In today’s complex and fast-paced classrooms, effective instruction goes beyond delivering content—it’s about creating rich, student-centered experiences that foster deep thinking, transfer of learning, and personal growth. As educators, we know that no single strategy works in isolation. That’s why the concept of “stacking” routines, drawing from multiple frameworks and layering them intentionally, has become a game-changer.
In the two books, Re-Envisioning Rigor: Powerful Routines to Promote Learning and Re-Envisioning Rigor: Powerful Routines to Promote Project and Problem-Based Learning, we introduced a variety of routines that help students become more reflective, metacognitive, and engaged in their learning journey. However, real power emerges when these routines are used in conjunction with each other. Just like individual plays on the court or field come together to form a winning game plan, combining routines with intention creates a learning experience that is both strategic and impactful. Each routine is powerful on its own, but when we intentionally stack them, they create a classroom of learning that is active, reflective, and purpose-driven.
There are two larger categories of routines: dispositional and competency, and the competency routines are broken into surface, deep, and transfer. Dispositional learning involves the mindsets and behaviors that support effective learning. Learners move from surface learning (foundational knowledge) to deep learning (conceptual understanding) and ultimately to transfer learning, where they apply knowledge creatively in new contexts.
Below is a model lesson in a middle school science class that teaches toward a transfer-level learning intention—one that requires students not just to recall facts, but to apply their understanding to new, real-world contexts. In this case, they are challenged to use scientific reasoning and community data to recommend renewable energy solutions—work that mirrors what experts and civic leaders do in the world beyond school.
This is accomplished by stacking 7 powerful routines, each drawn from the Re-Envisioning Rigor books. These routines are intentionally sequenced to activate thinking, support self-assessment, build conceptual understanding, and deepen students’ capacity to transfer knowledge.
Each routine follows a 4-step visual structure—a predictable pattern that helps learners understand how the routine works, why it matters, and how they can use it both in and beyond the classroom. These visuals scaffold both teacher planning and student metacognition, making the learning experience transparent and replicable. While we only provided two visual examples of the 4-step routines, there are over 50 strategies embedded across both books.
Class Structure Example: A Routine-Rich Learning Experience
Learning Intention | Students will evaluate renewable and non-renewable energy sources and make informed recommendations for their community.
Note: This sequence assumes that students have already been introduced to content on renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. These stacked routines featured here are designed to deepen understanding, foster comparison, and support transfer of learning midway through the unit. In this classroom example, students would have learned most or all of the routines one at a time before stacking them altogether.
Conclusion: Designing Learning with Intention
Great teachers are like great coaches: we don’t just run plays, we provide instruction and feedback across different levels of complexity—we design the whole game. By stacking routines intentionally, we build a learning environment that is responsive, rigorous, and student-centered. Each routine in isolation supports learning, but together they foster deeper engagement, stronger transfer, and empowered learners.
When students are guided through a purposeful progression of routines, they don’t just learn about science—they learn how to think like scientists. They ask better questions, evaluate evidence, reflect on their process, and make informed decisions. Start with your learning goal, then build a stack of routines that guides students from curiosity to clarity—because in both sports and learning, it’s the sequence and stacking of moves that lead to breakthrough moments.
