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Week 6 Research Blog Post

  In Chapter six of Rigor by Design, Not Chance by Karin Hess, Hess focuses on engaging students in metacognition and reflection. Hess begins the chapter by explaining how metacognition and reflection are interrelated, but they are not the same. “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 (not building) confidence as a learner; and carrying that mindset forward” (Hess p. 127). Through peer and self-reflection learners can find their strengths and challenges, allowing themselves to evaluate their personal goals for learning. By learners being aware of their learning, they engage metacognition. Hess refers back to chapter one, when she discusses emotional engagement, “rigor by design brings engagement into greater focus” (Hess p. 128). Active engagement is important for educators to help facilitate. Teaching learners to self-monitor their own engagement and provid...
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Week 5 Research Blog Post

  In Chapter five of Rigor by Design, Not Chance by Karin Hess, Hess focuses on designing complex tasks. Hess begins this chapter by discussing performance-based assessments (PBAs) and how creating them as an educator is something that is done successfully with collaboration of other colleagues. Using this strategy allows equitable learning opportunities for every student. “Teachers form professional learning communities to build a common understanding of what “good enough” looks like in student work across classrooms and schools” (Hess, p. 94). Hess spends the majority of this chapter discussing how to design PBAs, the tasks and their complexity within them. Hess states, “complex performance assessments not only apply multiple skills, concepts, and strategies but also provide opportunities for disciplined inquiry and critical and creative thinking” (p. 96). These complex tasks can be outside of academic skills and can apply to interpersonal and intrapersonal skills as well. PBAs h...
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Week 4 Research Blog Post

  In Chapter four of Rigor by Design, Not Chance by Karin Hess, Hess focuses on strategic scaffolding. “Strategic Scaffolding can advance and deepen student engagement when we start by identifying the specific goal for using a strategy and which students will most likely benefit from that support” (Hess, p. 71).  Hess explains the four different ways to structure scaffolding: Teacher and peer scaffolding Content scaffolding Task scaffolding Materials scaffolding Educators should know the learning targets as it can be helpful when they decide what scaffolds are necessary for the lesson. Hess expands on how scaffolding is different from differentiation, “an easy way to remember the difference is that scaffolding provides steps to support completing a task, whereas differentiation gives students different choices as to which task they will complete” (p. 72). Differentiation is related to content and assignments given by the teacher and how the students complete the tasks. Scaffol...
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Week 3 Research Blog Post

  In Chapter three of Rigor by Design, Not Chance by Karin Hess, Hess focuses on how to build schemas. “Schemas become frameworks for learning new content and dramatically expanding a learner’s knowledge base” (Hess, pg. 55) Furthermore, Hess explains that students who are reaching high learning potentials are able to build schemas, something students who are not reaching their full learning potential are missing. Being able to form schemas allows students to organize information, allow new information to “stick” and connect their knowledge outside of the classroom. Hess states on page 56, “building a schema involves integrating declarative knowledge (content) and procedural knowledge (skills and strategies)”. Hess gives educators four questions to consider: What are the unifying concepts (declarative knowledge) and essential skills (procedural knowledge) of this discipline? How do the parts (concepts, skills, and structures) relate to the whole? What prior knowledge do students al...
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Week 2 Research Blog Post

     In Chapter two of Rigor by Design, Not Chance by Karin Hess, Hess focuses on the methods educators can use to get their students asking questions and deepening their learning. “Promoting self-directed learning skills, such as asking questions and using metacognition, empowers learners to transfer learning to new situations” (Hess, pg. 32). Furthermore, Hess explains that instead of looking for one perfect question, asking a sequence of questions can engage students in more complex thinking. With different techniques, educators can use questioning to further learning, aide in instruction, and help recognize where students need more engaged learning. Hess explains, “when teachers plan their questions, learning deepens. Questions spark the brain to make connections and solidify learning” (Hess, pg. 38). I found Hess’s actionable assessment cycle to be very beneficial as she gives steps and multiple questioning strategies to help deepen students learning. I loved seeing ...
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Week 1 Research Blog Post

In Chapter One of "Rigor by Design, Not Chance" by Karin Hess, the focus is on introducing the concept of deeper learning to the reader. This includes defining what deeper learning entails, how it functions, the actions that teachers should take to facilitate it, and addressing common misconceptions that educators often hold. As an educator, I found this chapter engaging and enlightening, as it shed light on the roles and responsibilities, I need to undertake to nurture deeper learning among my students. Hess emphasizes that deeper learning occurs when students actively engage with challenging tasks, prompting them to seek and acquire new knowledge, apply what they've learned, and use that knowledge as a foundation to construct new understanding. This perspective transforms the idea of students simply utilizing higher-level thinking into a more intricate process involving multiple steps to attain the objective of deeper learning. One particularly impactful point made by H...
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