Re-imagining 'RIGOUR' with High Tech High Co-Founder Rob Riordan

What picture comes to mind when you hear the word 'rigour?'

Is it a group of students huddled over their exam papers, solving complex math equations for an end of unit test?

Or is it as the Co-Founder of world renowned PBL school High Tech High Rob Riordan describes it: students engaged for an extended period of time in DEEP, meaningful, real-world work?

In this episode, we unpack and re-imagine rigour through Rob's 8 rules:

Rule #1: No rigour without engagement.

Rule #2: No rigour without ownership. 

Rule #3: No rigour without audiences

Discover the other 5 rules and 'rigourous' process students went through to uncover and share stories of forgotten veterans from the community; build homes for struggling artists; and solve a pesky school rodent problem in a more humane way.   

I promise you will see rigour in a whole new light.

Rob's Bio: 

Rob Riordan is a co-founder of High Tech High in San Diego and President Emeritus of its Graduate School of Education (GSE), the nation’s first to be situated wholly in a K-12 environment. A lifelong educator, he has co-developed 14 new schools spanning the K-12 years, focused on equity, innovation, and community. Through the GSE, he has worked with educators around the world to transform the social relations of schooling by fostering project-based, dialogical approaches to teaching and learning. His work is best described in his chapter, “Schools as Equitable Communities of Inquiry” in Sustainability, Human Well-Being, and the Future of Education (2019).

Connect with Rob: rriordan@hightechhigh.org 

Get the Book of High Tech High Projects: 'Changing the Subject'

Reference to Rob's 10 Rules: Rules for Rigour

Take the 12 Shifts Scorecard for Learner-Centered Classrooms: 12 Shifts Scorecard