1. Leadership for Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships
Susan Gunderman
International Center for Leadership in Education

2. Leadership for Rigor, Relevance and Relationships
“Leadership is action, not position.”
-Donald H. McGannon
Instructional
Strategic
Long range plan
Tactical
Deliberate Action

3. Change can be scary.
“Some people change when they see the light, others when they feel the heat.”
- Caroline Schroeder

4. do you implement and sustain meaningful change?
Leadership for Change
Why
What
How
is change
needed?
needs to be done ?
do you implement and sustain meaningful change?

5. Why Change?
“The primary aim of education is not to enable students to do well in school, but to help them do well in the lives they lead outside of the school.”

6. Mission
Prepare students for the world they will inhabit outside the schoolhouse walls.
Engage them in learning
that will develop skills
that are transferable
to the 21st Century
world.

7. What do we change? Teaching is only as good as the learning
that takes place.
Tale conversation beyond teaching and focus on learning

8. Rigor
Challenging work that moves students from their comfort zone to a higher level of thinking.

9. Rigorous instruction prepares students to think critically so they can solve problems in unpredictable, real world situations. Thinking outside the car.

10. Relevance
My only
skill is
taking
tests.

11. BBC Survey 60% could not locate England on a map
20% believe sun revolves around the Earth
60% could not locate England on a map
21% could not locate US
55% could not name a country that begins with “U”
Bill of Rights:
1 in 4 could name one
1 in 5 named “right to own a pet“

12. BBC Survey the Simpsons Family in the South Pacific
50% could name at least two members of
the Simpsons Family
80% knew Fiji is located
in the South Pacific

13. Students will remember learning that is connected to their own lives.
Intelligence v Relevance
Students will remember learning that is connected to their own lives.

14. Vision and Implementation
“There are no teachers with correct answers, only guides with different areas of expertise and experience that may help along the way.”
~ Peter Senge and Fred Kofman, 1995
Flip the funnel

15. Rigor and Relevance Framework
Shifts the Focus from
Teaching to Learning

16. Rigor/Relevance Framework
Knowledge
High
Application
Low
Low
High

17. Knowledge Taxonomy
1. Awareness 2. Comprehension 3. Application 4. Analysis 5. Synthesis 6. Evaluation

18. Application Model 2. Application within discipline
1. Knowledge of one discipline
2. Application within discipline
Application across disciplines
4. Application to real world predictable situations
5. Application to real world unpredictable situations

19. Rigor/Relevance Framework
Knowledge
Application
1. Recall Knowledge 2. Comprehension 3. Application 4. Analysis 5. Synthesis 6. Evaluation
1. Knowledge of one discipline
2. Application within discipline
Application across
disciplines
4. Application to real world predictable situations
5. Application to real world unpredictable situations

21. D C A B Rigor/Relevance Framework Knowledge Application High Low Low

22. From Theory to Practice
Moving Rigor and Relevance Into the Classroom

23. Theory to Practice
Develop a school-wide focus on instruction through RR
Instructional Strategies
Handbook
Common vocabulary
Common vision of effective
instruction

25. Collaboration for Best Practices
Give teachers time to talk about their craft.
Use meeting time to talk about instruction.
Share best practices.

26. Collaboration Snack and Shares Instructional Strategies by Quadrant
Graphic Organizers
Developing a Rubric
Aligning Instruction and Assessments
Designing Writing Prompts in Content Areas

27. Collaboration Principal’s Roundtable Discussions
The World
Is Flat
Current literature
Brain Research
Learning Styles
Grading Practices
9th Grade Success
Stupid in America
Out of India

28. Collaboration Staff Meetings Faculty Meetings Collaborative Groups
Show and Tell
Collaborative Groups
Planning Quadrant D Lessons

29. Reflective Questions to Provoke Crucial Conversations
What do you intend students to learn?
What is the level(s) of Rigor and Relevance?
How do you know students understood the lesson?
What data are you using to determine you are meeting the standards?
What can I do as instructional leader to support your efforts?

30. What strategies do you use to address
Reflective Questions
What strategies do you use to address
individual learning styles?
What was the most successful part of
the learning experience and why?
If you teach this lesson again, how
would you change it?
What evidence can you share regarding
achievement of standards?
How do you know learning has occurred?

31. Benchmarks for Progress

32. Instruction with High Expectations

33. D Quadrant Lesson Creation
Standard: Prose and Document Literacy
Select outcome:
Be able to synthesize concepts learned in a nonfiction unit.
Select product:
Publish a newspaper article based on children’s literature

34. Required Components Headline By-line Staged photograph
Cutline and pull quote
Map
Continuation headline, if needed
Body ( words)
Interview
Site visit
Archival research

35. Match to verb and strategy
Products
Verbs
Strategies
evaluation
opinion
estimation
trial
article
adaptation
debate
new game
invention
evaluate
validate
justify
rate
referee
infer
rank
dramatize
argue
conclude
inquiry
research
cooperative
learning
presentation
project design

36. Provide rubric

37. All articles presented orally, then published in spiral-bound book and given to each student.

38. Student Reflection
“First of all, I never thought we could get it all together to actually produce a newspaper with all the parts that you wanted. But we did it, and I actually learned a lot. Mostly I learned that I had to pull my load so that we didn’t look like a bunch of slackers compared to the other groups. And I think I know what it might feel like to be a publisher in charge of getting a newspaper to press on time. Definitely not for me!”

39. Biology II
Human Anatomy Project
Dr. Joanne Jezequel

40. Children’s Book Project Anatomy & Physiology

41. Student Reflection
“I once had a teacher who said, ‘If you truly understand a concept, you can find at least 5 different ways to retell the information.’ The children’s book helped me think past the memorization of dry textbook material.”

42. Renewal Dr. Daggett meets with students and teachers
Responses surprising
“I feel a little sorry for my teacher
trying to get to D”
Teachers 4; students 2.5
Clearly not there yet
The challenge

43. Answering the Challenge
Each teacher will create a D quadrant lesson
Work in collaborative groups
Present lessons at faculty meeting

44. Expectations and Resources
Work in collaborative groups
1.5 hours per month
Workdays
Peer visits
Snack and Shares
Rigor and Relevance 101
Movie Maker, Podcasts, Garage Band
Designing Rubrics

45. Kennesaw Mountain Model Lessons Presentation

46. expectations and celebrations
Turning Point: Training Students
Make them part of
expectations and celebrations

47. Sustaining High Expectations for Rigor and Relevance

48. Sustaining the Work
“Single
mindedness”
KFC not Baskin Robbins

49. Sustaining the Work Collaborative planning
Sharing resources, insights,
challenges,
success

50. Collect and analyze data to help guide work
Sustaining the Work
Collect and analyze data to help guide work
“Measure what matters.”
See it through to the end.

51. Involve Students in the Conversations about Instruction
Talk to the students
Monthly principal’s lunch
Enrollment in AP/Honors classes
What motivates you in a class?
Interpret test data and climate surveys
Delta

52. Eye-rollers, “BMGs” and Toxic Dumpers
Sustaining the Work
Confront Active Negativity
Eye-rollers, “BMGs” and Toxic Dumpers
Be creative
Have fun!

53. Quadrant D Lessons only thing that matters…. Not one more thing….
A more effective way of doing the
only thing that matters….
Engaging students in rigorous and relevant learning!

54. Rigor, Relevance and Relationships
“This is not what we do,
it’s who we are.”
Kevin Maholchek
Class of 2008

55. International Center for Leadership in Education, Inc.
1587 Route 146
Rexford, NY
Phone (518)
Fax (518) -