3-2-1 56

• A strategy that gives students a format for writing down both what they learned and what questions they still have about the material. It may be used for lesson closure.

Alphabet Squares / Alphaboxes 14

• Alphabet Squares help reinforce new vocabulary and provide an opportunity for students to reflect on informational or literary text by recording pertinent words on a chart. These words may be used to write a summary of the text.

Anticipation / Reaction Guides 107

• Students are asked to indicate their agreement or disagreement with a list of statements about the topic of a lesson. These statements may be informational (some true and some false), or they may express opinions about the topic. Student responses provide information for both teacher and students about the level and accuracy of their prior knowledge. The guide can be revisited after teaching for students to correct any misunderstandings or to express changed opinions and attitudes.

Big6^TM 95

• The Big6^TM is a structured problem-solving strategy that guides students through six steps from defining the information problem to locating resources, organizing and presenting the information, and evaluating the process. It can be used at any grade level and in any content area.

Carousel Brainstorming / Team Webbing 29

• Small groups of students create group webs or brainstorming lists for a topic and then rotate around the class to view the other webs/lists in order to identify recurring ideas or themes.

Cause and Effect Organizers 57

• Cause and effect organizers are graphic representations that help students determine relationships between and among events. Students describe and/or sequence events that lead to a result, conclusion, or another event.

Choice Boards / Tic-Tac-Toe Menus 60

• Choice boards, a differentiation strategy, provide students with multiple options for processing information by selecting from a variety of tasks displayed on a grid. The tasks may vary by content, process, product, interest, readiness, or learning profile. Choice boards can be used for homework assignments, projects, and assessment.

Circle of Knowledge 34

• Circle of Knowledge allows groups of students to generate multiple answers to an open-ended question in a structured brainstorming session. May be used for review or reinforcement.

Co-op Co-op 35

• This variation of the Jigsaw strategy involves teams of students becoming experts on portions of a class topic and then teaching, first their team mates and then the whole class, what they have learned.

Colorful Words 86

• Students identify rich, colorful synonyms to replace simple, common words. They then rank the words in terms of intensity of meaning by using strips of colored paper.

Concept Attainment 99

• This strategy asks students to categorize and group objects or ideas based on common traits. Students compare and contrast examples that contain the attributes of the concept with examples that do not contain those attributes.

Concept Map / Mind Map 24

• A concept map or mind map is a type of web diagram that is used to organize knowledge and show relationships among the parts of a complex topic. The map can be used to access prior knowledge, to integrate new knowledge, and to review at the conclusion of a unit.

Corners 26

• Students choose one of four possible answers to a question or a statement of opinion. They gather with like-minded students at a designated corner of the room and discuss their choices providing clarification and support.

Criteria Grid / Decision-Making Model 105

• This graphic organizer is used for consensus seeking or evaluation of several items, ideas, or potential actions.

Cubing 67

• Cubing is a differentiation strategy that encourages students to think about a topic or idea from many different perspectives. It allows for student choice in selecting the content, the process, or the product.

Curriculum Compacting 93

• Curriculum compacting is a differentiation strategy that provides acceleration or enrichment opportunities for those students who have mastered specific content or skills that still need to be taught to the rest of the class.

Developing a Cooperative Classroom Community 45

• The cooperative classroom is a democratic environment in which students feel free to take risks, express their opinions, and form collaborative relationships with peers. Through established class routines and clearly defined behavioral expectations, the class becomes a safe and productive community which respects and values differences.

Experiential Exercises / Simulations 9

• Experiential exercises are short, memorable activities used to make abstract ideas or remote events accessible and meaningful to students. They allow students to physically and emotionally participate in the content material, making learning more engaging and more likely to result in long term retention.

Find Someone Who / Walkabout Review 54

• An interactive strategy that can be used to help students get acquainted with each other and also to review information and concepts at the end of a unit.

Fortune Teller Manipulative 79

• A folded paper manipulative that can be used as a review game.

Human Graph 112

• This “pre-speaking” activity allows learners to express their opinions simultaneously. For example, the teacher names a food item (chocolate) and students form a line beside a sign that best indicates their feeling about the item named: "I love it! I like it. It’s okay. I don’t like it. I hate it!" As students line up beside the various signs, they form a human bar graph.

I Have . . . Who Has? 36

• A game to review factual knowledge and build fluency featuring a series of domino-style cards each with an answer and a question. Students match answers and questions either individually or in teams.

Information Gap Activity 97

• Pairs of students use oral language to exchange information provided on a resource grid. Each student has a different set of information, and both must use effective questioning to elicit the details from their partners.

Inside-Outside Circle 111

• Overview During this strategy, students form two different circles: half of the group stands in a circle facing outward while the other half forms a circle around them facing inward. Students exchange information until the teacher signals the outer circle to move in one direction. The students now have a different partner with whom to exchange.

Interactive Lecture 94

• This type of lecture provides opportunities for all students to actively engage with and process information through a variety of activities interspersed throughout the teacher talk segments.

Interactive Student Notebook 46

• The Interactive Student Notebook is a way of recording and organizing classwork that utilizes many strategies. Students use the notebook for lesson previews, class notes, and closure activities. They are encouraged to graphically embellish their notes with diagrams and highlighting and to personalize the entries by expressing questions, feelings, and reactions to the content. The notebook provides a key study tool for unit assessments. It also helps students who frequently misplace class resource sheets and notes to become more organized.

Jigsaw 30

• A cooperative learning strategy in which students first become individual experts on portions of a topic and then collaborate in groups so that all members learn all parts of the topic. Like a jigsaw puzzle, each student contributes a piece of the information required for all to fully comprehend the material.

K-W-L-S 74

• The initials of this graphic organizer stand for "Know", "Want to know", "Learned", and "Still want to know." It is used to help students access prior knowledge, motivate them to learn the lesson material, review what was learned in the lesson, and explore what questions remain about the lesson content.

Learning Centers / Learning Stations 68

• A learning center is a classroom area that contains a collection of activities or materials designed to teach, reinforce, or extend a particular skill or concept.

Main Idea Table 101

• This graphic organizer shows the relationship between examples and a main idea. Just as a table is supported by its legs, so is the main idea supported by specific details. The organizer can be expanded to include space for references or substantiating details.

Mix-N-Match 48

• A strategy that allows students to move around the room and interact with classmates while learning or reviewing material. Could also be used as a pre-assessment tool.

Numbered Heads Together 32

• A cooperative learning strategy in which students discuss answers to questions in small groups before reporting out to the class when called on by number. The groups must ensure mastery of material by all members.

P.L.A.N. - A Reading Strategy for Informational Text 92

• P.L.A.N. (Preview, Locate, Add, Note) is a four-step active reading and study strategy that students can use before, during, and after reading informational text to improve comprehension and retention.

Pictographs / Picture Graphs 55

• This type of bar graph depicts data using symbols or pictures to represent quantities.

Picture Word Inductive Model (PWIM) 100

• This strategy helps students increase their sight word vocabulary through labeling pictures, reading and generating words, and developing skills in analyzing the mechanics of written language. Students gain vocabulary skills in context while learning content-specific information.

Placemat 50

• This strategy provides a structure to assist students with group brainstorming or reaching a group consensus on a question or topic.

Problem-Solution Organizer 103

• This graphic organizer encourages students to state problems and goals clearly, examine alternatives, and offer reasons for chosen solutions.

Problem-Solving Groupwork 47

• Students work in groups and use higher-order thinking skills to find creative answers to challenging problems. Grouped heterogeneously, students use the multiple abilities of the team to carry out the roles necessary for a successful product or performance.

QAR: Question-Answer Relationships 88

• This metacognitive strategy helps students understand that there is a relationship between a question, a text, and the background of the reader. QAR provides a four-part framework for helping students understand that questions about text will be answered either by what is in the text or by what they already know through their own experience.

RAFT Writing Assignment 65

• RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) is a writing strategy that allows students to demonstrate content knowledge in a creative way. Students take on various Roles (human or inanimate) suggested by the Topic being studied. They select an appropriate Audience and Format and write about the Topic from the perspective of the Role they have selected. This strategy can be easily differentiated to meet the interest and skill levels of students.

Read-Cover-Remember-Retell 81

• A strategy to help students improve their comprehension and retention of informational text.

Reciprocal Teaching 96

• In this comprehension strategy, students and teachers hold a structured dialogue about the meaning of an expository text using four strategies: predicting, question generating, clarifying, and summarizing.

Response Groups 10

• Response Groups enhance class discussion of complex issues by having students work first in small groups where they examine thought-provoking resources and discuss related critical thinking questions among themselves. After the small group discussions, one presenter shares the group’s findings with the entire class. This strategy helps students examine issues in depth and gain confidence in speaking to the whole class.

Roundtable 28

• A small group brainstorming activity in which students take turns suggesting answers or solutions to an open-ended problem.

Satellite Web 104

• A tool which allows students to brainstorm ideas related to a main idea and then add details to each of the sub-ideas.

Send-A-Problem 7

• This strategy involves multiple groups developing several solutions to given problems within a specified time. It can be used to promote discussion, to review material for an assessment, or to stimulate creative thinking.

Sequence Chain 102

• This graphic organizer allows students to display the steps included in a process or the events that make up the plot of a story. It can also be used to determine cause and effect relationships.

Simultaneous Sharing Techniques 53

• Techniques for students to share the products of their small group work with the class.

Sketch to Stretch 98

• Students draw pictures that represent their understanding of a topic, text, or video and share their illustrations with a small group.

Skill Builder 49

• Students work in pairs to complete skill-oriented tasks through dynamic, interactive activities. They practice the skill, receive immediate teacher feedback, and debrief at the end to make connections to content concepts.

Sponge Activities 83

• These activities are used to provide practice with content material during class time that is not involved in direct instruction, such as when the teacher is involved in classroom administrivia or when a student finishes an assignment early. Sponge activities allow for multiple responses to a question.

SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) 84

• SQ3R is a structured study strategy in which students preview expository text, make predictions, set a purpose for reading, read actively, and monitor and evaluate their comprehension.

Stir-the-Class 51

• Stir-The-Class is a cooperative learning strategy that allows students to share information with and receive support from a number of different classmates.

Super3 82

• The Super3 is a simplified information problem-solving strategy based on the Big6^TM model for use by pre-K through grade 2 students. The three steps are Plan, Do, Review.

T-H-C 110

• This is a scientific inquiry version of a KWL.
  • The T stands for "what do you THINK?"
  • The H stands for "HOW will you find out?"
  • The C stands for "now what can you CONCLUDE?"
  

Think-Pair-Share 16

• Think-Pair-Share is a way to engage all students in class discussion. It can result in higher-order thinking because students have time to gather and process their thoughts with one other person before sharing them with the larger group.

Three-Step Interview 17

• Students interview each other in pairs on a given topic and then report on what they learned to the class. This strategy can used for teambuilding, classbuilding, developing an anticipatory set, and summarizing.

Three-Tab Venn Diagram 77

• This variation turns the traditional flat Venn diagram into a foldable that allows students to write examples under the flaps so that it may be used as a study tool.

Tiered Assignments 64

• Tiered assignments are a way to differentiate instruction to address the readiness levels of students. The whole class works on the same content and objectives while completing different assignments at appropriate levels of rigor.

Tiered Questioning 69

• Tiered questioning is a differentiation strategy that asks questions at differing levels of complexity and abstraction. All students answer important questions that require thought. The type of question is determined by the student’s readiness level. Questions for advanced-level learners, for example, should be complex, abstract, and open-ended.

Total Physical Response (TPR) 108

• Total Physical Response (TPR)(developed by Dr. James J. Asher, San José State University, CA) is a method to aid learning second languages. The method relies on the assumption that when learning another language, that language is internalized through a process of code breaking similar to that of first language development. This process allows for a long period of listening and developing comprehension prior to production. Through TPR, students respond to commands that require physical movement, thus linking language and movement.

Two Words 61

• After reading an informational text, students choose two words that reflect their understanding of the content. The words may relate to the events, people, or facts explained in the text, or they may reflect a personal connection between the student and the text.

Value Line 27

• In a value line, participants line up according to how strongly they agree or disagree with some statement/proposition or how strongly they value something.

Venn Diagram 23

• A Venn Diagram is a visual organizer formed of two intersecting circles used to show similarities and differences between and/or among concepts and processes.

Very Important Points 80

• During and/or after reading, students use sticky notes to mark a specified number of significant points in the text. These may be points of interest, confusion, or personal connection. Students must be able to explain their selection.

Visual Discovery 12

• This strategy helps students to construct meaning from images such as photographs, art work, maps, and cartoons, and to apply that knowledge to the content. Students examine the images in depth, moving from concrete to abstract analysis, in order to sharpen their critical understanding of visuals. Students interact with the projected visual, using movement and “act-it-outs” to bring the visual to life.

Visualizing Text 106

• Visualization is a strategy where readers create images in their minds that relate to a text. It is one of the Seven Habits of Proficient Readers --activating prior knowledge (making connections), determining importance, asking questions, visualizing, inferring, retelling-summarizing-synthesizing, and using fix-up strategies.

Watch-Read-Watch-Read (W-R-W-R) 72

• Watch-Read-Watch-Read (W-R-W-R) Students are prepared to watch a short clip from a movie (3-5 minutes) allowing them to see enough to understand targeted parts and to want to continue reading the novel. Students are directed between the movie clip and the text of the novel. The teacher specifies critical elements of the movie clip that students should look for when viewing, such as setting, types of homes, physical appearances, prediction, vocabulary, problems and solutions.

WebQuests 87

• A WebQuest is a differentiation strategy that is student centered and inquiry based. A high-interest scenario presents a challenge for students to locate information on the Internet in order to solve a problem or answer an authentic question.

Word Sort 18

• In small groups, students work with 10-20 key words from a reading selection, sorting them by either teacher-determined or student-determined features.