Well the first day of the 2016-17 school year is in the
books and there was amazing energy at every Rincon Valley school. Happy kids + engaged parents + enthusiastic
teachers = great start.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the content I delivered at
the Buyback Day last week, specifically around the definition of Rigor (BINGO!)
that we’ve adopted. It comes from the
work of Robyn Jackson (2015) and you can check out her quick overview explanation
at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY492T_CUdQ
There are four parts to Jackson’s definition of Rigor:
- Students make meaning for themselves.
- Students impose structure on information.
- Students use individual skills to create processes.
- Students apply their learning to new and novel situations.
During my presentation, I demonstrated Jackson’s definition
by having you sort shoes. My hope was
that you would be able to see that a learning activity doesn’t have to be hard
to be rigorous…that rigor is more about complexity of learning than difficulty
of concepts and skills. Now, I’m not
gonna lie…it made me nervous to give such a concrete example, because it
oversimplified the concept. You all know
that sorts aren’t the only rigorous task we can ask students to do AND sorts
can be set up in a way that aren’t rigorous at all!
So, that got me thinking about other examples of tasks and
activities that meet the definition of rigor.
I was drawn back to Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRR). You know the “I Do-We Do-You Do Together-You
Do Alone” sequence, but when a teacher truly realizes the flexibility of the
GRR cycle, some amazing things can happen.
Let’s consider what happens when we do this order
instead: “You-We-I.” The teacher presents a problem and lets
students grapple with it independently for a short time. Students then share their thinking (or guess)
with a partner and create a visual that represents both ideas. The teacher reviews these “first responses”
and asks students questions about key points they have discovered (or even
partially discovered). The teacher then
clears up misconceptions and provides some direct instruction that takes into
account what students already know. This
method is sometimes called Diagnostic Teaching, as it allows the teacher to
diagnose what students know before providing in-depth instruction. It often
reveals what the teacher does not need to review or reteach.
Where is the rigor in the above scenario? I see students making meaning for themselves
and imposing structure on information. I
also see the teacher helping students to use individual (previously learned)
skills to create a new process. The Clothespin
Math and Estimation 180 (http://www.estimation180.com/)
activities we did at our Math Planning Days last spring are great examples of
simple yet rigorous activities. (If you weren’t teaching in Rincon Valley last
year, talk to your grade level partners.)
What activities are you planning for next week? Where’s the rigor in them? And what does paying attention to the rigor
of the activity do to student engagement and student learning? I can’t wait to hear from you!
Terry
Follow me on Twitter: @tchevmetz #rvuteach
