Elementary Grade Level Meetings October 15, 17, 19, 2012

1. Elementary Grade Level Meetings October 15, 17, 19, 2012

2. Welcome • Introductions • Reminders

3. Goals for Today: • SOL update for Science, Mathematics, English/Language Arts • What is rigor? • How can all grade levels and content areas assist in the student’s mastery of a subject? • How can we help you?

4. The Improved Classroom

5. Purpose The purpose of this workshop is to enlighten teachers about ways to build academic rigor into every lesson, in every classroom.

6. What is rigor? Noun • strictness, severity, or harshness, as in dealing with people. • the full or extreme severity of laws, rules, etc. • severity of living conditions; hardship; austerity; the rigor of wartime existence. • a severe or harsh act, circumstance, etc. • scrupulous or inflexible accuracy or adherence: the logical rigor of mathematics.

7. Academic Rigor • The set of standards we set for our students and the expectations we have for our students and ourselves. • We expect our students to demonstrate not only content mastery but applied skills and critical thinking about the disciplines being taught. • National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development,

8. Is rigor appropriate for everyone? • Exposure to high levels of authentic intellectual work are associated with gains in standardized test scores • Students exposed to high quality assignments had 20% higher gains than national average. • Students exposed to low quality assignments had gains 25% lower than the national average.

9. Rigor is NOT… • Something extra you have to do on top of everything else. • More. • More pages ≠ rigor • More of the same math problems ≠ rigor • More homework ≠ rigor

10. Rigor is … • Part of quality instruction. • Part of a quality schooling experience. You cannot have quality instruction or a quality school without rigor.

11. Rigor in the classroom • Focus on what students are asked to do • Three main pieces: course content, instruction, assessment • Course content: • Doing a good job with state standards • Basic skills coupled with key concepts/important ideas • Applications of core content to problems

12. Rigor in the Classroom • Instruction: • Activities that engage students in higher order thinking • “Elaborated communication” • Assessment: • Aligned to higher order goals • Contain higher order thinking, engage with academic content, and require extended, elaborated responses

13. Here’s A new thought! Noun • Active strength or force • Healthy physical or mental energy or power; vitality • Energetic activity; energy; intensity • Force of healthy growth in any living matter or organism, as a plant • Active or effective force, especially legal validity

14. When dealing with the increase rigor in the classroom, let’s also focus on Vigor!!

15. Vigor will… • fosters active, healthy growth • create readiness for energetic action • develop active mental strength • prepare students to be able and ready to use subject knowledge to understand the natural world and human experience • empower students to think boldly and intensely

16. VIGOR The Improved Classroom!!!