Strategies to Extend Learning

In their book in the Exchange online store, Powerful Interactions:  How to Connect with Children to Extend Their Learning, Amy Dombro, Judy Jablon, and Charlotte Stetson offer these strategies to extend children's learning:

" Help children see themselves as learners.  When you think aloud with children, you can extend their learning by encouraging them to tune in to their own thinking, think in new ways, put their thoughts into words, and appreciate the thinking of others.  In turn, you'll grow more skilled at asking questions and posing challenges that support higher-order thinking.

" Use mirror talk.  Providing children with feedback makes them feel that they are noticed and their work is valued.  Reflecting back what you see and hear them doing can extend learning by helping children become aware of their actions and thinking.  Using mirror talk also gives you time to carefully observe to see what a child knows and can do.

" Use rich vocabulary.  The more complex and different words you use with children, the bigger their vocabularies grow!  There's a strong relationship between children's vocabularies and their success in school, so this is a critical way to extend their learning."

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