Like flies buzzing around our heads, we are constantly swatting at the latest, greatest buzzword in education. By the time the word zooms past our heads, it has already morphed into another irritating version. So, instead of paying attention to what the constant buzzing is telling us, we swat and swat and swat it away until we are frustrated, give up, and head inside. As our grandmothers always taught us, however, you catch more flies with honey. Perhaps, instead of swatting, it is time to try some sweetening. The first record of the word rigor was around 1350 and meant “to be stiff.” Rigor mortis, or the stiffening of a body after death, is not the vision we want in our heads as we think about rigor in education. However, it is sometimes accurate. Rigor has a rocky history in education circles, and the word has bounced in and out of fashion for decades.The tightening of standards and the stiff views of what it means to have a rigorous class often sour our perceptions. It is not ...