STAGE 2 - CLOSE THE KNOWING-DOING GAP - OVERVIEW
TIMING: You’ll spend a minimum of 7 weeks in this Stage. Watch all videos to the end. See the full Module access schedule below.
Modules in this Stage
Module 4: Designing Responsive Instruction for Deeper Learning
Module 5: Helping Students Build Their Learning Muscles
Module 6: Accelerating Learning for Under-Performing Students
GOAL
You will begin to understand your role as cognitive mediator at a deeper level, in order to help dependent learners build the skills to accelerate their own learning.
You will recognize that culturally responsive lesson design is more than including diverse authors or anti-racist curriculum.
You will become familiar with the components of the Ready for Rigor Instructional Lesson Design methodology to build students’ learning capacity incrementally over time with the right doses of productive struggle and progressive levels of rigor.
You will be introduced to collectivist learning tools that help diverse learners “chew” more effectively and engage in productive struggle in positive ways that grow their brain power.
You will practice prototyping learning experiences that begin to help students move through the information processing cycle
Welcome to Stage 2! This is where you roll up your sleeves and focus on closing the knowing-doing gap through practice.
We know we want underperforming diverse students to become more academically successful. We know that relationships matter. We know we need to provide rigor.
But we often stop short with the “doing” part of culturally responsive teaching that asks us to skillfully braid these things together. Instead, we over-simplify to “food, fabric, and festival” multiculturalism dressed up in CRT-style jargon.
Too often we are frustrated that CRT isn’t “working” because we still think it’s about plug and play activities centered on social justice or anti-racist themes.
Why? Because we cling to the notions of culturally responsive teaching as a treatment to make the struggling Indigenous, Latinx, Pacific Islander, and students of African descent feel good about themselves so they will engage. That ain’t it. Remember, competence precedes confidence.
If you are still struggling with this idea, go back to Modules 1-3 and work on shifting your mental model about what CRT is and isn’t. Because the work of Stage 2 assumes you have grasped this core point about the Ready for Rigor approach.
The research behind culturally responsive teaching is clear: In order to achieve true educational equity we have to help students gain academic prowess by building their “learning muscles” so they can carry more of the cognitive load during instruction.
That means in Stage 2 you are focused on building your skill as a cognitive mediator who can grow Black and Brown students’ learning muscles rather than simply deliver so-called anti-racism curricular content. As the personal trainer of students’ cognitive development, you help students accelerate their learning by teaching them to strengthen their learning to learn skills.
This is the stage for working actively in your classroom to continue making the deeper shifts you began in Modules 2 and 3.
In this stage we are prototyping and iterating. So, here’s to the first pancake! Remember practice makes perfect.
LESSON SCHEDULE - STAGE 2
As you know, this program is uniquely designed to help you “go slow to go fast.” Lessons will be available to you sequentially, one after the other. However, we know from experience that those who get the best results from this work take their time between Lessons to do the exercises, review, and integrate the learning into their classrooms. Each Module has a pre-set timeframe, as described below, that you’ll remain in that Module. We encourage you to take your time, do the work, and implement the changes.
For a more detailed description of how this “drip schedule” of content works, please refer to the Tech Doc.
Module 4 — You’ll spend a minimum of 1 week here. After you complete Lesson 1, you must complete all remaining Lessons, pass the Quiz, and a minimum of 7 days must have elapsed before Module 5 will be available to you.
Module 5 — You’ll spend a minimum of 3 weeks here. After you complete Lesson 1, you must complete all remaining Lessons, pass the Quiz, and a minimum of 21 days must have elapsed before Module 6 will be available to you.
Module 6 — You’ll spend a minimum of 3 weeks here. After you complete Lesson 1, you must complete all remaining Lessons, pass the Quiz, and a minimum of 21 days must have elapsed before Stage 3, Module 7 will be available to you.
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