Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Rigor, Relevance, and Relationship?
It seems to me that lost in the conversation about rigor and
relevance is the notion of relationship.
However, in my opinion (and I do not know a lot, but I suspect a great deal) it is impossible to develop rigor in the classroom without wielding influence
over your students. This influence cannot
be forced or bought, but it can be earned through consistency and
integrity. When students truly believe
that your desire is to help them attain their desires, then they trust you and
your opinion matters. Influence is a
result of relationship and until you and your students have formed a
relationship and developed a rapport, they will not work for you—much less work
rigorously. Relationship breeds
relevancy and relevancy encourages rigor.
My personal experiences validate my “radical” ideas but others have
spoken about this connection as well.
Visit the link provided below and join the discussion…How is
relationship related to rigor and relevancy?
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I find that this article has many truths in it that I see played out at my high school every day. I came face to face with these ideas my first months here when students were brought in by their English teacher to check out books for class reading. A few knew how to use the library or what they wanted to find. They were easy to help, if they needed any help at all. I approached reluctant students in an effort to offer them appealing choices and was met with "I don't like to read." Any further questions ("What do you do for fun? What movies do you like?") were met with silence or a repetition of "I don't like to read." I put it down to an inability to read and pointed them to the Bluford series: short, easy books with titles like The Bully and The Gun. Six years later this happens sometimes, but less often as I have a better feel for what to offer and hopefully have developed better skills in talking with students who don't share my passion for reading. I regret that we lost a white, male teacher who taught Public Speaking several years ago. He worked with many students from all backgrounds to find their voice and I was amazed that he could get even the most rebellious, gang-like boys to open up about their lives and their feelings. He did this by hearing them clearly and allowing them to express all feelings (as long as it was not negatively directed to others in the class.) It was amazing to watch these kids write about themselves. It made me order books about Tupac and more poetry and offer those to kids who said "I don't like to read."
ReplyDeletePlease accept my apologies in regards to my delayed response. The end of the school year brought testing and the summer brought planning for the upcoming fall and on a cloudy day such as this one, it occurs to me, that I too must endeavor to reflect and connect...I appreciate your thoughtful response to my previous post and I encourage you to continue in your efforts toward a literate citizenry. Thank you and be well.
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