The Learning Pit

This year my students in Grade Two have been developing their understanding of 'The Learning Pit'.

Over the year I have created a giant wall display of a learning pit and captured actual thoughts and feelings of the children as they experience being 'in the pit'. I took their photo as they staged out an action to show what stage of the learning they were in. The children absolutely LOVE this display! They get so excited when they see their picture and experience on show and how they have used strategies to conquered the pit! This wall display has enabled my students to deepen their understandings of The Learning Pit and how to get 'out of the pit' based on real life experiences.

The Learning Pit is not a real pit. It is an idea about facing a learning challenge. It is important for students to understand that learning is challenging and if it is not challenging then you are not learning. My students now understand that you go through stages in the pit and will experience mixed emotions and that is normal. Through their understanding of The Learning Pit, my students have developed a range of strategies to get themselves out of the pit which in turn has enabled them to develop the skills to become independent and capable learners.

In my classroom the children use the 'Cups Feedback Strategy' to provide feedback to their teacher and peers on how they are going with their learning. This is a non speaking system which students can communicate and provide feedback on where they are in The Learning Pit. Each student has three cups; one green, yellow and red cup. The children keep their cups on their table and change the colour to signal how they are going with each learning activity.

• If a student is on green cup this means they are confident in their learning, they know what they are doing and they can teach others
• If a student is on yellow cup this means that they are heading down the pit or facing a challenging part of the activity. At this point the children begin a trial and error phase whilst working through a range of strategies to achieve the learning and get themselves 'out-of-the-pit'. When a yellow cup student needs help they may ask a green cup student for assistance.
• When a student is on red cup this means they are STUCK! Red cup means the student has tried all the strategies they know, used resources around the room, asked three green cup students and still not able to achieve the learning activity/success criteria. This signals for the teacher that this student needs the teachers help urgently.

We spend a great deal of time reflecting on our learning in my classroom. The students use a range of self and peer assessment tools (success criteria, rubrics, error clusters and more) to identify what they are doing well and what areas they need to improve on. My students set learning goals, identify their strengths and the strengths of their peers and use their knowledge and skill set to teach one another and learn from one another whilst all progressing together.

I use our classroom 'Learning Pit' display as a teaching tool for when children are facing a learning challenge. The students' documented experiences highlight that we all go into the pit at some point, we all feel mixed emotions and that there are many ways we can get ourselves out of the pit. I often encourage children to go to The Learning Pit display to identify what strategies other children used to conquer the learning pit so they can try those strategies too.

Together we made a 'language experience' book (which the students illustrated) to further educate the children about the concept of 'The Learning Pit' and continue to expose them to a universal language to talk about how they are going with their learning and what they do when they are stuck. Each child has a chance to take the book home for the night and read it with their family. This enables parents to stay in touch with what they children are doing at school.

If you are interested in reading the book, follow this link to download it for free!
The Learning Pit
Written by Miss McVeigh and Grade Two Blue


We also made a language experience book about our 'Cups Feedback Strategy'!

The concept of 'The Learning Pit' has helped my students connect this with their knowledge of growth mindsets and assisted them in becoming visible learners!!

Here are some close ups of the children's experiences in The Learning Pit: