To help educators work together to have some focused conversations about what rigor must mean, John Wink whipped up this table comparing what it is and what it isn’t. His hope is that all educators within an organization will have meaningful discussions about rigor and create a common understanding, so that together they could make a rigorous school instead of rigorous classrooms.
rigor
The Toxic Culture of Education [VIDEO 17:02]
Joshue Katz contends that we have created a “Toxic Culture of Education” in our country that is damaging students, impacting our economy, and threatening our future. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, we have embraced a culture of high stakes testing and are perpetuating a false sense of failure in our schools by created by private education interests who have identified a supervillain of its own creation. The solution lies in a common sense approach to student development, curriculum choice, career exploration, and relevant data analysis. This talk will present a vision of an education system that allows us to embrace our full potential if we only had the courage to ask “Why Not”?
Teacher Prep Programs Require More Rigor
Reposted from the Chronicle of Higher Education:
Are teacher-training programs rigorous enough? A new study, completed by a group that has long been critical of the quality of teacher preparation, makes the case that they’re not. Education students face easier coursework than their peers in other departments, according to the study, and they’re more likely to graduate with honors.
The report [PDF] —”Easy A’s and What’s Behind Them,” which is to be released Wednesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality—argues that a more-objective curriculum for teaching candidates would better prepare them for careers in the classroom. “We’re out to improve training,” said Julie Greenberg, the report’s co-author, who is a senior policy analyst for teacher-preparation studies for the advocacy group. “We want teacher candidates to be more confident and competent when they get in the classroom so their students can benefit from that.”
The council examined more than 500 institutions and found that 30 percent of all their graduating students earned honors. But when it came to education programs, 44 percent of students did so. It also analyzed syllabi across multiple majors to determine whether their assignments were “criterion-referenced” (that is, explicitly knowledge- or skill-based) or “criterion-deficient” (that is, subjective). It found that criterion-deficient assignments were more common in teacher-preparation classes than in other disciplines.
The Yoda Model – How to Invigorate Students Through Rigor
Reposted from the CORElaborate blog:
One of my favorite teachable moments is a scene in The Empire Strikes Back. Jedi Master Yoda orders his young student Luke Skywalker to “use the force” to lift his X-wing fighter out of the swamps of Dagobah. After unsuccessfully freeing his spaceship, Luke says in exasperation “you want the impossible.” Then, the pint-sized Yoda does what Luke believes is unachievable – he lifts the X-wing out of the water. “I don’t believe it!” Luke says in shock. Yoda sternly replies, “That, is why you fail.”
When I saw this scene as a kid I was in awe of Yoda. How could such a little guy lift something so massive? But, now as a seasoned educator, my gaze focuses on Luke’s reaction. Why does he fail? Was the task too difficult, or was he unprepared for the rigor that Yoda expected of him?
This scene crossed my mind while I attended a recent Common Core training in my district. The trainer, 2014 PSESD Regional Teacher of the Year Amy Abrams, made a differentiation between why something is “difficult” for students vs. how teachers make content “rigorous” for their learners. Abrams said “difficult” was an idea or concept that is way beyond the comprehension or the developmental level of students. “Rigor,” on the other hand, is laying the foundation for students to tackle challenging work that is a step beyond their intellectual level. Perhaps my co-worker Hilari Anderson summed it up best, “rigor is invigorating, while hard is debilitating.”
A School That Ditches All the Rules, But Not the Rigor
Reposted from MindShift:
“How can we make school a joyful experience without sacrificing rigor? What’s the best way to measure true learning? What’s the purpose of school? The founders and teachers at the PlayMaker School (watch the PBS Newshour report by April Brown), an all-game based school in Los Angeles, are asking those big, abstract questions that all teachers grapple with. And they’re trying to find their own answers through their constantly morphing, complex experiment.
Here are their thoughts about these issues, in their own words, on on rigor, measuring learning, reaching standards and the purpose of school.”
Actualization 