Take a Risk and Go for the Touchdown for Your Students 4

We sometimes get asked why we don’t just give additional problems or worksheets to question 4 students. In response to this question, we came up with an analogy that we believe is worth sharing.

Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers is considered one of the top quarterbacks in the National Football League. One skill that he has mastered is an incredible ability to draw the defense o side at the line of scrimmage. Once the defense is o side and the referee throws the ag to indicate a ve-yard penalty is coming, Rodgers gets what is basically a free play as the o ense can decide if they want to take the outcome of the play or the penalty. If he makes a mistake on the play, the team can simply elect to take the penalty and they advance the ball ve yards down the eld. If Rodgers throws a long pass that becomes a thirty-yard gain or a touchdown, the team gets to use that play.

Question 4 students could use worksheets or additional problems for a ve-yard gain, but we recommend that the team throw the ball deep and go for the big play or touchdown. We want to provide students with an opportunity to think deeply instead of settling for just going through the motions.

We hope these four steps have given you a place to start. e rst time you work to implement these ideas may not be perfect—and that is ne. at is why the quintessential book on the Professional Learning Community at Work process is called Learning by Doing. Try it out for a unit. See how it works. Determine what you could do better next time. en, try it out for another unit. If this work interests and inspires you, we encourage you to dig deeper, learn more strategies, and see speci c K–12 examples in What’s Next?: Monthly Extensions to Challenge Pro cient Students in a PLC at Work (Weichel & Pearce, 2022).

Mark Weichel is the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning at Westside Community Schools in Omaha, Neb. He is a former teacher and building administrator at a Model PLC school.

Steve Pearce is the chief human resources o cer of Batavia Public Schools in Batavia, Ill. He is the former principal of two Model PLC schools: Margaret Mead Junior High and Jane Addams Junior High in Schaumburg, Ill.

References

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2017). at pesky fourth PLC question. Solution Tree Blog Retrieved from www.solutiontree.com/blog/that-pesky-fourth-plc-question/. Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London: Routledge.

Renzulli, J., & Reis, S. (2021). Curriculum compacting and instructional di erentiation. In Joseph S. Renzulli & Sally M. Reis (Eds.), e schoolwide enrichment model: A how-to guide for talent development (pp. 249–266). New York: Routledge.

Weichel, M., McCann, B., & Williams, T. (2018). When they already know it: How to extend and personalize student learning in a PLC at Work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Weichel, M., & Pearce, S. (2022). What’s next?: Monthly extensions to challenge pro cient students in a PLC at Work Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Discussion Questions

What is your team’s current practice for answering critical question 4?

What is curriculum compacting, and how can it help your team answer question 4?

Develop an activity that your entire grade level or content area can use to extend learning for the question 4 students.

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