Rise to the Challenge

Book excerpt: Do you sense that some students have mentally "checked out" of your classroom? Look closely and you'll probably find that these students are bored by lessons that they view as unchallenging and uninteresting. In this follow-up to The Highly Effective Teacher: 7 Classroom-Tested Practices That Foster Student Success, Jeff Marshall provides teachers with a blueprint for introducing more rigor to the classroom by - Reorienting themselves and their students toward active learning—and establishing the habits that allow it to flourish; - Creating a classroom culture where students aren't afraid to take risks—and where they grow as learners because of it; - Planning the same lesson at different levels of challenge for different levels of development—and designing assessments that gauge student progress fairly without sacrificing expectations; and - Implementing inquiry-based activities that push students beyond their comfort zones—and that result in well-rounded learners with stronger character and sharper thinking skills. Leveraging the latest research in the field as well as years of hard-won classroom experience, this book offers practical strategies, replicable examples, and thoughtful reflection exercises for educators to use as they work to help students embrace the mystery, complexity, and power of challenge.