Rigor and Critical Thinking: When is an "A" Really an "A?"

What is a rigorous lesson, and how can you tell if your child is really excelling in school?

Last summer, I was at a family BBQ when my sweet cousin ran up to me and was excited to tell me, “Cousin Gabi, I got an "A" in my Spanish 2 class!”

So I said, “Ahh, felicidades! Entonces, podemos hablar en espanol cuando nos vemos!”

And she replied, “Uh, I don’t know what you just said. We don’t speak Spanish and stuff like that in class!”

So, I’m like, “I thought you just said you got an "A," so what do you know – things like the days of the week, months of the year, seasons, counting?”

She said, “I know Thursday is Jueves!”

UGH! So that got me to thinking; When is an "A" REALLY an A? OK, so, students recently got report cards, and I know what you’re thinking… if my child made the honor

roll or the principal’s list, isn’t that the point, doesn’t that mean that they are where they should be, or they know what they should know? But what do those letters on the report card really mean?

What is RIGOR?

When it comes to grades, we should be focused on something called RIGOR. Rigor is defined as the level of brainpower required to complete a task or assignment, and it challenges students’ thinking in new and interesting ways. The better they are at critical thinking, the more meaningful the "A." Here’s what I mean, thinking can actually be measured by the Depth of Knowledge, or the DOK, needed to complete the assignment. There are four levels of DOK that assignments can fall under, 1 being the easiest and 4 being the most rigorous, or requiring the most brainpower:

Level 1: Recall and Reproduction - memorizing facts or information and procedures

Level 2: Skills/Concepts - using conceptual knowledge to apply in different situations

Level 3: Strategic Thinking - develop/break down plans or sequence of steps, draw conclusions, hypothesize, explain, solve complex problems where there is more than one possible answer

Level 4: Extended Thinking - conducting investigations, using reasoning, synthesizing or creating things, and project-based learning over a period of time

What the Research Says

Webb's Depth of Knowledge (2002) is similar to Bloom's Taxonomy (revised 2001) in that they both address the cognitive load of assignments - Bloom’s Taxonomy guides the cognitive level at which the teacher is teaching, and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge is the cognitive level at which the students are being assessed. These should work hand in hand because the independent practice and assessments should, in fact, match the level of provided instruction. Often times, the independent practice activities and/or assessments that a teacher has planned for the lesson are higher than the cognitive level at which the lesson was taught. This frustrates students who have difficulty completing the activities and assignments which can turn into a classroom management nightmare.

Critical Thinking

So what does all this mean? When it comes to grades, ask your child and his/her teacher what they’re doing in class. Are they doing a lot of worksheets or memorization, and are the tests always multiple choice? If so, they’re probably not being as challenged as they could be if they were doing more open-ended activities that require them to collaborate with other students and create. The goal is to empower them to solve complex problems and think critically.

So parents, if you find that your child is in a less rigorous classroom environment, you can have them practice using critical thinking questions to supplement what they are learning and boost the brainpower of every assignment.

If you are interested in ramping up the rigor of any assignment, start with my critical thinking lesson planning materials! They are perfect for any grade level. For more information on critical thinking questions and DOK rigor, email me at the wordwiselit@gmail.com, and don’t forget to like us on Facebook and Instagram – Gracias, hasta la proxima vez!

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