Encourage tinkering with ideas, relationships, connections. Set up situations where students have to find information not readily available in school texts. Provide opportunity for students to design open-ended explorations of the concept. Provide multiple options so students can plan a unique "proof" of learning.
Rough Drafts of Persuasive Essays
Objective: To expand what has been learned.
Activity: Students write the rough draft of a persuasive essay using extensive elaboration and details. Brainstorm with classmates on how you might argue against the position on the nature of loneliness taken by Carson McCullers. Then write an essay in which you disagree with McCullers' argument. Use ideas from the words you brainstormed (and are still written on the board) to add elaboration and details.
