Meet Them Where They're App
Now more than ever, students are plugged into technology. Young people have increasing access to personal technology in the form of smart phones, tablets, and laptop computers that fill their backpacks. At the same time, teachers are expected to teach more information, and students are held to a higher level of accountability. While many of our students use this technology for entertainment, we can teach them to use technology as a tool rather than a toy through rigorous critical thinking activities. When teachers take advantage of the technological tools available, “the delivery of educational materials through mobile technology can eliminate time and space constraints in learning and provide more freedom for learners” (Sheng, Siau, & Fui-Hoon Nah, 2010, p. 26). Educational platforms, such as Edmodo or Kidblog, can create a place for students to access resources both at home and at school so that the flipped classroom can work.
With a wealth of online test review programs to use as models, students can become the creators of their own test reviews as a rigorous means of preparing for assessments. One of these programs, Kahoot! (available through Google Play, as an Apple shortcut, and as a website), allows students to answer questions, respond to surveys, and engage in discussions. While the program is beneficial as a teacher-created tool for review, teachers can raise the rigor of the program by prompting students to create their own questions and responses.
While reviewing characterization in our most recent reading unit, children worked in groups of three to four to create their own character-ization review. They reflected on our shared read aloud, Stone Fox by
John Reynolds Gardiner, and
worked together to create
questions in Kahoot! that
addressed the standards we
covered in our unit. The
questions students created
showed a deep under-
standing of how authors use
characterization in their writing to add to the plot: Why did Searchlight die at the end of Stone Fox? How did the setting of Stone Fox impact the plot? Why was Stone Fox so angry at the White Men? Raising the level of rigor doesn’t have to be more work, just work that asks students to think more deeply.
Taking It to the Street: Extending Learning Beyond the Classroom
The ultimate goal of rigor is for students to be successful outside of the school environment. This means preparing them for the real world and the skills they will need. According to Wagner (2008), graduates did not say that they lacked exposure to academic knowledge; rather, they wished for more in-school experience with the life skills needed to be successful in the workplace. This is where rigor truly takes flight.
Each January, on the Friday before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the students at my school plan for our Day of Service in honor of Dr. King. They identify problems or areas of need in our community, create plans to resolve or improve these situations, and put their plans into action. In this one project, we meet process and skills standards in reading, language arts, and social studies. The children have control of the outcomes of their projects and can focus in areas where their passions lie. One group of students, noticing trash on the playground, created a school-wide advertisement, petitioned the PTA for trash cans, and picked up the trash they saw on the Day of Service. This experience not only met and exceeded state standards, but it also gave the children
"It (also) benefits students to see and hear the teacher highlighting important data, skimming sections of the text, making connections to past experiences, and taking the time to pause and think about what is being read."
Figure 2 - Students engaging in an intense game of Kahoot
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