Extension for able and gifted learners
Extension lessons for learners who are already doing well, including distinction candidates and Cambridge AS & A Level learners.
Learners who find schoolwork easy can still benefit from being challenged. Some do well for years without much effort and then find matric or university harder than expected. Others lose interest when work is pitched well below their level.
Giftedness was one of the specialist areas of Amanda Ceglowski’s B.Ed Honours in Inclusive Education. She teaches high-achieving learners aiming for distinctions as well as learners who are struggling.
The top marks
Take the IEB’s assessment rubric for the Shakespeare essay in English Home Language. Its highest band describes a “highly eloquent response” that “exhibits academic rigour”, with a “strong individual voice” and “confident knowledge of text”. Essays that are accurate and well organised can still miss that band, for example because the argument is not precise enough, quotations are not well integrated, or the writer does not take a clear position.
Amanda works on these through:
- Wider reading, beyond the set texts, so that learners have more to compare, borrow from and argue against.
- Criticism, introducing learners to how professional critics read and write about literature, at a level suited to their age.
- Close editing of the learner’s own essays, with sentence-level feedback on argument, structure and style.
- Speaking and debating, drawing on her long background in Speech and Drama, for learners preparing for orals, public speaking or debating.
Cambridge AS & A Level
Amanda supports Cambridge AS & A Level English Language and Literature in English candidates. The work involves a substantial amount of independent reading and writing, and overlaps considerably with the first-year university English she has taught.
Groups for able learners
Extension lessons can be taught in a group of learners at a similar level, who can discuss texts they have all read closely. One-to-one lessons are available for learners who want sustained, individual feedback on their writing.
Questions parents ask
Frequently asked questions
My child already gets distinctions. Why would they need tuition?
Not every high achiever does. But learners aiming for the very top marks, competitive university programmes or bursaries often benefit from detailed feedback on their writing, which busy classrooms cannot always give.
