With the so many states implementing Common Core and high
stakes testing in other states, teachers and administrators must decided how to
increase the students’ cognitive ability. How can this be done in the same
number of school hours? The answer is a delicate balance of rigor, relevance
and relationship.
By revamping student questions and activities to purposefully
illicit higher level thinking, students can be successful on these tests, as
well as in the 20th job force. Through higher expectations,
scaffolding throughout lessons, and demonstrations, students can thinking at a
more rigorous level in the classroom and learn to think on their own at these
higher levels.
Expectations
We’ll start with the first part: rigor is creating
an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels.
Having high expectations starts with the decision that every student possesses
the potential to be his or her best, no matter what.
Supports
It is essential that teachers design lessons that move
students to more challenging work while simultaneously providing ongoing
scaffolding to support students learning as they those higher levels.
Demonstration
The third component of a rigorous classroom provides each
student with opportunities to demonstrate learning at high levels. We’ve
learned that if we want students to show us that they understand what they
learned at a high level, we also need to provide opportunities for students to
demonstrate that they have truly mastered that learning.
