There are many ways that teachers can incorporate rigor into the elementary classroom

while piquing student enthusiasm. While rigor has different meanings for different people, one of

the best definitions that I found for a rigorous lesson, is one that, “challenges students' thinking

in new and interesting ways…[students] are encouraged toward a sophisticated understanding of

fundamental ideas and are driven by curiosity to discover what they don't know.” (Sztabnik,

2015) Students who are allowed to explore and discover, rather than just listening to the teacher

lecture, will not only learn more but will enjoy their education so much more.

Before teachers can incorporate rigor into their lessons, I believe that they need to create

a safe environment for students. Through strong classroom management, I would set the

expectation that students need to be respectful and thoughtful towards others and their ideas. If

students feel that they will be laughed at for their ideas, they most likely won’t share them. They

need to feel like they can take a risk and will be supported by their peers and the teacher. To

accomplish this, during the first several weeks of school I would do activities that would help me

get to know my students and start building a relationship with each student. We would also

spend time doing team building exercises to strengthen relationships between the students so that

students feel comfortable discussing their ideas. I want students to know that I have very high

expectations for them but will be there to help them meet those expectations.

To make lessons more rigorous, I would begin by scaffolding instruction. I want the

lessons to be challenging to all students, but not overwhelming. By scaffolding, teachers,

“provide support during learning in order to gradually remove the support when learning

becomes solidified and/or the learner becomes more independent and able to transfer learned

skills to new situations.” (Hess, 2018) Each student is different and has unique abilities, by

providing scaffolding where students need it, teachers can give students challenging work, which
will help them reach levels they may not have been able to on their own. One simple scaffold

that I see used often in schools is the Newsela app. Everyone in class can read the same non-

fiction text, however, it is provided at their reading level. Students who struggle can read and

discuss the same article as advanced readers. Each student will also get comprehension

questions at their level, but then can discuss together as a class or in small group.

Besides scaffolding, another way to increase classroom rigor would be to have a lot of

hands on activities. When students are able to experiment and explore, it is much more enjoyable

than listening to the teacher lecture. As a substitute teacher, I had to teach a lesson on electricity.

We started by reading from the textbook, the students were bored and not retaining much of the

information. Once I got out the materials for them to create circuits, they not only retained the

information they were supposed to learn earlier, but they had fun doing it. Research has shown

that learning through hands on activities is more beneficial because, “Listening and analyzing

processes occur in the left hemisphere, but visual and spatial processes are handled on the right.

By combining multiple styles of learning, the brain forms stronger overall connections and is

able to store more relevant information.” (Arnholz, 2019)

While hands on activities make learning more engaging, creating assignments that are

relevant to students will also helps grab student interest. “Students are more willing to challenge

themselves when they engage in meaningful work. Students need to investigate issues they relate

to, or practice art forms they find relevant and exciting.” (Christenson, 2017) One way to make

assignments more relevant to students is by giving them choices. For example, if your students

need to write an opinion paper, instead of assigning a topic such as, should kids wear uniforms to

school, let students choose their own topic. They might be more interested in writing about why

Fortnite is better than Minecraft. Or if your class is studying different cultures, students could
research their own culture and present it to the class. This way students still learn about many

different cultures but get more in-depth knowledge on their own. There are other lessons, such as

fractions, where students don’t always understand why they have to learn them. We can make it

relevant by showing them real world examples of how we use fractions such as in baking,

measurement and time.

Giving choices should not be limited to assignments, allowing students different ways to

demonstrate understanding also increases their engagement. Each student learns differently and

has their own strengths and weaknesses. Teachers can help students by giving choices in both

formative and summative assessments. Some students might do well at writing a report while

others may do better creating a model or answering questions orally. “Differentiation in

assessment is able to grab the students’ attention and get them more involved with the material

rather than the students just memorizing facts for a test.” (Davenport, 2018) By varying the types

of assessments, and giving choices to students when possible, you will be giving all students

more chances to be successful.

There are so many ways to increase rigor in the classroom while keeping students

engaged. It is critical to form strong relationships with your students and understand their

learning styles and their strengths and weaknesses so that you can really support them in their

learning. By creating a student-centered class, giving students more choice in what and how they

learn and how they are assessed, teachers keep students invested and engaged in their learning.

“Let us aspire to something greater than making difficult work for our students. Let's take them

to that intersection of encouragement and engagement, where they confront ideas and problems

that are meaningful…and let's foster a love of deep knowledge.” (Sztabnik, 2015)
 References

Arnholz, J. (2019, February 12). Is Hands-On Learning Better? Retrieved May 29, 2020, from

https://www.byf.org/news-item/is-hands-on-learning-better/

Christenson, M. (2017, September 5). How to Develop Rigor in the Classroom. Retrieved May

30, 2020, from https://theartofeducation.edu/2017/09/07/develop-rigor-classroom/

Davenport, K. (2018, November 15). The Benefits of Offering Students Choice in Assessment.

Retrieved May 30, 2020, from https://medium.com/its-literacy/the-benefits-of-offering-

students-choice-in-assessment-b7458fa54b8c

Hess, K. (2018, June 6). To scaffold or not? A misconception about rigor. Retrieved May 29,

2020, from https://www.renaissance.com/2014/10/16/to-scaffold-or-not-to-scaffold-the-

first-big-misconception-about-rigor/

Sztabnik, B. (2015, May 7). A New Definition of Rigor. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/a-new-definition-of-rigor-brian-sztabnik