Challenge

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As an educator, the word "rigor" can illicit a guttural cringe response. It's a topic that, when brought up by a consultant or administrator, can make it feel like they doubt your understanding of your students. Obviously, all teachers are going to give content to their students they believe is at an appropriate level to push them forward. However… it is equally important that the student understands the challenge, or rigor, of a class. If a class or project seems too easy, it will move down the student's priority list so far they'll forget to do it. Or at least far enough that they'll procrastinate until there is no time to learn, try, or produce anything interesting or meaningful. It, like everything else in project design, is a balancing act. If it seems too hard, students will give up before they really try. If it seems too easy, they will give a disproportionally smaller effort. Here, let's explore a framework to adjust how challenging a project seems to a student.

The Timeline

Perhaps the most straight-forward lever you can pull is that of the timeline. No content has to change. The students do the same project with the same criteria. Restricting the amount of time that students have (obviously, to a point) can make them work drastically harder because they feel the pressure to get it done. There's no time to waste. They have no choice but to get it done.

The Criteria

Something about project criteria

The Supports

Something about teacher help, additional resources, and maybe activities