I've been struggling to decide what to write as we dive head first into this new school year. Instead of coming up with something mediocre and uninspiring, I'd like to share a few words from one of my favorite educators, Cris Tovani:
Rigor invites engagement. Hard repels it. When learners are engaged in something rigorous, they lose track of time. When the activity is hard, time seems to drag on endlessly. Learners who experience rigor, feel encouraged, self-confident, and have a sense of accomplishment. Hard is often trademarked by discouragement, avoidance, and a feeling that the effort spent doing the activity is a waste of time.
Our beliefs about rigor affect how we approach instruction. For me rigor isn’t tied to quantity or rate. It isn’t about the number of novels I blast through or the number of pages I assign for homework, or even how fast I cover content.
Rigor varies and depends on the learner’s skills and motivation to complete the task. It changes as the learner gains expertise. When it comes to rigor in the classroom, the bad news for teachers is that instead of having one high bar that all students are expected to reach, there needs to be several, adjustable bars that move as learners progress. Most importantly, rigor invites engagement because learners experience success. For me, if students aren’t engaged, I’m a very lonely teacher.
As you work with your teams to design Instructional Roadmaps and individual lesson plans, consider what it is you're asking of students. Is it rigorous, or merely hard?
Source: http://www.literacylabs.org/
Source: http://www.literacylabs.org/
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