TOOLKIT
Rigor and Relevance for All Learners
Relationships
To engage in rigorous learning, students need a learning environment where they feel safe enough to take academic risks. Use these resources to explore how you can strengthen your relationships with students and support a growth mindset in your classroom.
- Strategy: How Dialogue Journals Build Teacher-Student Relationships [Cult of Pedagogy]
- 3-12 Resource: Student Interest Survey
- Log into Google to make a copy of this survey as a Google Form
- 3-12 Resource: Mid-Year Student Check-in Survey
- Log into Google to make a copy of this survey as a Google Form
- Home Resource: Fostering a Growth Mindset at Home – English | Spanish
Increasing Complexity
Provide opportunities for students to demonstrate surface, deep, and transfer learning using these thinking routine protocols.
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Learn More (about surface, deep, and transfer learning): Setting Up Rigorous Expectations with Students [Edutopia]
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Strategy: Contrasting Cases: A Simple Strategy for Deep Understanding [Cult of Pedagogy]
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Strategy: Connect, Extend, Challenge [Thinking Pathways]
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Resource: Surface, Deep, and Transfer Learning
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Resource: Connect, Extend, Challenge Handout
Guidance and Support
Supporting students is essential in crafting rigorous learning. Make rigor accessible for all learners by providing appropriate scaffolds - adapt and modify for all students’ needs.
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Learn More: Scaffolding Strategies to Use with Your Students [Edutopia]
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Resource: 25 Graphic Organizers and How to Make Your Own [Ditch That Textbook]
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Resource: English Sentence frames with Spanish Cognates | Spanish Sentence frames with English Cognates [Lead4Ward]
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Home Resource: Ensuring Your Child is Supported and Challenged —English | Spanish
Ownership
Teachers can support student ownership by being intentional about creating opportunities for students to reflect on their progress, giving choice on how they want to demonstrate content knowledge, and providing ways to monitor growth in their learning.
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Learn More: Keeping a Learning Log [Thoughtful Learning]
- Tool: Mote Chrome Extension [Embed audio comments in Google Docs]
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3-5 Strategy: Audio Journaling with Mote -- [Mote; see video notes for a journal template]
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Resource: How to Create a Learning Log using Google Apps [The Scientific Teacher]
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Resource: Learning Log Handout
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Resource: Student Reflection Handout
Rich Content
Craft rigorous learning opportunities with real-world connections and content outside of traditional classroom text. Consider a variety of sources to present students and teach students how to analyze information within content.
- Learn More: Tips on Using Real Data and Current Events [National Council for Teachers of Mathematics]
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Learn More: Why You Should Bring Podcasts Into Your Classroom [Cult of Pedagogy]
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Resource: 19 Great Podcasts for the Classroom [Common Sense Media]
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Resource: Social Studies Text and Media Library [Learning for Justice]
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Resource: Primary Source Sets [Digital Public Library of America]
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Home Resource: Creative Conversations at Home-- English | Spanish