Rigor is creating an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels,
each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels,
and each student demonstrates learning at high levels (Blackburn, 2008).

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Rigor is for Everyone

Do we really believe this? Or is rigor only for honors students, or gifted students, or AP students?  One of the strategies for increasing rigor is to move more students into those classes, and it is a strategy that works.  But if that is the only way to increase rigor, that means that none of the other teachers are capable of rigorous instruction.  And I am a passionate believer that each teacher can incorporate rigor in his or her classroom.  And...each student is capable of rigorous work, since rigor is moving to new levels of learning!  Have a great week.

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  3. Have you looked up the definition of rigor?

    1. a. harsh inflexibility in opinion, temper, or judgment : severity (2) : the quality of being unyielding or inflexible : strictness (3) : severity of life : austerity
    b : an act or instance of strictness, severity, or cruelty
    2
    : a tremor caused by a chill
    3
    : a condition that makes life difficult, challenging, or uncomfortable; especially : extremity of cold
    4
    : strict precision : exactness
    5
    a obsolete : rigidity, stiffness
    b : rigidness or torpor of organs or tissue that prevents response to stimuli
    c : rigor mortis

    Does that sound like what a child's education is supposed to be? As a teacher and a teacher educator I can assure you that rigor has no place in an early childhood curriculum. As a researcher I want my study to have rigor but I do not want my child's kindergarten experience being filled with rigor. There's a difference.

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