Increasing Rigor Throughout the

Lesson: Data-Driven Classroom Best

Practices
1. Objectives: Rewrite and tighten with assessments in mind:
 Connect objective to how the students will be assessed.
 Write “know/do” objectives: Students will know _______ by doing
_______.
 Look at test questions beforehand to be sure the skills assessed on the test
were worked into the daily lesson.
 Write an assessment of the skills immediately after the objective, at the top
of the lesson plan.
 First write assessment questions that align to objective; then break the
objective into smaller chunks that will ensure mastery of all the skills
needed to answer each question correctly.
 Use verbs from Bloom’s taxonomy to ensure that the objective is rigorous.

2. Do Now (five- to ten-minute individual exercise to start class)

 Use Do Now as a re-teach tool: Write questions that students struggled to
master on the last interim assessment.
 Use mixed-format questions for a skill: multiple-choice, short answer,
open-ended, and so on.
 Organize questions sequentially according to difficulty.
 Spiral objectives, skills, and questions from everything previously learned
to keep student learning sharp.
 Develop Do Now tracking sheet for teachers and students that shows
student performance on the skills in each Do Now.
 Make Do Nows that look like test questions and make sure they are
reviewed in class.
 Observe students’ answers during Do Now and note kids with wrong
answers to follow up with them during oral review.
 Add multiple-choice questions to Do Now to allow real-time assessment.
 Add why and how questions (for example, Why did you choose this
answer? How do you know your answer is correct?) for different levels of
learners and to push thinking.
 Revisit yesterday’s objectives in the Do Now.
 Collect and grade four straight Do Nows, and for the fifth day let students
correct their first four Do Nows for extra points toward their Do Now
grades.

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3. Questioning to check for understanding and increase engagement:
 Develop whole class responses to student answers (for example, snap if you
agree, stomp if you don’t) to engage 100 percent participation.
 Use cold call: Avoid just calling on students with hands raised.
 Move from ping-pong to volleyball: Instead of responding to every student
answer yourself, get other students to respond to each other: “Do you agree
with Sam?” “Why is that answer correct (or incorrect)?” “What would you
add?”
 Script questions in advance of the lesson to make sure they scaffold
appropriately and address rigor at varied levels.
 Have an observer record teacher questions: highlight where students are
succeeding and where they can grow.

3a. Student error (techniques for helping students encounter the right answer):
 Have a student who struggled initially repeat the correct answer eventually
produced by the class.
 Use whiteboards to have every student write a down response to question:
whole class shows answers simultaneously so teacher can immediately
check to see how many students answered correctly.
 Write questions in plan to specific students who are struggling with a
standard; jot down their responses in the plans during class.
 Note in your book or lesson plan what questions students answer
incorrectly; call on them again when you revisit that sort of question later in
the week.
 Choose “No opt out”: do not let students off the hook when struggling with
an answer.

3b. Think ratio (techniques to reduce teacher talk and push student thinking):
 Require students to support answers with evidence from the text.
 Feign ignorance (for example, write wrong answer that student gives on the
board, let students find the error rather than correcting it yourself; pretend
you don’t even know that the answer is wrong).
 Ask students: “put it in your own words” about a classroom definition,
concept, and so on.
 Reword question to force students to think on their feet about the same
skill.
 Use Wait Time to give more students the chance to think through the
answer.
 Model “Right is right”: press to get the 100 percent correct answer.
 Check for student use of specific strategies and not just correct answers.
 Ask “what if” question: “What if” I took away this information from the
problem, how would you approach it?

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4. Differentiated instruction (teaching students at different levels):
 Create leveled questions for assessments.
 Include a bonus section of challenging questions.
 Prepare different Do Nows, worksheets, and so on for students at different
levels.
 Use data (tracking sheets, interim assessment results, exit tickets) to
determine the degree of scaffolding and extra support each student needs.
 Group students according to the skills they need to develop.
 Communicate and collaborate with skills room and special education
teachers to develop appropriate scaffolding for special needs students.
 Implement station work.
 Create individual “work contracts” so students have a clear path of what
they are working on.
 Use Do Now, exit tickets, and interim assessment data to drive small group
re-teach sessions.
 Create assignments with menu options by level (easy, medium, hard)—
students can choose or teacher can assign.
 Have observers sit by lower-achieving students during an observation to
provide extra support.

5. Peer-to-peer support strategies:

 Observe student work carefully during independent work—enlist strong
students to help weaker students determine right answer during review of
assignment.
 Have students teach parts of the lesson to small groups of their peers.
 Have students run stations.
 Train peer tutors—teach student tutors how to ask questions instead of
giving answers and how to get tutee to do most of the talking.
 Think, pair, share: Have students think of the answer, talk with a partner,
and then share as a large group.
 Turn and talk: students turn toward a partner and explain answers to a
question.
 Peer to group: student models think-aloud.
 Implement peer editing and revision.
 Develop study groups that jigsaw activities and content.
 Create mentoring relationships: twelfth to tenth grade, eleventh to ninth
grade, and so on.

6. Student self-evaluation:
 Create weekly skills check with a tracking chart: students track their own
progress on each skill.
 Go over tests after grading them, discussing “Why is choice A wrong?” and
similar questions.
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  Have students grade their own papers based on a rubric.
 Give students independent practice worksheets with answers on the back so
that students can check their own work once completed.
 Create a cumulative rubric (adding skills as taught): have students do
periodic self-evaluations with the rubric.

7. Exit tickets (brief class-ending activity to check for understanding of that day’s
lesson):
Create a tracking sheet to match the exit ticket.
Assess the same skills through varied methods.
Align format to interim assessment.
Grade immediately.
Immediately follow up (breakfast, lunch, home-room).
Answer essential questions on exit ticket.
Follow up data from exit ticket with next day’s Do Now.
Use exit ticket to determine small group re-teach.
Engage instructional leaders to design effective exit tickets for newer
teachers.
 Monitor whether exit tickets reflect scope and sequence.

8. Homework:
 Develop homework center targeting specific skills identified by interim
assessments.
 Review problem areas within homework assignment in class soon after
assignment.
 Have students fix homework errors and teach them how to scrutinize errors.
 Make tracking sheet by skill.
 Incorporate spiraled review in homework assignments: include questions
and tasks from previously learned standards.
 Create leveled homework (student-specific).
 Design homework that is aligned with interim assessments, state test, SAT.
 Use homework for open-book quizzes.
 Encourage homework completion with classwide or schoolwide
competition.
 Include above-grade-level challenge problems.