Rigor, Relevance, & Centers

1. Rigor, Relevance, & Centers By: Marlen Veliz, Reading Coach

2. What is Rigor? • “Rigor is the goal of helping students develop the capacity to understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging.”Teaching What Matters Most: Standards and Strategies for Raising Student Achievement by Richard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver and Matthew J. Perini, ASCD, 2001. • 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. Blackburn, Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word

3. My Own Definition of Rigor Teaching & Learning Matter: • Quality in the delivery of content material/instruction • active/authentic engagement • building/connecting relationships • setting high expectations • impacting student achievement

4. Rigor Creating Evaluating Analyzing Applying Understanding Remembering 6. Evaluation 5. Synthesis 4. Analysis 3. Application 2. Comprehension 1. Knowledge/ Awareness

5. When is a Task Rigorous?When students… • think deeply about a problem • analyze new situations • interpret and synthesize knowledge • bring ideas together in a new or creative way • develop and justify their own criteria for evaluation • are intellectually challenged

6. What is NOT rigor? • Rigor is not a special program or curriculum for select students. • Rigor is not about severity or hardship. • Rigor is not about back-to-basics. • Finally—and most important—rigor is not a measure of the quantity of content to be covered Not just a “buzz” word

7. Ways to Increase RIGOR • R Raise level of content • I Increase complexity • G Give appropriate support and guidance • O Open your focus • R Raise expectations • Blackburn, Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word

8. Ways to Increase RIGOR • R Raise level of content (critical information, chunk content, skills, strategies, deepen understanding) • I Increase complexity (projects, games, interactive PowerPoint presentations, connect to prior knowledge) • G Give appropriate support and guidance (clear expectations, scaffold instruction, provide multiple opportunities to learn, provide opportunities for success, and differentiate instruction) • O Open your focus (discussions, open-ended questions, higher order questioning, graphic organizers, reflect on learned material) • R Raise expectations (track and monitor student progress, expect the best, create a positive, risk-free environment) • Blackburn, Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word

9. Relevance Knowledge is less connected to realistic situations and has less apparent value beyond school Knowledge is clearly connected to realistic situations and has value beyond school Apply to real-world unpredictable situations Knowledge in one discipline Apply in one discipline Apply to real-world predictable situations Apply across disciplines

10. Students are thinking deeply about a problem in the discipline. • Represents more complex thinking but has less clear value outside of school. • Students extend and refine their acquired knowledge to be able to use that knowledge automatically and routinely to analyze, solve problems and create unique solutions. • High Rigor – Low Relevance • Students are thinking deeply and there is a connection to lifelike situations. • Even when confronted with unknowns, students are able to use extensive knowledge and skills to create solutions and take action that further develops their skills & knowledge. • High Rigor – High Relevance • Represents simple recall & basic understanding of knowledge for its own sake. • Students gather and store bits of knowledge and information. • Students are primarily expected to remember or understand this acquired knowledge. • Low Rigor – Low Relevance • Students use acquired knowledge to complete tasks with a connection outside school. • Activities or tasks involve lifelike situations. • Does not require higher order thinking. • Low Rigor – High Relevance

11. Students are working and thinking. Student Centered Teacher is working & thinking. Teacher Centered

12. What is Relevance? • Sometimes referred to as “connectivism” • Important, Needed, Real World Connection, Valuable • Meaningful and Valid HANDS-ON ACTIVITY

13. Learning Can Be Interactive, Meaningful, and Fun… Let’s Look At Centers

14. Why Use Centers or Stations? • Promotes independence • Helps students become more responsible • Allows students to learn through self-discovery (social interaction, collaboration, reflection) • Provides teachers with time to pull students one-on-one or in small groups to target specific academic skills, modify and enrich curriculum, and better meet the needs of individual students (Manage Time) • RESEARCH: Children learn best when they are actively engaged, and learning centers are one way of engaging them.

15. Centers/ Learning Stations • Comprehension • Researched Based Program (Super QAR) • Non-Fiction Article/ Newspaper • Read & Create Your Own Higher Order Questions • Hands-On Activities (FCRR) • Vocabulary • Research Based Program (Making Words, Soar To Success) • Mnemonics (Music, Name, Expression/Word, Model, Ode/Rhyme, Note Organization, Image, Connection, and Spelling Mnemonic) • Concept Circles • Concept Maps (Graphic Organizer)

16. Centers/ Learning Stations • Fluency • Research Based Program (Quick Reads, Six-Minute Solution, Great Leaps, etc.) • Self Monitoring/ Graphs • Reader’s Theater • Skill Based Group • Activity Cards • PowerPoint Presentations • Resources/ Graphic Organizers/ Retelling Stories • FOLDABLES

17. Suggestions • Use data to focus on what is important to teach • Get to know each student • Engage parents about student interests • Use proven methodologies to teach • Monitor success and failures, ongoing…. • Stay current with research • Focus on students, not courses or averages • Use technology to improve learning • Make decisions based on data

18. Questions

19. Exit Card