How can your most able learners help other students?
This strategy allows your most able pupils to become the experts and help other learners in their class.
Interview the Expert
- Set up a table at the back of the room. There should be two chairs on one side of the desk and two on the other side. Prepare a set of questions on a clipboard relating to the topic or method being taught.
- When your most able pupils have completed their recorded task (or perhaps you’ve already identified two pupils who are ready for mastery) ask them to sit at the expert table.
- They can explore the prepared questions together, ready to be interviewed.
- Send two pupils across to the expert table. Ask them to quiz the ‘experts’ on the topic.
- Provide the interviewers with an opportunity to ask their own questions too.
- If you feel they are ready, you could ask for the interviewers to become the new ‘experts’ to pass on the knowledge they’ve gained from the interview process.
Why is it a good strategy?
- Pupils gain ownership over their own learning and become the facilitators of others’ learning too. Power to the people!
- Giving pupils a chance to teach helps them to consolidate what they know.
- Provides higher achieving pupils with meaningful and valuable extensions to help with mastery.
Tip
Ask pupils to note down any questions they were unable to answer and either set these as homework or go through them as a class.
