Jargon in education is nothing new. Luckily there are so many resources available to make sense of it as it applies to our professional practice. Just check the Dictionary of Educational Jargon to get some clarity, then have some fun with the Educational Jargon Generator. Words are always flying around in education circles. Whether it is in person at events and workshops or in social media spaces, I routinely see conversations play out where educators take a certain stance on the meaning of specific words. Now mind you, I am speaking about education buzzwords and am not discounting the negative meaning of words outside this realm. From my lens I see a great deal of time and energy spent on debating the negative aspects of words that other educators value.
Certain words jump right out at me such as grit, innovation, branding, mindset, future ready, deeper learning, and personalization. Each day various people chime in stating his or her disapproval of such words when an article focusing on its merits arise. Does the meaning in someone’s opinion really matter or is it more about the outcome as it pertains to the learning culture of our schools? Do our students feel the same way about these words as the adults who spend energy discounting them? Maybe I am off base with my thinking here, but I try to find the value in many of the words listed above as I can see how they can relate to a positive school culture.
One word that I want to talk about is rigor. It is this word after all that motivated me to write this post. I have seen many people I respect get pretty fired up about the term. Taken out of an educational context the word rigor can imply being rigid, inflexible, strict, unyielding, etc. With these descriptions, it is no wonder many people dislike the word. I for one don't see it this way, especially when using the term throughout my presentations and work.
I see rigor as a way of framing lessons and learning outcomes at the high end of knowledge taxonomy. Rigorous learning empowers students to develop, have the competence to think in complex ways, and to apply their knowledge and skills. Even when confronted with perplexing unknowns, students are able to use extensive knowledge and skills to create solutions and take action that further develops their skills and knowledge. This is my view of rigor. The definition below pretty much sums it up:
Rigor is NOT:
Rigorous learning is for all students (check out the Rigor Relevance Framework). The perception that rigor only applies to a certain group is near-sighted at best. Herein lies another point of confusion with the word. After all, all students not only deserve, but also should be made to feel that they can handle higher expectations.
Not being flexible with the meaning of educational words and terms seems to be a bit hypocritical. In the case of this post, taking the opposing side of terms that others find value in seems a bit rigid, strict, and unyielding. Words in education are what you make of them. Try to have an open-mind and the inherent value might provide more context for your own work and goals, but more importantly that of your students.
Certain words jump right out at me such as grit, innovation, branding, mindset, future ready, deeper learning, and personalization. Each day various people chime in stating his or her disapproval of such words when an article focusing on its merits arise. Does the meaning in someone’s opinion really matter or is it more about the outcome as it pertains to the learning culture of our schools? Do our students feel the same way about these words as the adults who spend energy discounting them? Maybe I am off base with my thinking here, but I try to find the value in many of the words listed above as I can see how they can relate to a positive school culture.
One word that I want to talk about is rigor. It is this word after all that motivated me to write this post. I have seen many people I respect get pretty fired up about the term. Taken out of an educational context the word rigor can imply being rigid, inflexible, strict, unyielding, etc. With these descriptions, it is no wonder many people dislike the word. I for one don't see it this way, especially when using the term throughout my presentations and work.
The Rigor Relevance Framework
Rigor: A concept either describing an assignment that challenges students to use critical thinking skills or a learning environment that is challenging but supportive and engaging.Rigorous lessons and learning activities ask students to compose, create, design, invent, predict, research, summarize, defend, compare, and justify to demonstrate conceptual mastery and standards attainment. Rigor is quite simply levels of thinking, including
- Scaffolding for thinking
- Planning for thinking
- Assessing thinking
- Recognizing the level of thinking students demonstrate
- Managing the teaching/learning level for the desired thinking level
Rigor is NOT:
- More or harder worksheets
- AP or honors courses
- The higher-level book in reading
- More work
- More homework
Rigorous learning is for all students (check out the Rigor Relevance Framework). The perception that rigor only applies to a certain group is near-sighted at best. Herein lies another point of confusion with the word. After all, all students not only deserve, but also should be made to feel that they can handle higher expectations.
Not being flexible with the meaning of educational words and terms seems to be a bit hypocritical. In the case of this post, taking the opposing side of terms that others find value in seems a bit rigid, strict, and unyielding. Words in education are what you make of them. Try to have an open-mind and the inherent value might provide more context for your own work and goals, but more importantly that of your students.
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