Coaching Rigor in the Classroom:

Text Complexity and Close Reading

Diane Hubona

March 15, 2013

Food for Thought

The decision to withhold rigor from some students is one of the most important reasons why schools fail.

(Strong, Silver, Perini, 2010)

Rigor Defined

Habits of Mind

Rigor….What Does it Look Like and Sound Like in the Classroom?

So 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.

---Strong, Silver, and Perini, ASCD, 2001

AdaptationDHigh Rigor – High Relevance

BLow Rigor – High Relevance

ALow Rigor – Low Relevance

CHigh Rigor – Low

Relevance

Quadrant A 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

C D

A B

Quadrant B 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 C D

A B

Quadrant C 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

C D

A B

Quadrant D

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 RelevanceC DA B

RELEVANCE

C

Students are working and thinking.

D

Teacher is working & thinking.

A B

Rigor & Relevance: Student – Teacher Engagement

RIGOR

Which Quadrant?

Students are working on teacher-directed, real-life problems. Which quadrant?

Which Quadrant?

Students are thinking deeply about teacher-directed questions.

Which quadrant?

Which Quadrant?

Teacher is doing the working and the thinking.

Which quadrant?

How Do We Get There?

Text Complexity

Literacy-based instruction

The Hunger Games

“After the anthem, the tributes file back into the Training Center lobby and onto the elevators. I make sure to veer into a car that does not contain Peeta. The crowd slows our entourages of stylists and mentors and chaperones, so we have only each other for company. No one speaks. My elevator stops to deposit four tributes before I am alone and then find the doors opening on the twelfth floor. Peeta has only just stepped from his car when I slam my palms into his chest. He loses his balance and crashes into an ugly urn filled with fake flowers.”

Dimensions of Text Complexity

Qualitative Dimensions

Quantitative Dimensions

Reader and Task Considerations

Close Reading: Common Core Demands

Triangle of Learning…

1 thing I already knew

2 questions I have

3 things I learned

National Poetry Month

Tips for Content-Area Poetry

Found Poems

Diamante Poems

Haiku Poems