Don’t trust a good name when it's too good.

I distrust convenient names. For example, does anyone else find it a little too convenient that the fastest man in the world is named Usain Bolt?

Bolt?

C’mon. Doesn’t this just scream of a track and field conspiracy?

I used to feel the same way about Joe Montana, one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play football.

Joe Montana? Has there ever been a better name for a quarterback in the history of the world? And he just so happens to win three Super Bowls?

A little too convenient for me.

Why don’t quarterbacks ever have names like Ned Flendersheld or Eugene Muntz?

Again, conspiracy.

I also distrust alliterative names that people assign to concepts or ideas.  For example, I was recently reading that school curriculum must be “rigorous and relevant.”

Sure. I agree. Rigorous and relevant are good.

But I’m left wondering what words not beginning with the letter R were left out for the sake of alliteration.

Engaging? Differentiated? Student-centered? Scaffolded? Prioritized? Aligned with assessment?

These words and phrases are often used to describe the characteristics of effective curriculum today, but none of them conveniently begin with the letter R.

Were these characteristics left out because they are significantly less important than “rigorous and relevant” or were they simply not alliterative?