Rigor. It is a word that both drives and terrifies modern educators. We often hear the word, “rigor,” and we immediately think of difficulty. I would argue that rigor is more a measurement of grit. Grit is the ability to stay tenacious-the resiliency of a student. As one philosophy in education puts it, our job as American educators is to make "gritty kids." I like that idea-that our learners aren’t going to be able to coast through life and get a medal for showing up. They will indeed face adversity. It’s their reaction to that adversity that defines them as a person, not their avoidance of it. The best way to show this is through modeling. A teacher who lives it can preach it. If you can’t live it, then you have some difficult choices to make about your place in public education. In addition to presenting oneself to students, it is the all-important job of an educator to consider the rigor of their learning. Say it with me: Increased rigor does not always mean increased difficulty. Rigor is simply the idea that students must struggle with their work at an appropriate level. Take the two-stage exam: this assessment method involves giving students an individual exam, then re-distributing the same set of questions for groups to work on and submit. All members of the small group must agree on the process and final answer before submitting. Naturally, this leads to (healthy) debate and the students’ defense of their procedures. Is the work inherently more difficult? Not at all, because the content has not changed. What has changed, however, is the tenacity with which a student must defend or explain his or her point. The rigor has increased, without raising the difficulty one little bit. This has been proven with research. In one example, professors at Harvard decided to approach their course from a different perspective and modify their assessments. Using the two-stage exam, they were able to increase student affect towards the subject matter (physics, in this case) and the process of learning about it. The full video can be found below. It can boil down to a much simpler concept: Students who are more engaged tend to learn at a higher rate and degree than those who are not as engaged. While some of you are undoubtedly rolling your eyes and saying, “I already know that,” consider this: Have you examined the rigor of your class(es) lately? How are you measuring student success? Do you afford your students opportunities to collaboratively assess (and evaluate their own engagement)? If not, then now might be the perfect time to consider upping your rigor and how you engage your students in rigorous learning. Of course, I’m not talking about just increasing the difficulty-‘harder’ work is not ‘better’ work. How tenacious must a student be in your class? Engaging students in rigorous learning means allowing them to see adversity and react appropriately. Be sure to let your students struggle with their work. You may just be surprised at the results. If idle hands are the devil’s workshop, I’d hate to see what would happen to an idle mind… Here's a link to the video I referenced earlier: Assessment to Improve Student Learning: Transforming a Large Physics Course at Harvard
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