care | voice | rigor : why all three are essential for a student-centered, learning-centered classroom

Here’s what I know for sure:

1. Every educator’s work is ensuring every student feels cared for, challenged, and heard. None of these are ‘specialist’ topics. * **
2. Learning is built on all three legs: care, voice, and rigor. The table will fall (or tilt) if any one leg is shorter or weaker than the rest. 
3. Too little care impedes progress in children’s voice and academics. Too little rigor impedes a child’s ability to use their voice or feel truly cared for. Too little voice impedes a child’s learning and sense of belonging. These three pieces are interrelated and interdependent.
4. Sometimes I imagine a three-legged race where one leg placed too far behind or ahead of the other two causes the runner to stumble. Other times I imagine a rubber band held by three fingers. Stretching it too far by moving one finger away from the other two creates tension. 
5. When teachers ‘pick a team’ by saying we value ^rigor_voice^choice  it is like picking a single leg in a three-legged race. It doesn’t make sense. Sure, I sometimes wear different hats: teacher, club mentor, or advisor. And sometimes there are different roles: Dean of Academics; Leadership; Student Life. But everyone has to know enough of the ‘other two’ domains to prevent themselves and their classrooms from stumbling.
6. Kids want to feel challenged. Low expectations in service of voice or care inevitably compromise kids feeling truly heard or cared for. 
7. Kids want to feel heard. At some point, authoritarian classrooms don’t achieve the rigor or the care they often are meant to prioritize. 
8. Kids want to belong. Classrooms with weak community get in the way of learning and voice because relationships are an important protective factor for children. 
9. Just as much as not enough rigor, voice, or care ultimately become self-defeating, too much can be counterproductive. Too much rigor can demotivate or silence naturally curious kids. Too much emphasis on consensus can slow progress and create complex group dynamics that get in the way of high-quality learning. Care without rigor or voice can eventually feel hollow and performative. 
10. Getting the balance right is hard – it is a lifetime’s work for every educator. There aren’t any shortcuts or hacks, really. 

*There will always be kids we miss – reflecting on our teaching and those kids is what helps us learn. 

** There is a difference between trauma-informed care and trauma-specific care – the latter is a specialist topic.