Rigor: Finding the Peak of a Lesson

A simple 5-step protocol for identifying the Depth of Knowledge level of a lesson.

Daniel Jhin Yoo
Design for Action
2 min readApr 24, 2018

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The “peak” of a lesson is the most challenging task within a lesson.

What is it?

A simple 5-step protocol that teachers can use to identify the Depth of Knowledge level of their own lessons.

  • 1 page handout available in Google Doc or Word format.
  • Guiding questions that walk teachers through the protocol step by step.
  • Can be printed or completed online.

When to use this?

  • Teachers may understand what Depth of Knowledge is in concept but find it challenging to apply to their own lessons.
  • Administrators and coaches have observed that classroom instruction is not reaching higher levels of rigor (DOK 3 & 4) even though PD around DOK has been done.

How was this DESIGNED for ACTION?

Adult learning principles taken from The 4 Principles of Designing Actionable Professional Development.

This resource addresses all four Principles of Adult Learning.

Principle 1: Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their instruction.

  • Teachers are self-evaluating their own lesson and where it lives within the Depth of Knowledge framework.

Principle 2: Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for the learning activities.

  • Gives teachers the opportunity to reflect on their own practice and how rigorous their instruction really is.

Principle 3: Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance and impact to their job or personal life.

  • Teachers are examining their own lessons (or the lessons of their peers if done collaboratively).

Principle 4: Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented.

  • Protocol gives teachers a meaningful task (i.e. finding the “peak”) rather than having them passively receive content.

Get the resources!

The following resources are available for download from our Google Drive folder.

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Daniel Jhin Yoo
Design for Action

Former software developer, special education teacher, and district administrator. Building @goalbookapp to empower educators.