‘Low floor-high ceiling’: From short jogs to full marathon
Without wanting to do anything that runs counter to your school’s writing policy, I thought I would share with you the approaches that I think lead to better quality writing in history. It is our contention here at Keystage history that the ‘low floor-high ceiling’ approach is central to success. Essentially this means working towards the ambitious target of answering the enquiry question, but with carefully structured stages on the path to the final product. It’s all in the preparation. If we see the final written piece as the ultimate-say, the marathon if you’re a runner- then what we need to do is to build towards that aim by using a series of carefully-sequenced steps.
We don’t become a better marathon runner by starting or just running marathons, after all. Instead, we build progressively towards that goal. So it is with
