Post #6, Reflections on Teaching this semester: Rigor

I used to think rigor meant a lot of work. 

That means I have to grade it, and sometimes it does become busy work and excessive. I require short discussion posts about certain assignments, and I warn them to keep it to two sentences. "You don't want to write more and I don't want to read it." They get the point.

Rigor means justifiable high standards, communicated clearly, with consequences but also access to needed resources. 

Justifiable high standards: Writing should be reader-ready. I teach writing, so superficial mistakes are unacceptable. There are abundant tools to avoid it. 

Communicated clearly: Transparency in teaching and learning is a valuable practice. Look it up. But don't, like me, overexplain. 

With consequences: See my Revise and Resubmit  post earlier. 

Access to needed resources: How I define equity. It is unfair to assign a task that not everyone has the tools to complete--if they put the effort in.  I believe in the meritocracy of hard work. 

Now, these posts are supposed to be about me reflecting, and reflecting is not about admiring one's reflection in the mirror but adjusting--combing hair, getting the spinach out of one's front teeth.  

I am making it an intentional point to make resources available and accessible. It's hard sometimes--how many times do I have to remind them? Well, after the first high-stakes assignment and either success or failure, that's probably enough. They should get the feedback to make a decision, and then the reminders are just nagging. 

Which brings us to the feedback issue. There is such as thing as too much feedback.  Feedback should be focused based on the material covered to this point, not everything that might be covered in the course. If the focus of the course so far has been unity and coherence, maybe feedback about use of examples is not well timed. Just saying. I tend to give way too much, and holding back helps. 

I have learned the value of LESS IS MORE and JUST IN TIME in teaching. It took me a while. I am a slow learner.

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