"If it's easy, I'm not really learning!"
Well hello there, and welcome to update #129!
We are a challenge-seeking species, we like doing things that are difficult!
However, we also need to be supported to get there. There’s a sweet spot characterised by high challenge and low threat.
When we spoke to Harry and his mum Belle (names changed) for SEND Huh, Harry was adamant that he enjoyed doing hard work!
Harry was in Year 6 when we chatted to him. He had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
He moved schools in April of Year 5 after years of unhappiness in his previous school. In his new school, he was thriving. He had this to say about what helped him to learn in his new school.
‘The work’s better than the other school, because at the other school, it wasn’t as much fun because it wasn’t hard questions and I like hard stuff, because it’s a challenge for me to do.’
‘I enjoy fractions and percentages and maths. Because at my old school, they did two lessons on it, and then they moved on to another subject, but at my new school they stay working on it every lesson until we understand it.’
‘It’s not so enjoyable when things are too easy, because I can just finish the lesson before it’s even over.’
I like hard because it’s learning, because if it’s easy, you’re not really learning because you can just do it, but when it is hard you are thinking, so it stays in your head.
But if it’s easy, you don’t have to think – you’ve done it, and you just don’t think about the question.
‘My teachers also explain things a lot clearer, because at my old school they explained for, like, 10 minutes and then you got on with the work, but in my school now, they use half a lesson up to explain and then you get on with the work.’
This is what his mum had to say:
‘The expectations where he is now are so much higher, so, so much higher and he’s achieved more since he started there than he did in three or four years at his old school.
I think they wrote him off. They couldn’t be bothered because he needed that extra support.
They just gave him the easy words. His spellings were really simple four- letter words and now his spellings aren’t, they’re massive.
Turn the clock back a year ago, I’d never have thought he’d be able to spell the long words and now he can.
So, the expectations are so much higher now and it does make a big difference.’
One of the insights from the conversations for SEND Huh, is that its’ really important not to underestimate what our pupils are capable of, and the extent to which they relish difficult, demanding work.
I’ve just done some webinars on supporting pupils with SEND to access the geography history and the RE curriculum. They don’t involve differentiated worksheets!
Available with a group or annual subscription)
Until next time
Mary