Now you may think, "How can anyone talk about rigor for 6 hours, and how exciting can that be?"
To be honest, those were my thoughts going into the training. Part of my skepticism probably came from the fact that I wasn't too thrilled about getting up early once again this morning. Seriously, it's my second full week out of school, and I've only been able to sleep in twice? However, I ended up enjoying the training and actually ended up getting a lot more than I thought out of it (and I don't just mean the delicious lunch, which was 3-courses and included chocolate cake).
The presentation was by Dr. Barbara Blackburn, who has written several books including Rigor is Not a Four-Letter Word. If you ever get a chance to hear her speak, I definitely recommend it. She is not just some researcher that is out of touch with anything that goes on in schools: she has actually been there, and taught at all grade levels. So the advice she gave us wasn't just some ridiculous concept thought up by some person that has never stood in front of a classroom of children before--it actually works!
What she wanted us to understand from this session was that rigor does not mean giving kids more work, or grading harder, but getting them to think more deeply about subjects, and giving them the support they need so that all students are actively participating in lessons. Her definition that she gives in her book is this:
"Rigor: 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).
Basically, the focus is on quality, not quantity. Strategies that she suggested for increasing rigor are things many teachers probably already do, but just don't realize that it does increase the rigor of their instruction. For example, having students give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to answer a question, so that everyone is engaged. Have the students create review questions for Jeopardy games instead of the teacher creating all of the questions. If you give true/false tests, don't just let the students answer with true or false: have the students correct the false statements to make them true. Do a "Think-Pair-Share" and have students share out to the class what their partner said. Simple gestures like this increase rigor by making students be involved in learning and by getting to think more deeply about their learning.
Something she said that got me to thinking is that in order to increase rigor, we must raise our expectations for all students. As teachers, of course we will say that we have high expectations for all students, but do we always demonstrate it? As they say, actions speak louder than words. Blackburn said that in order to show students that we have high expectations, we need to make sure we are asking high-level questions, only accepting high-level responses, and using supportive rather than dismissive language. I think something I would like to pay attention to in my class next year is what sort of responses I allow from my students. Am I allowing them to answer with just one word? If so, I need to work on encouraging them to think deeper and help them expand their responses. I want to raise the bar for my students next year and get them to the point where they can give meaningful answers to my questions. I also want to work on using more techniques to make sure all of my students are involved and engaged in each lesson, and that I'm not just calling on the same people all the time.
If you want to know more about what Dr. Blackburn says about rigor and some of the techniques she suggests to increase rigor, then go to her website (www.barbarablackburnonline.com) or read one of her books. Better yet, go hear her speak!
What do you do to increase rigor in your classroom?
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