More than 200 grade 6-8 teachers specializing in ELA, math, science, social studies and MSN came together for the district's first-ever “Raise the Rigor” cross-content workshop during a recent Professional Development Day.
The workshop marks a significant step in BPS' work to provide students with deeper and more rigorous learning experiences. During the session, teachers collaborated across schools and content areas to analyze standards, examine the level of thinking required of students, and reflect on how daily instructional tasks can better match that rigor. One standout moment came when participants collaborated on the Bird Feeder Challenge, a hands-on task that required teachers to question, debate, design, and problem-solve in the same way we want students to do every day. The energy, professionalism, and collaboration in the room were exceptional.
Key focus areas included ensuring students do the intellectual “heavy lifting” through discourse, writing, problem solving and inquiry, designing tasks that match the rigor of the standards rather than just the topic and using productive struggle as a pathway to mastery rather than a barrier. Teachers left the first of what will be a series of “Raise the Rigor” workshops with a commit-to-try action step immediately folded into their classrooms.
