Rigor: How to do it Right

I recently finished reading a blog post by my friend Kelly Elmore on rigor.  Perfectly timed, this post shined a light on a dilemma facing me. How can I entice high standards of learning in my students given the realities of time needed to do it? My goal with teaching is to make the most effective educational experience possible for my students.  But my time is limited given the other requirements of academia, such as research and serving on committees. 

So what can be done about it?  Below are my initial thoughts. 

What is Rigor?

Academic rigor is more than just assigning lots of homework, although that’s certainly what some teachers believe.  It is more than just making a class hard, although other teachers believe that too.  Rigor is an outcome – the end result of learning.  It is the achievement of high standards in mastering an academic discipline, with crystal clear understanding of concepts and deep development of skills necessary to use those concepts.  Rigor requires deep, meaningful learning.  

While consistently conducting an exercise can build understanding, that may not follow.  Performing the same exercise over and over, may only re-enforce a rote level understanding of a concept, applying it in limited ways and providing no context.  Performing lots of similar exercises only builds rigor if the context regularly changes and if students see the connections between concepts used in the exercises.  In other words, the students need to apply abstract integrative learning. 

How Can Rigor be Achieved?

In order for me to achieve rigor in my teaching, I need to establish strict discipline and expectations for results both from myself and from my students.  In a conversation I had with my colleague Ravi Paul recently, he emphasized that one of the key features of a great teacher is not just how well students liked his or her class, but also how hard the students felt the class challenged them.  In other words, great teachers set high expectations but provide the structure and effort to help students reach those heights. Similarly, its not enough to set high expectations.  Teachers need to structure the course such that students understand.  

Of critical importance is conceptual rigor – the ability to clearly understand concepts and how to apply them. This is something that I don’t stress enough of in my classes discussions and textbook materials.  Conceptual rigor requires a deep understanding of the terms used. Students need to be able to clearly define those terms, articulate why they are important to them, integrate the concept with other concepts, and be able to provide examples of each.  As I modify my class for next year, adding conceptual rigor should be at the top of my list. 

What about motivation?

Coupled with rigor is the challenge of motivating students.  It isn’t enough to present information and expect students to just absorb it.  They must see how it applies to their life and be motivated to want to learn it.  Rigor can only succeed in a classroom where motivation is present. Properly motivated, students will step up to the challenge of rigorous content, performing the work necessary for understanding. Rigor without motivation leaves students suffering.  

What am I missing?  Is there any considerations of rigor that I should add?  What do you do in your classroom to add rigor?