Increasing Rigor and Relevance in the Classroom

Action Research Paper

AR Project Summary (at least 250 words):  I am making some progress on my action research project but have not completed it. There is a huge need for an increase in rigor in the classroom and throughout the research I am finding a lot useful information which I can use the classroom and pass onto my fellow teachers. During one of the department chair meetings there was a big discussion increasing rigor in the classroom; when I went to the Assistant Principal regarding my action research project since I had just moved to my current school district and the topic I was using at my previous school district was not relevant and would not fit for this district. The Assistant Principal suggested I use the topic Increasing Rigor in the Classroom; since increasing is relevant to any district the topic was perfect. I carried it one step further and added by using technology. With the push for my core teachers to use technology in the classrooms, adding technology to show how technology can help to increase rigor will make a great action research project and also a good training topic for the future. This will be something that will be a huge benefit to all teachers and administrators. There is always a need for an increase in rigor and technology in the classrooms, not just the core classrooms, so this topic will be relevant for years to come. Especially with the state always changing the type of testing required for students to graduate. I have at this time spent almost 100 hours on my paper. The research of increasing rigor with technology involves researching not only how to increasing rigor in the classroom but also researching and using different technologies in the classroom for actual results. This has been and still is an ongoing process. Currently, I can say that research has proven that using Prezi's instead of the typical PowerPoint helps to keep students attention. I have also used Prezi's as a way of increasing rigor by having students determine how the affects of using technology increase their learning. This is a way of using analyzing techniques with students. Teaching students to analyze information is critical to learning.