Description
Looking for an engaging professional development session that teachers can immediately apply in their classrooms?
Increasing Rigor in Every Classroom: Moving Beyond Harder Work to Deeper Thinking is a ready-to-use teacher professional development presentation focused on strengthening Tier 1 instruction through deeper student thinking.
This PD helps teachers rethink what rigor actually means. Instead of equating rigor with more homework, longer assignments, additional worksheets, or harder vocabulary, teachers explore how rigorous instruction gives students opportunities to explain, justify, defend, compare, analyze, create, and solve problems.
Throughout the presentation, teachers examine practical examples of low-rigor versus higher-rigor questions and tasks in multiple content areas. They learn how small changes—such as moving from “What is the answer?” to “How do you know?”—can significantly increase the level of student thinking without completely redesigning a lesson.
The PD also includes an interactive “Rigor Makeover” activity. Teachers work in grade-level teams to examine one of their own lessons and identify opportunities for students to explain, justify, compare, defend, analyze, or create. They then improve one question and one activity within the lesson.
A Rigor Quick Checklist gives teachers a practical tool for reflecting on future lesson plans and identifying where deeper thinking can be added.
This professional development is ideal for whole-staff PD, PLC meetings, grade-level teams, instructional coaching, new-teacher training, or school improvement days.
The goal isn’t to make learning harder. It’s to make thinking deeper—and create opportunities for every student to engage in meaningful, rigorous Tier 1 instruction.
