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Chapter 6

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     Chapter 6 of Rigor by Design, Not Chance by Karin Hess focused on the importance of metacognition and self-reflection. Hess explains the difference between metacognition and reflection as “metacognition happens ‘in the moment’ during learning; reflection is the act of looking back on past learning, determining the meaning of what was learned; building (or not building) confidence as a learner; and carrying that mindset forward” (Hess, 2023, chp 6, para 1). Teachers must implement metacognitive and self-reflection strategies into lessons so that students can build their metacognitive and self-reflection skills (Hess, 2023). Students can not only use metacognitive and self-reflection skills on questions, but they can also self-assess their engagement (Hess, 2023). Hess describes that engagement can be represented on a continuum from actively disengaged to actively engaged with passively engaged in between (Hess, 2023). Therefore, teachers need to have students self-ass...
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Chapter 5

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     Chapter 5 of Rigor by Design, Not Chance by Karin Hess focused on the importance of complex performance-based tasks and assessments. Hess describes that complex performance-based assessments should “apply multiple skills, concepts, and strategies, but also provide opportunities for disciplined inquiry and critical and creative thinking” (Hess, 2023, chp 5, para 8). Complex performance-based assessments require students to use learned information in a new situation (Hess, 2023). There are seven characteristics of effective complex performance-based assessments. The seven characteristics are open-ended contexts, productive challenge, uncovering thinking, promoting authentic doing and sharing, integrating academic knowledge, personal skills, and student input, requiring far transfer, and sparking reflective and metacognitive thinking (Hess, 2023). The role of the teacher is to design and implement complex tasks into the unit or lesson. Hess explains four task complexity...
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Chapter 4

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     Chapter 4 of Rigor by Design, Not Chance by Karin Hess focused on the importance of effective scaffolding. Hess describes scaffolding strategies as allowing students “to successfully access grade-level content, complete an assignment, and grow in confidence and independence as a learner” (Hess, 2023, chp 4, para 4). The teacher is responsible for matching scaffolding strategies with the learning target and using one of the four scaffolding structures: teacher and peer scaffolding, content scaffolding, task scaffolding, and materials scaffolding (Hess, 2023). Each scaffold structure allows the teacher to manage the cognitive load by providing supports through scaffolding strategies (Hess, 2023). There are three main reasons for scaffolding: to deepen content knowledge and connect to big ideas, to facilitate executive function and the application of skills and processes, and to support language and vocabulary development (Hess, 2023). These reasons allow all students, ...
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Chapter 3

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     Chapter 3 of Rigor by Design, Not Chance by Karin Hess focused on the importance of building schemas. Hess describes the role of schemas as that they allow students “to categorize a problem, construct mental representations, search for appropriate problem-solving strategies, evaluate the strategies, and store information for later use” (Hess, 2023, chp 3, para 3). A teacher's role is implementing strategies that help students build schemas (Hess, 2023). The two crucial components of building schemas are combining declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge (Hess, 2023). The teacher must be intentional with declaring the concepts and skills of a unit, connecting parts to the whole, building off students' prior knowledge, and addressing misconceptions (Hess, 2023). Teachers can specifically build off students' prior schemas by utilizing structural schemas and procedural schemas (Hess, 2023). For structural schemas, teachers can use an activity such as a SWBS chart t...
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Chapter 2

     Chapter 2 of Rigor by Design, Not Chance by Karin Hess focused on the importance of effective questioning. Teachers must abide by a few tips for effectively questioning, including waiting and thinking time, brainstorming without judgment, collective student response, and model thinking (Hess, 2023). With these tips, teachers can incorporate closed and open-ended questions in their actionable assessment cycle (Hess, 2023). Teachers must plan their questions according to the depth of knowledge (DOK) levels (Hess, 2023). Closed questioning usually develops foundational understanding, while open-ended questioning develops a deeper understanding (Hess, 2023). Each stage of the actionable assessment cycle incorporates different questioning techniques (Hess, 2023). The first stage’s goal is clarifying learning targets using open-ended questioning techniques to acquire interest and more questions (Hess, 2023). The second stage’s goal is activating background knowledge while...
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Chapter 1

     T he central theme throughout Chapter 1 of Rigor by Design, Not Chance by Karin Hess was how to develop a classroom framework where deeper learning is at the forefront. Deeper learning is achieved when students are engaged in their own learning. For students to take charge of their own learning, teachers must help students develop college-career-readiness (CCR) skills. These skills include communication, critical thinking, study and organizational skills, metacognition and reflection, academic perseverance, transfer, disciplined inquiry, elaborated communication, and creative-productive thinking (Hess, 2023). Additionally, teachers must help students build mental schemas to build off of their prior connections (Hess, 2023). Another roadblock in education is the many misconceptions about rigor and deeper learning. Thus, teachers must understand the need for more clarity about the depth of knowledge levels and rigor. Crucially, all levels of depth of knowledge are equa...
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