground

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Have you ever felt stuck? Maybe you were working on something for a class and had to read, reread, and reread the information again but it's still wasn't necessarily coming to you. Perhaps you were working on your classic car and couldn't figure out how to put a part back together. Do you look at it as an opportunity to grow...after you get passed the frustration stage?

After all, we learn a lot about ourselves when learning doesn't come easy, which is why there was a Harvard study a few years ago about the Ikea Effect.

If you have ever found the inner-strength to build a piece of furniture from Ikea to deal with small parts and multiple pieces, you know a bit about resilience. Resilience is something we all need to get through those tough moments in life. Without resilience we are more at risk of shutting down and giving up. Of course we understand that many children learn resilience just from living their daily lives.

Although there are always common themes in learning, we know that not all students are the same, and we understand that some students approach learning with a fervor that others do not. Perhaps it's due to the parental support at home, a great teacher that inspires students from the moment they walk in the door, or a natural disposition to learning.

Regardless of whether students are easily engaged or not, learning is not always easy if it is done correctly. John Hattie, someone I work with as a Visible Learning trainer, talks, researched and writes that learning should be a challenge at times. He says that learning is hard work.

We need to find ways, even in this day and age of high accountability, to make sure that children (as well as adults) understand that learning is supposed to be a challenge from time to time. Yes, it's supposed to be fun and inspiring, but challenge is important as well.

One of the best methods of talking with students about challenge comes from James Nottingham. It's called the Learning Pit.

If you haven't heard the analogy about the Learning Pit you should check out this blog by Nottingham. In the blog, Nottingham writes,

One of the frameworks I regularly share with teachers is that of the Learning Pit, a model that explains how and why challenge is necessary for learning. Having first heard Dr. John Edwards in 2001 using a "pit" to explain how organisational growth more often than not involves getting worse before getting better, I thought that the metaphor was an ideal way to explain to my students why I was consistently making things more difficult for them.

If done correctly, the Learning Pit can really help foster a growth mindset in classrooms and schools.
Students Readily Jump Into the Pit
In order to really jump into the learning pit analogy, the classroom climate has to be right. Classroom climate is equally as important as school climate. Teachers feel they can take risks in the classroom when they have a supportive school climate, and the same can be said for students who have a supportive classroom climate. I have had the opportunity to hear students talk about " The Pit," and they look at learning as an opportunity to grow.

I've heard younger students say they jump into the pit and get dirty, try to claw their way out without the help of the teacher, and when they succeed it feels good. They understood that they took control over their own learning, even when it was hard. Just like the Ikea Effect, they found resilience and didn't shut down, so getting to the other side of the pit was gratifying.

The reason why using the Learning Pit analogy is so important is that it gives students control over their own learning. They are not victims sitting at their desks waiting for teachers to give them the next lesson of " sit and get," or Death By Ditto. It's not about the script or the time on task. It's about moving forward and knowing where to go to next (Hattie). Learning, when done with the pit analogy involved, puts students in the driver's seat.

Nottingham says, " I t helps students to persevere, inquire, collaborate, and achieve a learning eureka!" Of course he says it in his best English accent. To learn more about the Learning Pit, and what Nottingham calls Cognitive Conflict, view this Vimeo below.

Creative Common Photo Courtesy of Don DeBold

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The Learning Pit: Fostering a Growth Mindset

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Have you ever felt stuck? Maybe you were working on something for a class and had to read, reread, and reread the information again but it's still wasn't necessarily coming to you. Perhaps you were working on your classic car and couldn't figure out how to put a part back together.

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How can we make our LC's a place where it's okay to embrace the challenge and jump into the pit?

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Similar to our envelope activity

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WeTransfer is the simplest way to send your files around the world. Share large files up to 2GB for free.

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Student Complaints and Teachable Moments

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Student Complaints and Teachable Moments

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Overheard in the LC

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Students' critical comments may throw new teachers off, but they can be useful for sparking engagement and learning.

©iStock/monkeybusinessimages

Even if we want to keep our classes positive, all teachers field complaints from students. We've all felt the sting of one. And we've probably all reacted dismissively at times to complaints. But young people will always complain, sometimes in ways that seem negative-partly because they're still learning how to articulate questions and effectively influence authority figures.

Listening for the teachable moment in these sometimes critical comments can turn some of them into opportunities for deepening students' understanding.

Complaint: Why Do We Have to Learn This?

Recently one of my students was demonstrating noticeable nonverbal signals of disinterest. Then, during a discussion of our course text, he went on a tear. "Why are we reading this text? What are we doing this for? Why does the writer have to go on and on in such detail?" he vented.

I listened patiently until he was done. I might have begun by dismissing the complaint as disrespectful. Instead I leaned in on the positive: "Great questions! Why are we learning this material? Why are we reading this book? Why does the author write in this way? Anybody?"

Hands went up across the class. Students launched into a compelling discussion of the significance of the author's work. And after some coaching on better ways to ask questions, the complaining student has become one of that class's most engaged members.

Often teachers will hear "Why do we have to learn this?" as a challenge to their authority or an attempt to call the value of the subject into question-and sometimes that's what it is. But if we don't reinforce the value of students asking why they're learning what they're learning, we risk having a classroom in which students fear to think about the significance of their learning.

Complaint: But What About...?

Whenever I teach usage or grammar rules, students love to pose counterexamples. Is there ever a time when a comma immediately follows "which"? What's the difference between an em dash and an en dash? When do you hyphenate modifying phrases? When I first started teaching, these questions embarrassed me when I did not readily know the answer. More recently, I've realized that they're opportunities for me to learn things that I otherwise would not have considered.

New teachers may get flustered like I used to, seeing counterexamples as an attempt to derail the lesson or question the teacher's authority. Sometimes they are, and sometimes the questioning student has just gotten sidetracked.

But such a student may be excited to test their critical thinking skills. They want to show their curiosity about the subject and-as young people are inclined to do-productively test the boundaries of the rules. Even when their critical thinking skills are being applied in ways that don't further the learning or the instructional goals, it's crucial to praise students for asking thoughtful questions.

Don't get flustered when a student asks you a question you can't answer. Acknowledge that you're unsure and tell students that it's OK to not always have an answer at one's fingertips. Praise the student for practicing imaginative or critical thinking. Guide students back to the class goal and follow up with the student about the answer to their question later.

Complaint: I'm Confused About Every Part of This

I once had a student come to me outside of class, flustered and frustrated.

"I'm so confused," he said.

"About what?" I asked.

"Everything."

"Everything?" I walked him through each step in the assignment he had to complete and each of the course concepts. Within five minutes, by articulating which parts of the course he understood and which he didn't, he had realized that his confusion was limited to one part of the assignment, and he actually felt confident about the rest of it.

Young people often catastrophize. When a student says, "I'm always so confused," they probably mean they're sometimes-or possibly often-confused. When they say, "I never understand anything in that class," they may mean, "I'm not sure that I understand this one thing." And when they say, "All we ever do in that class is ____," they most likely mean that a particular strategy is important to a course but they don't understand why.

These types of hyperbolizing can feel overly dramatic, but generally they just mean that a student simply hasn't taken the time to reflect analytically on their learning. Maybe they don't have the tools to articulate what they don't understand. Or maybe they simply lack confidence.

Catastrophizing, for me, is a signal to check in with the student. Have I provided consistent, positive feedback to them on their work in the course? Am I giving them enough opportunity to reflect on what they do and don't understand, where they're progressing and where they're not?

When my students catastrophize, I try to praise them for self-advocating-for letting me know that they need something. When students are confused, we should praise them for bringing a point of ambiguity to our attention. When they say they're not learning, we can praise their desire to learn. And then we can help them articulate more specific concerns and coach them toward better self-advocacy.

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Students' critical comments may throw new teachers off, but they can be useful for sparking engagement and learning. ©iStock/monkeybusinessimages Even if we want to keep our classes positive, all teachers field complaints from students. We've all felt the sting of one. And we've probably all reacted dismissively at times to complaints.

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Also downloadable from the Live Binder

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Learning Pit Resources for inspiration on how to adapt the ONE model

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Learning Pit Teaching Resources | Teachers Pay Teachers

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Browse learning pit resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, a marketplace trusted by millions of teachers for original educational resources.

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A neat resource for allowing students to connect with an LC coach through their laptop

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Step 1: Teachers hit the start button to start a session and get a class code.

Step 2: Students enter their name and their teacher's class code.

Step 3: When students need help, they simply click the button to add their name to the queue!

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Step 1: Teachers hit the start button to start a session and get a class code. Step 2: Students enter their name and their teacher's class code. Step 3: When students need help, they simply click the button to add their name to the queue!

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For elementary classroom inspiration

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These resources are perfect to support your children in developing a growth mindset. Essential for those challenges that children face every day. Includes display banner, posters and character cut-outs.

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Could something similar be used with ONE

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Creating conversations with students around how they have shown their thinking through a step in Navigate

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These are similar to our ONE model, but what I liked about them was that they give LC coaches sentence structure to start with.

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Password: OSG

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"Learning Pit Investigation". Please enter the access key that was given to you with this link. If you have not received an access key, please contact the author of this binder.