Other tidbits
These resources can be used as alternatives for additional work that students can complete and review when/if they finish early. They are currently on the "tidbits" page, as most of these have only been used sparingly by the presenters...
Flipped classroom & video tutorials: A great way to keep students working with value is allowing them to complete an activity that both engages them and allows them to complete as they go. A Screencast of an assignment or review of material before having them discuss or complete questions can be easily done. Parlay, Pear Deck, and other interactive software is great for this. (*I cannot comment personally on using these in the classroom as our district does not support them for work with students.)
Real world scenarios: There's nothing better than a "what if" scenario related to your curriculum - considering the abundance of news that circulates on a daily basis. NewsELA is great for this, as there are built in questions or quizzes that go along with the relevant information.
Peer editing: For bigger projects, writing samples, etc, a peer editing framework is always helpful to have as a "back pocket" part to the lesson. For the students that finish early, providing them with an editing checklist that they can use and provide feedback to others is a great way to engage them with material other than their own. As a science teacher, I don't have a peer editing checklist of my own, but I often check in with our ELA teachers for samples they use so I can be consistent with the information they utilize for writing checklists/peer editing checklists.
Challenges: Some of the biggest challenges faced by the teachers with the "I'm done!" students is time and counting for points.
1) Time: how much time do you need for each assignment? Do you require all students to finish the material or is it just on a case by case basis? Do we need to make the "extras" a requirement, or are they just that, "extras"; something for students to stay engaged but not graded on?
2) Counting for points: if we give these extra materials that they have to do, do we make them worth grades? Many students are driven by grades, and this can cause a rift and change in view towards the work itself. If they don't get graded on it, why do it? Can we change the culture of the students to focus towards the inquiry aspect of the extras instead of focus on being graded for their work?
**I'm still trying to figure these out... :)