Rigor+and+Relevance+Workshop,+Fall+2007



October 25, 2007 The purpose of today's workshop is for each of you to //create a definition// of rigor and relevance, //to identify the the steps needed to increase rigor and relevance for each of your students// and to //set one goal// for yourself - identify what you will accomplish through this workshop. Let's start with a little humor :) Go to the "Food For Thought" Page and watch //Was it Taught? Was it Learned."// 1.You will begin by thinking about //your// classroom - your students, the classroom environment, the teaching and learning activities and assessments- and asking yourself where your lessons generally fall within the rigor and relevance framework above. Do your lessons fall in __A?__ - Students are generally required to use recall with knowledge and skills applied to one topic. __B?__ Students still use primarily recall and understanding but activities and assessments usually require students to apply their understanding across topics or to real world applications. __C__? - students are applying, analyzing, synthesizing using real world problems - applying their skills to one topic/one discipline; __D__?- students are analyzing, synthesizing using real world predictable or unpredictable problems that integrate multiple disciplines. Refer to the any of the resources below and the resources on the "Reading Materials for Rigor and Relevance" page to learn more about the components of good teaching and learning. 2.Select the discussion tab and begin a discussion about what you believe needs to be part of a plan for teaching and learning that reflects rigor and relevance for all students. Access the discussion tab from this page. Please be sure to "post" your message. To read other contributions to the discussion, you need to access the discussion tab from this page. You can post comments any time/any where. 3. Take a look at the example of the social studies unit on the "Curriculum planning" page. List the components of this unit. In which category would you place this unit? 4.Assess the unit/lesson you are going to work with...start to redesign if needed.

Sites to visit: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=359&Itemid=64 http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=120 [|ThinkQuest International 2006] http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html http://www.newtechhigh.org/Website2007/index.html (Look at student portfolios

November 1, 2007 Visit the following site http://fno.org/nov97/toolkit.html Please write two essential questions around which you can design a lesson. Post a comment on the discussion tab regarding how the use of essential questions increases rigor.

November 8, 2007 According to [|Webopedia.com], a blog (short for Weblog) is "a Web page that serves as a publicly-accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author". The definition of blog is constantly evolving, though, as blogs move into the mainstream. Thousands of new blogs are being created every day, for all sorts of purposes. Rather than existing to catalog someone's personal life, many blogs serve as discussion communities about particular issues.

Activity 1: Visit the following blogs: http://21cholman.blogspot.com/2006/10/1010-insight.html http://21cholman.blogspot.com/2006/08/88-book-review.html Please read the blogs and the comments that were posted. Please post at least one comment on our discussion page. The purpose of this activity is to (1) Learn more about the discourse that is taking place among educators (2) Reflect on that discourse Activity 2: The following are some questions/activities relative to the lesson you are working on. Please read through the questions/activities and apply them to your lesson. Math teachers - please do not work together on this. 1.How are your pre-assessing student understanding in order to differentiate your lesson? Create a pre-assessment activity if you do not have one in your lesson. 2.Write an essential question about the content of your lesson that can be studied and answered through at least 3 disciplines. There are websites available through this wikispace to look at essential questions. Try to connect your essential question to a 21st century global issue. 3.Create a simulation of a blog post that you would create to begin a discussion regarding essential questions for creating differentiated instruction Post your blog post on our discussion page. Thoughts to Consider: Are the activities you are using supporting the stated objective(s). Are the activities connecting students to real-world issues...expanding their thinking beyond the obvious?