Presentation on Rigor at Riverwood HS

1. What are administrators looking for
when they visit the classroom?
Rigor in Riverwood
Classrooms

2. Performance Standard 8: Academically Challenging Environment
• The teacher creates a student-centered, academic environment in which teaching and learning
occur at high levels and students are self-directed learners.
More Rigorous Assessments
• Milestones, SAT, AP, IB
Prepare Students to be able to use and apply information
More fun and engaging for everybody!
The ability to use information is what is needed for the modern workforce
Why am I Here?
I’m Doing Fine-Leave Me Alone….
What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?

3. Look at one of the assignments given to students
With your partner discuss the following….
• What are the expectations for the student in completing the assignment?
• Can you tell anything about the mindset of the teacher?
Be prepared to quickly share the assignment and your thoughts on the questions above.
Get with a partner…..
What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?

4. So what the heck is rigor?
What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
“It is time to expect more from our students. It is time to prepare every child, everywhere in America, to out-compete any worker, anywhere
in the world. It is time to give all Americans a complete and competitive education from the cradle up through a career,”
~President Barack Obama
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.
By Ronald Williamson and Barbara R. Blackburn Authors
of Rigorous Schools & Classrooms: Leading the Way and
The Principalship from A-Z, Published by Eye On
Education.

5. So what the heck is rigor?
What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
• Students are challenged to process new information deeply
and to apply new concepts in several different contexts.
• Because you never really understand something until you try
to teach it to somebody else, lessons are designed to ensure
that the students have many opportunities to explain their
understanding of new concepts and new information to other
people (peers, teachers, etc.).
• Lessons are designed so that students are given a "scaffold"
of support until the student is able to demonstrate learning
independently.

6. So what the heck is rigor?
What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
A little simpler is this-
What are students supposed to
learn?
What are the students doing to
learn it?
How do the teachers know
when they learn it?
What happens with the kids
who don’t learn it?

7. So what the heck is rigor?
What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?

8. What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
MoreRigorous

9. What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
Rigor is not…..
• More work
• The name of the course
• The content of the course
• Just a “Common Core” thing
• Something only “gifted” students can do

10. What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
Quick Assessment…..

11. What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
Best Practices
 Writing (journals, varied levels of writing, writing across the curriculum, etc.)
 Problem-solving (case studies, group activities, essay exams, etc.)
 Oral communication (debates w/expert judges, summary presentations, role playing)
 Reading/comprehension (reading and analyzing– ie. in-class discussion, quizzes,
summaries, etc)
 Collaborative group projects

12. What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
Best Practices
 Socratic method/interactive discussion
 Knowing your students (contact, interaction, praise, showing interest, meeting
w/students)
 Providing a detailed, clear syllabus with expectations of teachers and students; grading
rubric, calendar, etc.
 Class size - use technology to enhance efficiency of content delivery, engage students,
don’t let tech drive faculty
 In-class small group discussion and report findings (think-pair-share)

13. What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
In a Class Visit, How do Visitors see Rigor?
The teacher's explanation of concepts is consistently very logical and
systematic, very explicit with concrete examples, and very clear and easy
to understand.
Students spend some time in every lesson discussing and/or writing
about what they are learning.
Assessments are thought-provoking and challenging. Multiple-choice
format tests are the exception, not the rule. Most assessments are open-
ended, and require a demonstration of deep comprehension.
Worksheets are rare or non-existent. Instead, effective teachers tend to
use journals and open-ended questions to help students organize and
practice what they learn.
BALANCE-What do your kids need? The lesson plan communicates it
and indicates that the teacher has thought/used information to
determine it.

14. What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
In a Class Visit, How do Visitors see Rigor?
Instructional activities driven by textbooks or programmatic resources
tend to be less rigorous and less effective than activities driven by the
teacher.
Students are able to explain what they are learning, and how that
learning is relevant to them, and they can also articulate how that
learning can be applied in useful ways.
Teachers expect students to reach benchmarks and demonstrate
knowledge and skills that are clearly beyond "typical" students their age.
Student work is revised and improved several times (with teacher
feedback each time) before the students create a final draft and receive a
grade.

15. What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
In a Class Visit, How do Visitors see Rigor? Higher Level Questioning
When asking students question during lecture/discussion?
What verbs are used in the questioning?
Is there a follow-up?
• “Tell me more about that”
• “Explain what you mean by….”
• “Couldn’t the other side of that statement be….”
• “Who wants to disagree?”
Is there wait time?
• To the point it is uncomfortable

16. What are administrators looking for when they visit the classroom?
• What are students supposed to learn?
• How are learning objectives communicated and reinforced to
• What are the students doing to learn it?
• Are the kids doing the work? Are they using the information they
supposed to learn?
• How do the teachers know when they learn it?
• Assessment-Formative & Summative
• What happens with the kids who don’t learn it?
• What does the teacher do with the information from the
Thank you and I hope this was helpful
Happy Summer!