1. Upping the Academic Rigor of Your Instruction!
Dacia Toll, Co-CEO, AF
National Charter Schools Conference
July 3, 2013

2. Whose School Is It? Whose School Is It? It’s Our School!
Not my school!
Not your school!
It’s our school. It’s our place.
It’s our chance to win this race.
We’re gonna work. We’re gonna care.
We’re gonna make this world more fair.
It’s up to us to see it through.
So watch and see what we can do!

3. Warm Up: “Totally Like Whatever, You Know?”

4. Principal or assistant principal
Getting to Know You
Are you a …
Teacher
Principal or assistant principal
Someone else who coaches, develops, or trains teachers
None of the above – but you really care about academic rigor! 

5. Do you primarily work with … Elementary students (K-5)
Getting to Know You
Do you primarily work with …
Elementary students (K-5)
Middle school students (6-8)
High school students (9-12)
I’m really crazy – my scope is K-12!

6. Let’s start with a little personal reflection …
Please Do Now
Let’s start with a little personal reflection …
Academic Rigor Self-assessment
Give participants 5 min to complete; turn and tell a partner your biggest “ah ha” taking this survey

7. On your self-assessment, did you answer …. Mostly “1”s Mostly “2”s
Getting to Know You
On your self-assessment, did you answer ….
Mostly “1”s
Mostly “2”s
Mostly “3”s
Mostly “4”s

8. Session Aims and Agenda
GTWBAT articulate the five Academic Rigor essential understandings
GTWBAT use several Academic Rigor “power tools” to up the rigor in their classrooms on three key dimensions
GTWBAT reflect on where to focus your own development and develop a plan to close your personal implementation gap
Session Agenda:
Self-Assessment, Why This Matters, Survival, and An Intro to Academic Rigor (25 min)
Increasing the Rigor of Our Questions & Tasks (50 min)
- BREAK -
Increasing the Rigor of Our Standards for Student Responses (40 min)
Increasing the Rigor of Our Support and Accountability for Quality Work (20 min)
Personal Reflection / Closing the Implementation Gap (10 min)

9. Why This Matters: EU #1
EU #1: Truly preparing our students for success in college will only happen if our students are successfully doing academically rigorous work in every subject, K-12

10. Where Most of Us Start: Survival
Low-level questions & clear, simple tasks
Calling only on students with hands in the air
Focus on classroom management and compliance with teacher directions, not rigor and volume of work
Lots of teacher talk
Day-to-day lesson planning
Assessments designed after instruction

11. What are the students doing?!?!
The Key Question
What are the students doing?!?!

12. Can You See Them Sweat? EU #2
EU #2: You can only assess the rigor of instruction by looking at what the students are doing – how much are they sweating?
What is the VOLUME and the RIGOR of what they are being asked to do?

13. What is Academic Rigor? EU #3
EU #3: The Academic Rigor of your instruction is a combination of:
The rigor of the questions or tasks you are asking students to do
The rigor of your standards for student responses
The rigor of your support and accountability for top-quality work

14. The First Step: Rigorous Questioning

15. Doug Lemov is a really smart guy 

16. Questioning Tools from Lemov’s Taxonomy
Stretch It reminds us not to stop with simple, correct answers but rather to push students to answer follow-up questions that extend knowledge or test for reliability. Ratio refers to how much cognitive work the students do relative to how much you do as the teacher. A successful lesson pushes the cognitive work out to students as soon as they are ready.

17. Power Questions to “Up” Your Ratio
How Questions / Explain your Reasoning: “How did you come up with that answer?”
Why Questions: “Why did you choose that operation?”
Ask for evidence: “Where did you find support for that answer in the text?”
Half statement: “So the next step is to combine the sentences with a … what?”
What’s next?: “What do I do first? … Next?”
Feign ignorance: Play dumb. Make mistakes. “I am the Puppet.”
Test errors: Play back the tape for students (“You said …”) or make an if/then statement: “If the slope were three over four, that would mean up three, right four.”

18. Clip Notes: Stretch It & Ratio
Questions / strategies you saw the teacher use 1 2 3

19. The Importance of Planning: EU #4
EU #4: Really upping the rigor of your instruction requires careful planning.

20. Next Step: Higher-Order Tasks
Marzano’s Three Levels:
Type I: Tasks address basic details and processes that are relatively easy for students
Type II: Tasks address more complex ideas and/or require higher-levels of student thinking
Type III: Tasks address more complex ideas and/or require higher-levels of student thinking AND require students to apply this thinking in a context different than what was taught in class

21. Higher-Order Tasks: Bloom’s Verbs
Marzano’s Type II and Type III assignments come from the top 4 levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Cognitive Level
Aim Verbs
Sample Question Stems
Knowledge/
Remembering:
Remembering previously
learned material, e.g.,
definitions, concepts, principles,
formulas.
tell, list, describe, relate, locate, write, find, state, name
What is…? How is…?
Where is…? When did…happen?
How did…happen? When did…? Can you recall…?
How would you show…? Can you select…?
Who were the main…? Can you list three…?
Which one…? Who was…?
Understanding/
Comprehending:
Understanding the meaning of remembered material, usually demonstrated by explaining in one's own words or citing examples.
explain, interpret, outline, discuss, distinguish, predict, restate, translate, compare, describe, classify
How would you classify the type of…?
How would you compare…? contrast…?
Will you state or interpret in your own words…?
How would you rephrase the meaning…?
What facts or ideas show…?
What is the main idea of…?
Which statements support…?
Can you explain what is happening…? Why did…?
What can you say about…?
Which is the best answer…?
How would you summarize…?
Applying:
Using information in a new
context to solve a problem, to answer a question, or to perform another task. The information used may be rules, principles, formulas, theories, concepts, or procedures.
solve, show, use, illustrate, calculate, construct, complete, examine, classify
How would you use…?
What examples can you find to…?
How would you solve…using what you have learned?
How would you organize…to show…?
How would you show your understanding of…?
How would you apply what you learned to develop…?
What other way would you plan to…?
What would result if…?
What facts would you select to show…?
Analyzing:
Breaking a piece of material into its parts and explaining the relationship between the parts.
analyze, distinguish, examine, compare, contrast, investigate, categorize, identify, explain, separate, advertise
What are the parts or features of…?
How is…related to…?
Why do you think…?
What is the theme…?
Can you list the parts…?
What inference can you make…?
What conclusions can you draw…?
How would you classify…?
How is the function of…?
What evidence can you find…?
What is the relationship between…?

22. The Key to Student Success on Higher-Order Tasks
They must be higher-level questions/tasks.
They must require students to apply what they have learned in a new context / situation.
HOWEVER, this does not mean ….

23. The Key to Student Success on Higher-Order Tasks
EU #5: You need to set scholars up for success in performing academically rigorous tasks – you have to scaffold the learning. You need to teach/guide students through the more advanced thought process required by the higher level tasks. Then you ask them to apply these skills/concepts in a new context to assess whether they can do it on their own.

24. Example: Type II (Guided) Task
A bird is sitting on a wire that is suspended 9 meters above the beginning of a 200 meter moving sidewalk. The sidewalk moves from west to east with a constant velocity of 1 m/s. A nutria rat that is 1 meter long and 0.25 m tall enters the moving sidewalk the wrong way walking at a constant speed of 3 m/s relative to the earth. Starting from the instant that the rat steps onto the sidewalk, how much time must elapse before the bird releases its bowels so that the poop lands exactly on the middle of the rat. Assume that birds have control of their bowels.
Only use for middle/high school

25. Example: Type III (Independent) Task
The United Nations is seeking your assistance in a disaster relief supply drop to Darfur. They need your help in determining when to drop a box of supplies so that it falls onto a moving disaster relief truck. Since Darfur is a hostile area, the truck will be unable to make any stops and will be traveling at a constant velocity. A helicopter will be used to drop the needed supplies into the moving truck and will be hovering a fixed distance above the drop zone ….

26. Elementary Example
Type II Task (Guided): Witches Convention There were 20 witches who needed to get to the witches‘ convention in California. There were only 8 brooms, but no more than 4 could fit on a broom and no less than 2. Explain with pictures, words and/or numbers how you are going to get all the witches to the convention. Type III Task (Independent): Ten Feet Apartment There is an apartment building called The Ten Feet Apartment Building. The owner allows people and pets to rent apartments in the building, but each family (including pets) can only have a total of 10 feet living in its apartment. Find the different combinations of people and pets that equal 10 feet. Draw pictures and write or tell about your families.

27. Let’s Try Together
Type II (Guided) Assignment: Contrast the feelings and beliefs of Character A and Character B and how these different feelings and beliefs led them to take different actions. Support your assertions with evidence from the text.
Type III (Independent) Assignment:

28. Which of the following is the BEST Type III task?
Using the same text, contrast the feelings and beliefs of Character C and Character D and how these different feelings and beliefs led them to take different actions.
Using a different text, contrast the feelings and beliefs of Character E and Character F and how these different feelings and beliefs led them to take different actions.
Write a letter from Character A to Character B in which Character A tries to persuade Character B to agree with her beliefs.
Contrast the setting in Text A and Text B and how the setting led to different conflicts in the two texts.

29. Now You Do This One …
Type II (Guided) Assignment: Evaluate whether this lab procedure follows the scientific method and explain why or why not. Type III (Independent) Assignment:

30. Which of the following is the BEST Type III task?
Describe the scientific method.
Write a lab procedure that follows the scientific method, explaining why each step is important to maintain the integrity of the method.
Evaluate whether a second lab procedure follows the scientific method and explain why or why not.
Conduct the lab described in the procedure.

31. What is Academic Rigor? EU #3
EU #3: The Academic Rigor of your instruction is a combination of:
The rigor of the questions or tasks you are asking students to do
The rigor of your standards for student responses
The rigor of your support and accountability for top-quality work

32. I Feel ALL-RIGHT Charter Schools… Where is the Party?
RIGHT HERE in these BOOKS.
Charter Schools… What time is it?
Time to motivate YOU.
(I said uh) Hey, Hey, Hey … I feel ALL-RIGHT
1 stomp
I feel ALL-RIGHT
2 stomps
3 stomps
I feel motivated to LEARN!
And Graduate College!

33. High Standards for Oral Responses: Right is Right
The quality of student responses is even more important than the quality of the questions! You need to make sure to keep the bar high.
Right is Right is about the difference between partially right and all the way right, between pretty good and 100%
Be encouraging but hold out for college prep answers
What are examples of encouraging responses?

34. Format Matters! Rich, detailed responses Use of appropriate vocabulary
Complete sentences
Correct grammar
No Like!

35. Clip Notes: Right is Right
Questions / strategies you saw the teacher use 1 2

36. Rigorous Standards for Class Discussions

37. Setting your scholars up for top-quality work has two components:
Rigorous Standards for Student Written Responses: Criteria for Excellence & Exemplar Responses
The rigor of your scholars’ responses will be driven by the rigor of the expectations you set for them.
Setting your scholars up for top-quality work has two components:
Criteria for Excellence
Exemplar scholar response

38. K Writing
Incomplete example– model response but no criteria or annotation

39. High School Writing
Week 1 Response – Foreshadowing
AF Brooklyn High School Exemplary Response: Using specific details from that passage, in a well-developed paragraph, show how the author uses foreshadowing to develop the passage.
In this passage, the author uses foreshadowing, which is a literary device that hints at things later to come in a story, in order to foretell of the terrible events that Weisel and his family will suffer later in the memoir. Specifically, the author foreshadows the death of his family members as he describes the time when they are preparing to leave, a time at which they are still unaware of their fate. As they are packing, Moshe the Beadle comes to their house, cries, “I warned you!” and flees without an answer. Wiesel includes this event to reveal that Moshe’s warning—that the Jews were being exterminated—was not heeded at the time but his word of warning would predict their fate.
Criteria:
Demonstrates a basic understanding of the text
Uses TIED format
 starts with a Topic sentence
 frames example with a sentence that Introduces the evidence
 Cites at least ONE specific and accurate piece of Evidence of foreshadowing from the text
 Describes the evidence by explaining HOW the example foreshadows later events
No actual student response to compare against but clear standard of excellence

40. Additional Samples Middle School Writing- Model response annotated
Math Problem-Solving
Visual anchor (graphic organizer) for word problems
Actual Response
Rubric for word-problem responses

41. Partner Evaluation Activity
How does each example set a high standard for written student responses?
What would you change to make each example a stronger tool for enabling scholars to complete high quality written work?

42. What is Academic Rigor? EU #3
EU #3: The Academic Rigor of your instruction is a combination of:
The rigor of the questions or tasks you are asking scholars to do
The rigor of your standards for scholar responses
The rigor of your support and accountability for top-quality work

43. The Value of a “Re-Do” Culture and Systems
I tried to find a series of a potter with a flop– potters will start over if their piece is not just right…

44. Creating a Culture of Re-Do

45. Creating a Culture of High Quality Work

46. Culture of Re-Do – and Systems to Support It
Do students know that the only work you will accept is rigorous, top-quality work?
Strategies:
“Re-Do” on the spot as you circulate during independent practice
“Re-Do” of Exit Tickets (or other work) as additional homework
Intervention group for scholars who “Re-Do” work during lunch / after-school, etc.
Students who fail weekly assessments need to re-take until they receive a passing grade and/or they need to re-work problems they missed for homework
What else?

47. The Implementation Gap
What we
know
What we do

48. Closing the Implementation Gap
Set clear goals for yourself and commit to a concrete next step. Examples:
Develop a rubric for class discussion and a rubric for follow-up written responses
Ask at least 6 how & why questions per class
Commit to having one Type II and one Type III task in your next unit
Focus on this goal during your PLANNING
Watch yourself on video
Write down both the questions you ask AND the student responses AND how you respond to the student responses
Invite a coach or peer to observe your goal in action

49. Commitment Time 
What will you do differently as a result of this session?
How will you make sure you do it?