Leading Rigor in Schools

Have you seen the newest book, Rigorous Schools and Classrooms: Leading the Way?
http://www.eyeoneducation.com/prodinfo.asp?number=7145-4

Are you an IPAD user? If so, check out this new group about using IPADs in education!

http://groups.google.com/group/san-diegoipaded?lnk=srg&hl=en&pli=1

Lessons Learned....

Try to think of a time when you or someone you knew, or about whom you read, thrived under conditions that did not challenge them. The two ideas essentially negate each other because in order to thrive, people must be challenged. In addition, however, they must have the necessary skills and belief in their abilities to use those skills in order to thrive. This is the idea behind rigor in the classroom. When teachers combine high expectations with genuine belief and solid instruction, students perceive that they are capable of excelling and achieving, and they readily welcome rigor. Throughout my experiences as en educator, I have learned countless valuable lessons, among them:

• An individual teacher can exert immense influence over students just by holding them to high standards, and believing in them.
• Students reflect our perspectives of them. Much like the idea of self-fulfilling prophecies, students will attain success at whatever levels they perceive that others—particularly their teachers—believe they are capable of doing so.
• As teachers, we must focus on what we can control. By virtue of our humanity, this tends to be a difficult frame of mind to adopt. However, it is vastly wise in its simplicity. Avoid becoming a victim to circumstances beyond your reach or control. Instead, learn how to seek and create alternate options and possibilities. This kind of level-headed persistence and determination can help you meet your students’ needs, your students’ parents’ needs, and your own needs.

Rigorous Questions for the New Year

Rigorous questions and tasks tend to be open-ended, rather than having one simple answer. Although it is important to ask questions about facts and details that have only one answer, higher-level questions generally have several possible responses. One of the best activities I have found for promoting open-ended questions is using a Question Matrix. Here’s an example:

Question Matrix

What Is	When Is	Where Is	Which Is	Who Is	Why Is	How Is
What Did	When Did	Where Did	Which Did	Who Did	Why Did	How Did
What Can	When Can	Where Can	Which Can	Who Can	Why Can	How Can
What Would	When Would	Where Would	Which Would	Who Would	Why Would	How Would
What Will	When Will	Where Will	Which Will	Who Will	Why Will	How Will
What Might	When Might	Where Might	Which Might	Who Might	Why Might	How Might

Wiederhold, Chuck. Cooperative Learning and Higher Level Thinking: The Q-Matrix (San Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing, 1995)

Click here to download a printable PDF of the Question Matrix.

You can use the pdf above to copy the Question Matrix onto bright colors of card stock, cut the squares apart, and put a complete set in a plastic bag. I like to use different colors of card stock for each set so thatit is easier to tell if you have mixed up pieces between the bags.

After reading a text or completing a unit, put students in small groups and give each group a bag. Taking turns, ask each student to draw a card and finish the question. Then the rest of the small group must answer the question.

During the activity, ask each student to write down the question they come up with and the group’s answers. After each person in the group has takena turn, collect the papers and use the questions and answers in a whole-class review. You can even use some of the questions and answers on the test, so that students can feel ownership over the test.

You'll notice the upper left addresses basic questions, and the closer you go to the bottom right, the higher level the question. The Question Matrix provides a starting point for students, but with regular opportunities,they will learn to craft high-level questions without prompting from you or the cards.

What is rigor?

In the October 2008 issue of Educational Leadership, Tony Wagner described the skills students will need to be successful in the 21^st century in an article titled “Rigor Redefined.” Here's my response (originally posted over on Tales from a Teacher's Heart) and I offer practical ideas for rigorous projects for your students.

In his article “Rigor Redefined,” Tony Wagner describes the skills students will need in the future in order to have successful careers and be good citizens. The skills move beyond memorization of content for a test and shift the focus to a higher level of learning.

As I reviewed his list, which includes critical thinking, problem solving, initiative, collaboration, adaptability, accessing information, and effective communication, I was reminded of a comment my dad made several years ago. He said, “The purpose of education is for students to be able to figure out what to do when they don’t know what to do.” Most of the skills Dr. Wagner describes are needed to achieve that.

Many teachers I talk with agree with his recommendations. We all know we should not limit our instruction to “the test.” I firmly believe preparation for a standardized test should be the floor of our instruction, not the ceiling. And we can incorporate these skills as we teach content.

As you can see from the sample projects below, these activities provide the opportunity for students to engage in critical thinking and problem solving, to demonstrate collaboration, leadership, initiative, entrepreneurialism, and curiosity, to access and analyze information, and to effectively communicate with others.

Excerpted from Chapter 4 of Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word:

Sample Projects
Language Arts	“Shakespeare Incarnate” Create and perform a skit as a follow-up to a novel or short story. The skit can be an adaptation, a continuation, or written from a different point of view. Each group has to advertise their play, use costumes that the school owns or create their own, and stick to a time limit. Students then perform the play for peers and/or an audience.
Math	Create objects incorporating Pascal’s Triangle or certain shapes (such as a rhombus). As an alternative, create a game that incorporates the use of graphing (such as Battleship).
Science	“Green Plan” Each group must construct a plan to save the environment and live more “green.” Language arts skills are also incorporated as students plan speeches to convince the population that living green is the way to go. Students must decide on recycling programs (keeping in mind effectiveness and cost). Students will create charts and graphic organizers showing the efficiency of their plans.
Social Studies	“Mr./Madam President” Create media campaign for the ideal presidential candidate. Each group is a campaign with one candidate, a campaign manager, etc. The candidate must give speeches, have a plan, take a stand on current issues, and win the votes of the population.
Band	“Music to My Ears” Each person writes their own piece of music, incorporating knowledge gained through their studies. Students can then perform in front of peers in an “American Idol” type of setting.
Career/ Technology	“Future Creations” Students design robots to perform a specific function in the workplace. They draw a draft design and create a model. They also write a resume for their robot, detailing qualifications.

Click here for a printable pdf of this chart.

Dr. Wagner’s list adds to our knowledge base of expectations for success for each student. But I would caution you that rigor is more that what we expect students to do. Rigor is creating an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels, each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels, and each student demonstrates learning at high levels. Only by creating a culture of high expectations and providing support so students can truly succeed do you have a rigorous classroom.

Click here for more information, sample chapters, and selected templates from Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word.

Promoting Community in the Classroom

-“How should you arrange classroom (ie-teacher’s desk) to promote community…or does it matter?”

I'm not a big believer in "one" right way to do something, but it does make a difference. For example, the standard room with desks in a row and the teacher's desk front and center sends a message that the teacher is in charge, and the students are simply recipients of information. However, I was in a classroom set up like this, and it was a community, mainly because the teacher was never at his desk; he was always in the middle of his students, who also had flexibility to rearrange the desks. That's what is more important--do students feel like they are a part of things, or separate from the teacher? In my classroom, I tend to find that clustering desks/tables works better for me so I can facilitate groups. In my grad classes, though, if I have a small group (8-12), I tend to do a large, square U so everyone is together. In that instance, clusters of tables actually breaks community rather than building it.

Encouraging Teachers

This video from Eye on Education shares my story of working with teachers in a high-poverty school. One of my struggles is when I see teachers who feel disheartened and disempowered. Here's what happened during my visit! http://blog.talesfromateachersheart.com/2009/06/09/from-the-archive-season-1-episode-9--their-best-hope.aspx