*Teachers—The following
strategies can be implemented into your daily/weekly lesson plans by using
the “Instructional Newsletter” Folder on your school’s Shared Folder.
Download a copy for your files and copy and paste them into your lesson
plan. In addition, you will find a sample template for planning a lesson,
as well as expanded strategies and tips for teaching in the middle school
and for block scheduling. Please contact Donna or Linda if you need more
explanation or would like to share a strategy you use that is not on our
list.
Students--Start
Your Engines!
Just as Harry Wong says what happens on the first days of school will be an accurate indicator of your success for the rest of the year, what happens in the first minutes of your class will indicate your success for the rest of the class period. To be effective, you must be at your door to greet students, as well as have a planned strategy for providing activities that will immediately engage students as they walk in the door. Activities used to start class (which are meaningful to students) provide an “emotional hook,” that in turn fosters attention and learning. This “daily activity” and routine (bellringer, etc.) must be explained and practiced from the first time you meet with your students, so it becomes part of the “procedure” for entering your classroom. Below you will find 65 different ways to begin your class. Plan well and adapt your content for success. Vary your beginning strategies for motivation.
Beginning Your Class (or Have Them With Hello)
1) Admit Slips Students write the answer to a question given by the
teacher the previous day and turn it in as they enter class the next day.
2) Agree/Disagree A formal approach to discussing and researching
issues. As students enter the classroom, they are polled for agreement or Matrix disagreement with a statement/s
and their responses are recorded in a matrix. As class progresses, students
research the topic, and
again their responses are recorded. Finally, small groups meet to discuss the
results and changes.
3) Agree/Disagree Teacher makes or posts a statement
about a controversial issue. The students then line up in proportion to their
agreement or disagreement with
the issue. Can use 5 for strongly agree, 4 for agree, 3 for not sure, 2 for
disagree, 1 for strongly disagree. Tell students
to be prepared to defend their choice.
4) Alphabet Summary Each
student is assigned a different letter of the alphabet upon entering the
classroom and asked to generate a word starting with that letter that is related to the topic to be
discussed. Students share their terms with the class, partner or write it on
paper.
5) Analogies Post
one or more unfinished analogy for students to complete as they get seated. An
analogy is a thinking skill demonstrated by a student when he or
she can give examples similar to, but not identical to a target. Example: Maze : confusing as enigma : _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_,
“I have a Dream” was to the Civil Rights Movement as
__________________ was to _________________.
6) Anticipation Guide Checklist
written by teacher to activate existing knowledge. At the beginning of a lesson
or unit of study, write 3-5 questions or make 3-5 statements about the
topic. Students respond with agree or
disagree. After the lesson or unit of
study is complete, go back to the statements and see if
any students would change their response.
7) Biopoems Poems
written by students about any specific person or object (character in book,
living or inanimate objects). Its purpose is to summarize
student knowledge of topic.
8) Brain Teaser An activity to stimulate thinking
through multiple intelligences. Can be a rhebus, lateral thinking puzzle, 5
minute mystery, etc.
9) Cartoons Introduce a thought,
concept, skill etc. by posting, reading or creating cartoons. Cartoons can also
be cut up and used as a sequencing activity.
10) Classification Create packets or envelops with
cut a part objects or concepts with instructions for students to pick up and
complete as they enter the
classroom. (When objects or concepts are classified, they are grouped with
other, similar things, and the group is given a label.
As a thinking skill, classification requires the application of knowledge. When
students invent their own classifications, they practice discovery and invention along with
being able to apply prior knowledge about the objects or concepts being
classified.)
11) Color-by-Number It’s not exactly
color-by-number. Have a page full of
words on a topic, and at the bottom, have written instructions to color or
circle with particular color. (color or
circle all the verbs red, nouns-blue, etc. or for Social Studies, color or
outline European countries in yellow,
12) Comparing Post or display objects or concepts,
so students can observe or consider the characteristics of two or more, looking
for both similarities
and differences. Can use graphic organizers such as comparison matrix or Venn
diagram or foldables.
13) Comparison Matrix A graphic organizer handed to them
as they enter the classroom or placed where they can pick it up, that can
assist students in gathering information and
comparing objects or concepts.
14) Continuum Upon
entering the classroom students take keywords (can be placed in envelopes or
baggies) and arrange them to form a continuum
based on a variety of criteria. For example, "beaver, rattlesnake, deer,
plankton" would be arranged as "rattlesnake, deer,
beaver, plankton" if asked to arrange according to their preference for
water, and "plankton, rattlesnake, beaver, deer" if asked to
arrange according to size.
15) Contrasting Have display or words posted, etc.
as students enter so they can begin class by exploring or describing differences between objects or concepts.
16) Copying Have diagrams, drawings, text, motions, graphs, etc. posted and students are responsible for reproducing as they enter the classroom. Used to encourage students to look more carefully at something.
17)
Current Events As students enter have them respond
to posted events in recent news in various ways—listing three ways it could
affect them, drawing a cartoon, etc. Use responses for student discussion or student work centers.
18)
Daily An opener activity in which teachers post statements or any
number of daily questions, problems, etc. for students to correct, finish,
explain, etc.
19) Driting As
students enter, have a word or concept for explanation by drawing and writing. Often
used in foreign language classes.
20) Estimating Post questions or problems or put cut up problems in envelopes for approximate answers as an estimation review or introduction to an estimation lesson.
21) Find the Rule Students
are given sets of examples that demonstrate a single rule (like "i before
e except after c.") and are asked to find and state
the rule. You can use examples of a law or theory in math or science.
22) Fishbowl Cut up questions and put in a fishbowl. Have students draw
out one question from a past lesson and be prepared to answer on . your signal after roll call.
You can also use questions for reading and finding the answer in an assigned
paragraph.
23) Flashbacks Design and post one or more questions
made from your subject’s spi’s or skills and use as a daily or bellringer to
start your class.
24) Flow Charts Have students pick up, or hand
to them as they enter, a partially complete flow chart to finish. Flow charts
are graphical depictions of processes or relationships. Typically
flow charts include icons showing particular processes or steps, and arrows indicating
paths.
25) Foldables Collection points or visual
paper activities that help students organize key concepts and information.
Students fold pieces of paper in
various ways to hold their written notes and other information. Great study
tool with multiple uses in all content areas. A Glencoe
resource. (Call Linda Stewart for
examples and more information)
26) Forced Analogy Have
students make analogies by comparing problem term to a randomly selected term
(for example, compare algebra to a cracker). Then use the
new combinations to solve a problem or create something.
27) Frayer Model As
students enter, give them word choices for using this vocabulary development
tool. Students use a graphic organizer to categorize their knowledge
about a word. Squares with 4 to 6 blocked spaces work well.
28)
Gaps Post sentences or
sequences with gaps (missing words, numbers, or symbols) and students are asked
to fill in the gaps.
29) Graphic Organizers Hand
out to students as they enter, or have placed to pick up, a partially complete
graphic organizer. Graphic organizers are visual frameworks to help the learner
make connections between concepts.
30) Hidden Word Game Have
students find a word important to the lesson by posting or passing out
sentences in which a word is hidden. For example: The school mouse ate a cherry for her morning snack. In this sentence
is the hidden word TEACHER (The
school mouse aTE A CHERry for her morning snack.)
31) Hypotheses Have a display, post a problem, or loop a demo through LCD display so students can give a tentative explanation for patterns or observations.
32) Information Transfer This activity needs to be modeled ahead of time or show an exemplar so students know how to perform. This activity involves the changing of information either from a diagram to words or vice-versa. The interpretation of text, diagram or tables is an important skill. Ex. Give students text and have them transfer the information to an organizer made by the teacher or an outline and have them write a paragraph or vice versa.
33) Journal Writing Typically done for a few minutes each day. The writing is done in a notebook and is often used for exploration of ideas of interest to the students or to encourage reflection. Journal writing is typically not graded, and in some instances, is not read by anyone but the student. In other instances, the journal can be used to establish an ongoing written dialog between the student and the teacher.
34) Jumbled Summary Teacher posts or cuts up and places in an envelope randomly ordered key words and phrases from a lesson. Students put the terms and phrases in a logical order to show understanding.
35) Knowledge Rating A prereading strategy designed to evaluate students’ prior knowledge of a topic by having them rate how well they know the content vocabulary words. The vocabulary words are presented and students rate each word with a number—1 know it well enough to define it, 2 think I know it, 3 have heard it or have seen it, and 4 no clue. Teacher can then identify how much prereading instruction will be necessary for critical reading as well as identifying words for explicit vocabulary instruction. It also allows the teacher to differentiate instruction based on a student’s need.
36) KWL "Know,
Want to know, Learn" Students identify what they know about a topic, what
they want to know, and after reading or instruction, identify what they
learned or would still like to learn.
37) Letter Writing Upon entering the classroom students are asked to write a letter to a specific person or place for specific reasons relating to prior lessons. It encourages students to think about a specific audience and practice skills.
38) Listing As
students enter, ask them to make lists of words, objects or ideas. Can be used
to organize thoughts before a writing activity or as
an assessment to demonstrate the ability to recall.
39) Matching Post
on board or individual slips of paper words, phrases, concepts, skills, etc. Making
matches can be done in many contexts. Students
can match words with their definitions or mathematical expressions with their
solutions, etc.
40) Metaphors Give out paragraphs, assigns
pages, etc. for students to find metaphors or create metaphors. Metaphors can
be used as examples
by teachers, or students can form metaphors.
41) Mnemonics Post a list of information to
memorize and give a mnemonic phrase for students to use to remember info
(sentence with words using
the first letter of the key word for memory.
42) Modifying Provide
students as they enter the classroom with models or information that are nearly correct or complete and allow
students to modify
the model or information to make it more complete. Useful in the classroom as a
scaffolding tool.
43) Pop Quiz Give
out pop quiz, an assessment given without notice (graded or non-graded), as
they enter the classroom or display on board. It is sometimes used as a review
(non-graded), and is definitely used to motivate students to study each day.
44) Predictions Display situations or problems so students can make predictions to indicate extended understanding of concepts from previous day or prior lesson.
45) Questionnaires Post or hand out questionnaire as they enter classroom. A list of questions concerning a specific topic in order to gather info to use in helping you plan lessons according to student level and interest.
46) Scanning Assign to each student upon entering class a section, paragraph, page etc. for reading or looking at material quickly to gain an overview of the content. Can note, share with a partner, or discuss with class.
47) Similarities & Differences Either in graphic or symbolic form, representing
similarities and differences enhances students’ understanding of and ability to use
knowledge. Four forms to use are Comparing, Classifying, Creating metaphors,
and Creating analogies.
48) Skimming Use same as scanning. Reading or looking at material quickly to gain an overview of the content.
49) Slip Writing Post
topic so students entering can individually brainstorm on paper to be followed
by sharing of the written ideas in small groups.
50) Spelling Pictures Students copy their spelling words by writing them in a pattern that "traces" a picture, or purchase a professionally done Vocabulary Cartoons appropriate age level package for classroom use. www.vocabularycartoons.com
51) Story Impressions The teacher posts ten to fifteen terms to students prior to reading. These terms appear in the same order that they appear in the reading. Students write a passage using the terms that they think predicts what will happen in the reading. Students share their predictions with others. Finally, students read, comparing their predictions (story impressions) with the reading.
52) Story Starters Entering the classroom, students
are given a prompt or story starter with guidelines for timeframe, length of
writing, etc. Examples of
story starters: A long time ago, the old people say... or, At a time when the
rivers were made of chocolate and wishes could come true... Back in the days when animals
could talk... Here's a story I learnt from an owl. I told it to a king. He gave
me this pin. I want to tell you now the story of … I
will tell you a story which was told to me when I was a little boy/girl. In a land that never was in a time that could
never be...
53) Suggestion Box Useful for collecting any form of anonymous feedback of previous lesson or activity. Student opinions can be regularly collected as part of class activities, or the box could be used in the classroom as an informal method for students to make comments about activities in the classroom. Often most effective when paired with the Admit Slip/Exit Slip approach.
54)
Surveys Hand
out a mini-survey at the beginning of a unit, topic, etc. that asks for
opinions and knowledge concerning the subject material.
55) Transparencies Transparencies
may be used during direct instruction as a guide to the teacher, to allow them
to eliminate using separate lecture notes, and also as a means
to quickly show many graphics. Other uses of transparencies include:
presentation of quizzes, problems of the day, jokes,
cartoons, and to present problems that can then be turned over to students to
complete for the class.
56) Unknown Objects Display
an object in class that students are unlikely to recognize. Ask students to
write three questions they want to ask about it. Can be
used as writing or discussion prompts, as subjects for an investigation, or
even in an art class.
57) Venn Diagrams Display partial Venn Diagram and have
students fill in the rest. It is a form of graphic organizer commonly used in mathematics and
comparisons.
58)
Vocabulary List Give students a word or a list of
words and discuss briefly to familiarize them before they begin the
lesson, story, or unit.
59) Want Ads Have students write want ads. Varieties include "historical," "humorous," and as a famous character.
60) What Is It? The
teacher displays an object in class that is unfamiliar or has some historical
significance. Students are asked to identify the object,
describe how it might have been used, or how it might be related to the topic.
61) Word Associates Require students upon entering class to identify
which word or object is different from a series of others. Students then make a general
statement to link the other words or objects. It requires higher-level thinking
skills and help students identify relationships between words while recognizing categorizing factors.
Examples: In these groups, which one
does not belong? Explain why. •
62) Word Search Especially for spelling words or
topic vocabulary. Go to http://www.puzzlemaker.com/
to create your own word search to start class.
63) Word Sort Have
Word Sort packets or envelopes ready for students as they enter the classroom
or display on board. Organizing and classifying
words so that relationships among words can be seen is the goal of word sorts.
A word sort activity requires students to categorize words. In open sort
activities, the way of sorting words is not given ahead of time. Rather,
students are given words to write
on index cards and told to group the words together in some way. Then they
discuss the different ways they grouped the words
and the reasons behind their groupings. In closed word sorts, students are told
how to group the words. You might say, "Sort the
words according to whether they are places in
64) Wordsplash Prepare
a collection of key terms from a written passage which the students are about
to read and give as they enter the class. The
terms selected represent important ideas that the teacher wants students to
attend to when they actually do the reading later, but initially the
students' task is to make predictive statements about how each of the terms
relates to the title of the reading. Display
selected terms randomly and at
angles on a visual (overhead or chart). Students brainstorm and generate
complete statements
(not just words or phrases) which predict the relationship between each term
and the topic. Once students have generated statements for each term
they turn to the printed material, read to check the accuracy of their
predictive statements and revise where
needed. "Splash" refers to the random arrangement of the key terms
around the topic at the start of the activity.
65) Spotlight
On Similar to
"Student of the Week." The work and background of a single student is
showcased to the class and students are asked to say three
positive things about that person’s work.
Ways to Hook/Present/Explain Your Lesson
Research suggests there are
specific strategies that will increase the likelihood that student attention
will be promoted. For example, the brain is attuned to novelty, so don’t be afraid to try something
new. Hook your students at the
beginning of your lesson with one of the anticipatory set strategies below
providing the mental set that causes students to focus on what will be learned.
It can give students practice and yield diagnostic data for the teacher.
As the teacher, you are responsible for guiding students to identify and articulate what they already know, provide them with ways of thinking about the topic in advance, asking them to compare new knowledge with what they know, asking them to keep notes and/or represent knowledge in nonlinguistic ways, work individually and sometimes in cooperative groups. The method in which you present new material/topics or have students discover new information is fundamental for retention and understanding. The following instructional strategies can be incorporated into your daily lesson plans; use what is appropriate and works for you.
1) Audio Tapes Educational
audio tapes are most often used in language and music classes, but are also
useful in social studies, physical education, and in building
vocabulary in many fields.
2) Audio-visuals Includes
many categories of educational materials including: posters, paintings, slides,
videos, films, and videotapes.
3) Books on Tape Audio
tapes of books that have been read aloud.
4) Cartoon Lecturette Use cartoons that communicate
elements of your lecturette. Display as you make related key points verbally.
5) Chunking A memorization technique. Teacher shows
how breaking information into parts makes it easier to recall. For example,
phone numbers
are broken into chunks which make them easier to remember than if they were in
a 7-digit sequence. Can also be used as
a writing technique.
6)
7)
Compacting This
strategy encourages teachers to assess students before beginning a unit of
study or development of a skill. Students who do well on the
preassessment do not continue work on what they already know.
8) Concept Attainment Inductive model of instruction where students are presented
with examples and non-examples of a concept. Students Model generate
hypotheses and attempt to describe (and sometimes name) the concept.
9) Cueing Various means used by the teacher to
let students know that particular material is important.
10) Days Special days during the school year
when all activities center around a theme. Ex. “Pi Day” on 3/14 or Dictionary
Day on October
16th (Noah Webster’s Birthday).There are many others appropriate to
content area.
11) Demonstrations An activity to show students how things work or how they
happen. Demonstrations are often used in science classes. Some content
appropriate demonstrations/simulations can be found online and shown with LCD
in class.
12) Design Contests In
addition to design contests within the classroom, many corporations sponsor
design contests to encourage creativity and innovation at many levels of
education.
13) Disappearing Write definition on the board. Read
definition to students. Students chorus definition back. Teacher erases a few
words and a Definition student reads out the text
including the missing words. Teacher erases more words and a student reads out
the entire text again.
Teacher continues erasing until there is no text on the board. Students then
write the definition from memory.
14) Film Clips Motion
picture film clips can be used to enhance learning of literature, language, or
historical events.
15) Five Whys? Asking
a chain of "why questions," with each question deeper into the root
cause of a problem.
16) Lecture The
reputation of lecturing has fallen on hard times in recent years. There are
times for which a lecture is good such as: Cognitive
modeling (The lecturer can demonstrate how he or she thinks about a problem.), Conveying
personal enthusiasm for the
subject, and inciting students to active learning where the lecture is the
setting for activities that the students are to do. The lecture is still an
efficient way to present information and can be motivating to the students (if
the teacher can be motivating). But,
as with all good instruction, it is important to get the learners to be active
with their thought processes (active learners), otherwise
you will lose their interest. Lecturing has such a bad rap because it is both
overused and frequently done poorly. A
lecture, used sparingly and done well (key qualifiers), can be
effective. Lectures may include visual aids or note taking.
17) Magazines Appropriate
magazine articles, etc. can be used as a real world source of information.
18) Metaphors Metaphors can be used as
examples by teachers, or students can form metaphors.
19) Mnemonics Any of several techniques or
devices used to help remember or memorize names or concepts.
20) Modeling Teacher
models behaviors or skills.
21)
Newspapers Newspapers can be used as a real
world source of content, or as a product produced by students.
22) Novel Study Packet Before beginning a novel with
students, go through, chapter by chapter, and make an activity sheet for each.
It should include 3-5 short answer questions,
vocabulary words that students need to look up, 3-5 questions to check
comprehension, as well as an activity for each chapter such
as, "Write a poem about this chapter," or "Draw a picture of
your favorite scene," or "Put 5 of the characters' names in
alphabetical order." Then staple the pages together in order to make a
small booklet that each student keeps with him/her as they
read the novel. This takes a lot of preparation beforehand, but the payoffs are
huge! You only have to do this once for each
novel, and then reuse your masters year after year.
23) Outside Experts Outside
experts can be used as guest speakers, volunteers to assist during projects, or
as evaluators of student work.
24) Read Aloud Teacher
reads aloud to the class to improve comprehension, expose students to correct
pronunciation, or to create positive feelings about reading or a
particular book.
25)
The Prime Time, Cont.
strategies can be adapted to all content areas. Use what works best for
you. The following nine categories of instructional strategies have been
proven to advance student achievement: 1. Identifying similarities & differences 2. Summarizing & note taking 3. Reinforcing effort & providing recognition 4. Homework & practice 5. Representing knowledge 6. Learning groups 7. Setting objectives & providing feedback 8. Generating & testing hypotheses 9. Cues, questions, & advance organizers
Window Pane LecturetteDivide a flip chart or overhead
transparency into 4-8 sections. As you lecture, draw or post graphics, symbols
or images in each window pane to illustrate the point you are making.
When you have completed the lecturette, remove the completed window pane. Ask
students to recreate the image in each pane remembering the content associated
with the image. After they have finished, share
with one another and compare to original.
Keeping Your Students Engaged/
Cooperative Learning & Group Activities/Assessments/HOTS
1)
Active Learning
Any approach that engages learners
by matching instruction to the learner's interests, understanding, and
developmental level. Often includes hands-on and
authentic activities.
2)
Acronyms Memory tool. Create an acronym involving a classroom topic. When
the learner is able to recall the first letter of each elements, he/she
will remember the broader info. Ex. ROY G. BIV – Red,
3)
Advertisements Students create advertisements of: 10What they have
learned, 2) How they learned it, 3) What application possibilities the knowledge/skills
have. They post their advertisements. They go shopping tour and jot down notes
they wish to remember.
4)
Agendas These are personalized lists of tasks that a student must
complete in a specified time, usually two to three weeks. Student agendas
throughout a class will have similar and dissimilar elements
5)
Agree/Disagree Teacher makes a statement about a controversial issue. The
students then line up in proportion to their agreement or Line-Up disagreement
with the issue. Teacher has signs which say (strongly agree, strongly disagree)
Students discuss with the person
next to them why they took the position they did. Examples of appropriate
questions include if stem cell research should be legal in
the
6)
Agreement Circles Used to explore opinions.
As students stand in a circle, facing each other, the teacher makes a
statement. Students who agree with the statement step into the circle.
7)
Analogy Make analogies by comparing problem term to a randomly
selected term ( for example, compare algebra to a cracker) Then use the
new combination to solve a problem or create something.
8)
Alternative Any of a variety of assessments that
allow teachers to evaluate their students' understanding or performance.
Examples Assessments include: portfolios, journals, and authentic assessments.
9)
Assumption Smashing List assumptions, then eliminate one. What might happen? (for example,
"All forms of transportation are now free." What is the effect on society?)
10)
Author's Chair
Students sit in a chair at
the front of the class and present their work to the class.
11)
Autobiographies Students
write their life stories or explore the lives of prominent people by reading
published autobiographies.
12)
Autopsies Give students a chance to improve their scores
by doing a test autopsy. They correct their mistakes and then write a half page
reflection on why they did so poorly
and what they should have done differently. They earn a half point for each
corrected answer. For example, if they got 15 out of
25 and did an autopsy correcting them all, their new score would be 20. Test
scores improve and the students are really
taking ownership of their work.
13)
Baggage Claim Pass out index cards or paper with topic or
vocab word written on one side or top as their “suitcase”. Have a silent 3-5
min. for students
to fill their suitcase with written info describing or facts related to card.
Then get up and find a partner to share their baggage
with by taking turns explaining what the “suitcase: contains. Swap cards
(suitcases) and find a new partner to explain and
swap cards (suitcases) with. When you call time, they claim their baggage by
listening to cards read aloud. You can collect cards
for later use.
14)
Barrier Exercise Students
work in pairs. Adapt a crossword puzzle so that each student has some of the answers
and some of the clues and each
student must find the missing clues/answers by asking their partner. Each
member of pair is given the puzzle, which the other member cannot see because of a
barrier such as a low cardboard screen on a desktop which is put between the
two students.
This activity allows students to practice vocabulary related to a new topic.
15)
Basket Stories With
students in small groups give each group a basket with three kinds of objects
from nature (flat leaves, sticks, stones...), 3 colors of paper, cut up into
small squares, and pens. Discuss sequencing words (first, then, next,
finally...) and common story endings
and beginnings (once upon a time, once long ago, in a land far from here .. was
never seen again, still lives there today...)
On the pieces of paper, students write the name of an interesting place,
past-time actions or events, and character
names.
Now, one by one, students tell stories! To create story, s/he first reaches
into the basket and pull out a
"person". This is main character in story. Next,
pull out a "place". Whenever storyteller gets stuck, a new action is
pulled out. Continue at least 4
different items have been taken from basket. All items taken from the basket
must be used in the story. When the first storyteller is done, all prompts go back
into basket, and next storyteller begins. Add as many places, characters, actions,
or objects
to the baskets as you wish. Short cut: bring the baskets already made up.
16)
Basketball Write at least 25 ‘easy’ review questions. Write at least 25
‘hard’ review questions. Buy or make a small (3-4 inches Review
Game diameter) ball or you can
make one with a paper wad in the middle surrounded by a few layers of masking
tape. Set up the room with a garbage can in the
front. This will be the ‘basket’. Place a piece of masking tape on the floor
approximately 3 feet from the basket and place a piece of tape on the
floor approximately 8 feet from the
basket. Divide the students into two teams. Explain that each student must answer the questions given to them.
Easy and hard questions will be evenly interspersed. Keep score for the
questions. Easy questions are worth 1 points each and hard questions are worth
2. If a student gets an easy question
correct, they have a chance to shoot for an ‘extra point’. They will shoot from
the tape mark that is furthest from the basket. If a
student gets a hard question correct, they have a chance to shoot for an ‘extra
point’. They will shoot from the tape mark that is closest to the basket.
Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins.
17)
Beach Ball A fun way of setting a purpose for reading. A question is
written on each section of the beach ball.
Questions Class forms a large
circle. The teacher calls out a name and tosses ball to the student. Student
chooses to answer any question
on the ball. The student then calls out another students name and tosses
them the ball. That student may choose to add
to the last answer or to answer a different question. Continue until all
questions have been answered. (Example of questions:
What is the title and who is the author of the story? Who are the main characters? How does the
story begin? What happened
in the middle of the story? How does the story end? What was your favorite
part?
18)
Bingo 1 Students write down six words about
topic or from vocabulary list. The teacher says a word. Students cross through
the word if they
have it. First person with all six words crossed out is the winner.
19)
Bingo 2 Students
write six words from vocabulary of the topic. Teacher calls out the definition.
Students cross off word if it is on their list.
First person with all six words crossed out is the winner.
20)
Bingo Cards The
website below will allow you to make and print bingo cards for your class. You
can purchase plastic marks or make your own.
http://teachers.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/bingo/
21)
Bio-Poem Individually written poem by answering questions or
completing prompts to write a poem.
22)
Book Reports
A factual, written summary
of a book. Can be in creative forms such as poster, brochure, etc.
23)
Brainstorming
Group process where all ideas
are accepted and recorded. This is a great strategy for motivating students at
the beginning of a unit of study. For example, “Tell me everything you know
about the water cycle.” Students like to
see their response on board.
24)
Brochures Students research a topic
then create a brochure to explain the topic to others.
25)
Buzz Sessions
Small, informal group
discussions.
26)
CAI Computer-Assisted Instruction; Students learn at own pace
with interactive computer programs.
27)
CATs Classroom
Assessment Techniques: Simple, in-class activities that give both you and your
students instant, useful feedback on
the teaching-learning process. They can be in the form of oral responses,
written responses, or signals. Everyone responds at the same time. Example of oral response: “Class, when I say
Tell Me, I want everyone to say the name of this figure. Ready,
Tell Me” - Use thumbs up / thumbs down for True / False
questions; Agree or Disagree Cards, etc.
28)
Capsule Vocabulary A teaching strategy to explore
vocabulary. Students listen to, speak,
write, and read words related to a particular topic. These topically related words (using
approximately six words works best) are presented one at a time by the teacher,
who writes each word on the board, briefly tells the
students about the word. After all the words have been introduced have each
student copy the words onto a sheet of paper.
Pair the students and give each pair a limited time (3 - 5 minutes) to try to
use the words in a conversation about the topic.
Students should check off the words as they're able to sneak them into the
conversation. Finally, students write a paragraph about the topic in which they
use as many of the words as possible.
29)
Carousel Teacher generates X number of
questions for topic and writes each question on a separate piece of poster
board or chart Brainstorming paper. (Note: The number of questions
should reflect the number of groups you intend to use during this
activity.) Post questions sheets around your classroom. Divide students
into groups of 5 or less Direct each group to stand in front of a homebase question station. Give each group a colored marker for writing
their ideas at the question stations. (Use a different color
marker for tracking each group.) Inform
groups that they will have X number of minutes to brainstorm and write ideas at
each
question station. Students rotate around
the classroom in small groups, stopping at various stations for a designated amount of time. While at each station, students will discuss
posted topics or different aspects of a single topic through conversation with peers. When time
is called, groups will rotate to the next station in clockwise order. Numbering the stations will make this easy for students to
track. Before leaving the final question station, have each group select
the top 3 ideas from their station to share with the
entire class.
30)
Cause and Effect A visual representation of what happened and why.
Students write what happened and why in first box or circle; In the second box Graphic Structure they tell what
happened and why as a result of the events of the first box; this continues
through the reading to show the relationships
of the various events.
31)
Chants Rhythmic text, repeated
orally by individuals or a group to improve recall.
32)
Choice Boards With
this strategy, work assignments are written on cards that are placed in hanging
pockets. By asking a student to select a card from
a particular row of pockets, the teacher targets work toward students needs yet
allows student choice.
33)
Choices Offering students a choice between two alternatives is a
simple technique, but it's very
motivating. The reality is that human beings
prefer choices to singular dictation.
Young people like to exercise their freedom of choice, such as, "Which
kind of project do you prefer - written or
oral?" These are motivators of
choice - and choice works. Remarkably, this approach works equally
well for both large and small issues.
34)
Choral Response In response to a cue, all students
in the group respond verbally at the same time. The response can be either an answer
or a question,
or to repeat something the teacher has said. Often used in repeating of
computational facts or vocabulary.
35)
Chunking A dividing strategy providing students with the ability to
break the text into shorter, more manageable units. Teacher models and instructs
in determining appropriate “chunking: indicators (i.e., examples, transition
words, and paragraphing) to lead students’ independently chunking the text. Method for memorizing lists, numbers.
Works best when the order of the items is not important. Keep chunks to 5-9.
36)
CIR (Cooperative Integrated Reading) A cooperative approach
to reading in which students work in pairs for practice and to prepare for assessments.
Teacher-administered assessments are not taken until the student's teammates
decide they are ready for the assessment.
37)
Class Publication Students collaborate to
create a written work to be published. Formats might include: magazine,
newspaper, brochure, map, newsletter, or yearbook.
38)
Clock Partners Distribute a handout with a clock on it or lines for
appointment times. Ask students to make “appointments” with peers. You can sign up
for a specific time if appropriate) Periodically during class, you ask students
to find their ___o’clock appointment to meet and discuss what has been taught.
39)
Cloze Procedure An activity created by the teacher
to give students practice with language usage. The teacher selects a passage of
text, marks out some of the words, then rewrites
the text with blank lines where the marked out words were. The result is a
"fill in the blank" that should be enjoyable for
the student while at the same time giving the teacher information about the
student's language skills.
40)
Clue Group problem-solving with each team
member given a different clue.
41)
Clustering Graphic way of organizing concepts
proposed during brainstorming. Similar to concept-mapping.
42)
Co-op Cooperative learning method where
teams work to prepare and present a topic to the whole class.
43)
Collaborative Learning Any kind of work that involves two or more students.
44)
Collages Students gather images (clippings
from magazines, photographs, or their own drawings) and organize them to
illustrate a concept or point of view.
45)
Competitions Competitions can be useful in
motivating some student to learn. Team competitions especially effective in the
classroom if they are tied to a collaborative practice
or review activity before the competition.
46)
Concentration Pairs of cards are created (name of
concept on one, description on other for instance). Students take turns. On
each turn student chooses 2 cards from face-
down arrangement. Students keep pairs which they correctly identify as
matching.
47)
Concept Map A graphic organizer used to represent related concepts and ideas. It
gives students a visual “map” of the organization of ideas/concepts.
Concept maps help students understand difficult passages of text through
organization of the main ideas presented in the material.
48)
Connect Two Select
49)
Cooperative Learning Technique for grouping students for learning including five
defining elements: 1.Positive interdependence (a sense of sink or swim together),
2.Face-to-Face promoting interaction (helping each other learn, applauding
success and efforts), 3.Individual and group accountability (each of us has to
contribute to the group achieving its goal), 4.Interpersonal and small group
skills (communication, trust,
leadership, decision making, and conflict resolution), and 5.Group processing
(reflecting on how well the team is functioning and
how t function even better). Vary criteria and patterns for grouping, manage
size, and don’t overuse. See more in Marzano’s Classroom
Instruction That Works.
50)
Cooperative Review Groups take turns asking other
groups questions. Often conducted as a game where points are awarded.
51)
Corners A cooperative structure that enables
students to choose and discuss a particular dimension of a topic. Post
different dimensions of a topic in designated
corners of the room. Examples may
include –Who is your favorite character?; What region would
you most like to study?, If you were the leader of your country, which issue
would be your top priority? Each student selects a particular dimension in
response to a question asked by the teacher and moves to the appropriate
corner. Once in their
corner, students pair up to discuss the reasons for their choice. After
discussion, the teacher randomly selects pairs from each corner to report their thinking
to the class.
52)
Crazy Definitions For
this activity it's not essential that everyone have a complete understanding of
each term, but at least a few have some idea.
Pick several terms that have the best potential to be misunderstood. Tell the
students to each take a piece of paper and rip
it into eighths, putting their name on each scrap. Call out the first term.
Students have one minute to write its definition. If someone does not know the
term, they still have to write a creative definition that would be likely to
fool someone else. When the
students are done with their definitions, they walk silently up to the teacher
and turn it in. At this point, the teacher should be
choosing four of the slips: three incorrect versions and one that is correct. Read
all four definitions. Tell students that they are
to vote for the correct one. Write the number of votes received on each slip.
Have students tally their own points. Each student
who votes correctly earns the amount of points you assign. The authors of the
four definitions get one point for each person
who voted for the definition. You get some fairly hilarious definitions. What a bonding experience.
53)
Cubing A technique for swiftly considering a topic from 6 points of
view, with the emphasis put on “swiftly” and “6”. Using all six sides of the
cube: 1)Describe it-Look closely, describe what you see. Colors, shapes, sizes,
etc., 2)Compare it-What is it similar to or different
from?, 3)Associate it-What does it make you think of. It can be similar or
different things, different times, people, places, 4)Analyze it, 5)Apply,
& 6)Argue for or against it. Put students in small groups and let them roll
until all are used.
54)
Cues & Questions A technique for activating
prior knowledge in an informal yet effective way. It helps students retrieve
information they already know about
a topic. Cues involve “hints” about what students are about to experience;
questions do similarly. See more in Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works.
55)
Cushioning & Asking Teacher aims to reduce anxiety & maximize a relaxed
open-mind attentiveness by announcing
the study of something new today and
not to feel a need to understand completely right now. Teacher then presents
concept or principle. Then teacher asks students to work on individual questions,
but says “Practice good thinking, “If you get stuck, ask any friend for help.”
56)
Debates Debates are arguments
carried out according to agreed upon rules and used in the classroom to engage
students and help them make connections to the
curriculum.
57)
Discussion Classroom discussions
typically begin with the teacher describing the goal or purpose of the
discussion. Sometimes discussions
may be initiated by the posing of an open-ended question. Teachers can employ a
number of techniques to encourage students to participate in
discussions, including calling on specific people, or assigning students to be
an "expert" or leader
for various parts of the discussion. Many cooperative activities include a
"small group" discussion as teams work together.
58)
Discussion AppointmentsUse a photocopy of a country or
continent, US with states labeled or
59)
Discussion Web An organizer that allows students to look at both
sides of an issue before making a decision based on evidence. Choose a selection
that has potential for opposing viewpoints. (A transparency of the Discussion
Web to be used for class review is helpful.) A
question should be posed and written on the web. Can work with a partner to
brainstorm responses to the question and then get with other partner to
compare or can do individually then compare with another. Spokesperson for
group or call on individuals. See Linda Stewart or
60)
Dramatizing Students act out roles from stories
or historical events.
61)
Drill Practice by
repetition. Often used to reinforce grammar and basic math skills.
62)
Driting Drawing and writing. Used
often in foreign language classes.
63)
DR-TA (Directed
64)
Eight Square Group
activity to gather information on issue/ topic discussed. Students fold a piece
of paper into 8 squares. Student then search around room to find 8 people
who can give 8 different pieces of information. Ex. 8 things you have learned
about Ancient Rome. The person who has added the
information is to sign the section they have added the information to. Debrief
by asking students for the information
they have gathered and who provided them with that information. This can be
recorded on blackboard.
65)
Elevator Speech Small group activity to encourage
sharing of information. Allow preparation time and then student is to give a
one minute speech
on what they have learned in lesson/unit. Change the audience – ex. student to
prepare speech for parent, principal, another teacher
66)
El Zippo Game Used
to review. To prepare, ask students to make up a certain number of questions
and answers based upon what they have been
taught. The next day the students have their notebooks and are ready to begin
the El Zippo Game. It’s called 'El Zippo' because only one person is allowed to
speak at a time and no one can say anything unless the speaker recognizes and
calls upon
them. Teacher starts game by asking a question. Students who know the answer
raise their hands. The student who is called
on and answers correctly takes the teacher's place at the front of the room,
and the teacher moves to the student's desk. Procedure
is repeated with the student asking the question and then moving to the desk of
the student answering correctly.
67)
Envelope, Please An activating strategy
used prior to beginning a new topic. Have topic of the day in envelope.
68)
Envoy Form students into groups to discuss
topic. Select one student from each group to be the envoy. Groups discuss issue
and then the envoy reports to another
group and also listens to that group’s report. Envoy returns to original group
and exchanges new ideas that have been discussed.
69)
Essays A short, written work,
centered on a single subject.
70)
Estimation Lineup An activity designed to
activate students' prior knowledge before new material is presented.
71)
Fan-n-Pick Teacher
prepares questions over content on index cards; Put students in groups of 3 or
4 ; rotate positions Person
1: Fans the Cards
Person
2: Picks and reads a card
Person
3: Answers the question
Person
4: Responds to the answer, praising it or adding to it (If there's no person 4,
skip it or persons 1 & 2 can do it)
72)
Find Someone Who A variation of the Human
Scavenger Hunt. Usually this activity is used to encourage students to seek out
the students in class who know the answers to specific content
questions. This works most effectively if each student is an "expert"
on a different topic or sub-topic than the others
in the class.
73)
Find the Fib
Team activity where groups
of students write two true statements and one false statement, then challenge
other teams (or the teacher) to "Find the
Fib."
74)
Flash Cards Traditional flash cards are
note cards with a question, problem, or fact on one side, and the answer or a
related fact on the other side. Flash cards can be used
by individual students for independent practice, or can be used by pairs of
students to practice as a team. More recently,
online flash cards have appeared on the Internet. Online flash cards take many
forms, but typically include either a box where
you can type in your answer, or have sets of answers to choose from.
75)
Focused Practice Important technique for practicing a complex, multistep
skill or process, such as the research process, scientific inquiry, or the writing
process. For example, in writing focusing on writing better conclusions, etc.
76)
Foldables Paper folding activities that can be implemented into the
classroom as reading, study, and assessment tools. They can be used in pre-reading,
during, and after reading for study guides, collection points, etc. See Linda
Stewart for math, social studies, and science examples.
77)
Forced Choice
A classroom activity in which a small
number of choices are placed around the classroom and students are asked to
examine all the choices, then stand next to
their choice. Students selecting the same choice then discuss reasons or
advantages and disadvantages of their choice.
78)
79)
Freewriting Freewriting
is a timed activity to stimulate the flow of ideas and words. Students are
given a topic and must write everything they can think of about the topic.
The rules are that students must not stop writing, even if they "run out
of things to say," and they may not do any editing or
criticism during the writing. After the time is up, you can either read the
writing aloud, or scan what you have written and pull out
ideas or phrases you can use.
80)
Games Games can take many
forms, but in the classroom, any activity that involves a competition, social
interaction, and some form of prize or award would be
considered a game. Classroom game activities are typically not graded, and
student participation is based on the desire to contribute to a
team or to individually achieve some prize or recognition. Usually games have
"winners." Ideally, even the "losers"
of the game should feel that the experience was enjoyable. Examples: Hangman,
Battleship, Win, lose, Draw
81)
Generating & Testing Generating and Testing Hypotheses is the most powerful and analytic of cognitive operations. This
technique can be approached
Hypotheses in
a more inductive or deductive manner. Teachers should ask students to clearly
explain their hypotheses and their conclusions by
providing students with templates for reporting their work, sentence stems to
help them articulate, ask students to turn in audiotapes
on which they explain their hypotheses and conclusions, provide rubrics so they
know the criteria on which they will be evaluated
are based on the quality of their explanations, and set up events during which
parents or community members ask to students
to explain their thinking. Six different
tasks include Systems Analysis, Problem Solving, Historical Investigations, Invention, Experimental Inquiry, and
Decision Making. See more in Marzano’s Classroom
Instruction That Works.
82)
GIST Statements This strategy assists students with focusing on the
main idea of the passage. Through class and group discussion, students have the
opportunity to learn how others think as they state their ideas and reasons.
Through this process teachers are able to check
students’ understanding of summarization
and determine if students can pinpoint the main idea. Assign students a short
passage to
read. Then have them write one statement that reveals the “gist” or main idea
of the selection. Discuss with class and have students
write a one sentence gist statement summarizing what the class decided was the
main idea. Extensions: 1.Students engaged in reading
chunked text and writing gist statements after each chunk. After completing the
entire reading, students use gist
statements to write a summary. 2. Have students write gist as a newsflash so
that statement must be able to be read in 30 seconds or less. 3. Create visuals instead
of or in addition to written summaries.
83)
Graffiti Walls A graffiti wall is a variation on
the hot potato strategy. As with hot potato several topics or questions are
written on sheets of paper are posted on the walls or
floor around the room and the students move freely paper and several students
work on each piece of paper at the same time. The
difference however is that the large sheets or in groups from one piece of
paper to the next. Give the students a signal for
when they should rotate.
84)
Graphic Organizers Metacognitive tool in a visual form such as Sunshine Wheel,
Concept Web, Mind Map, Venn Diagram, Ranking Ladder, Fishbone Diagram,
Sequence Chart, Cross-Classification Chart, Right Angle, Pie Chart, and Target.
Also “At A Glance” @ This Week-help kids
get organized; Big Mac Paragraph Format-help kids write; Bingo Cards-printable
bingo cards; and much more at the website below
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/graphic/
85)
Greeting Cards
Poetry writing; Students
design and create greeting cards to share with friends and relatives.
86)
Green Light After
teaching the day's lesson, assign the first part of the assignment. When the
students have completed those problems they
raise their hands and the teacher corrects and puts a green dot on their paper
if they’re ok or a red light if they need to check
their work. Green light means they can go and complete the assignment.
87)
Group Investigation The class is divided into
teams. Teams select topics to investigate, gather information, prepare a
report, then assemble to present their findings to the entire
class.
88)
Group Summary Ask the students to state the important ideas in
what they have read. List the points that the students give in the form of
notes Writing on
the board. Using these notes, guide the class in constructing a group summary
statement. This technique is a natural predecessor to individually created
summaries.
89)
Guided Lecture Students listen to 15 minutes of
lecture without taking notes. At the end, they spend five minutes recording all
they can recall. Next,
students are put in small discussion groups to reconstruct the lecture and
prepare complete notes, using the teacher to resolve questions that arise.
90)
Guided Practice Guided Practice is a
form of scaffolding. It allows learners to attempt things they would not be
capable of without assistance. In the classroom, guided practice
usually looks like a combination of individual work, close observation by the
teacher, and short segments of individual or whole class
instruction. Teacher may pose a problem, students work at desk, teacher moves
around room
checking progress, then works problem on board, teacher assesses mastery.
91)
Hands-On Hands-On means any
instructional activity that is emphasizes students working with objects
relevant to the content being studied. Variations include:
Hands-On Science, Hands-On Math, and so on.
92)
Highlighting
Marking key concepts with
a different color to emphasize importance.
93)
Hot Seat Before class begins, have 3-5 “Hot Seats” selected. Students
sitting in those seats will be asked to summarize yesterdays lesson, tell
the steps in a mathematical solution, etc.
94)
Hot Potato Hot
Potato is a fast-paced group activity where each group is given a sheet of
paper with a topic to brainstorm. On a given signal the papers are passed around
to the next group who read what has been written and add extra ideas to the
sheet. The process is repeated until the papers
arrive back at their starting point.
95)
HOTS (Higher Order Thinking
Skills) In the simplest sense, higher order thinking is any thinking that goes
beyond recall of basic facts. The two key reasons to improve
higher order thinking skills are first, to enable students to apply facts to
solve real world problems, and second, to improve
retention of facts. In addition to the basic meaning of "higher order
thinking skills"
96)
Hot Seat Each row of students is given a stack of cards with words.
The first student to go lays them all out so he/she can see them. The
teacher reads the definition. The students pass the correct card up. Other
students in the row must look and see that it is the correct. The one in
front holds it up and when they do so that row gets a point. Switch at least every 3 points (everybody moves
up one) so one isn’t stuck in the Hot Seat.
Rules: They must be seated at all times, it must pass
through everyone’s hands,
they must be silent before the word is announced, and they must not help the
person in the “hot seat.” You may also try
giving the students cards with definitions, and teacher calls out words. Can
also be used with math problems and solutions
97)
Idea Spinner
Teacher creates a spinner
marked into four quadrants and labeled "Predict, Explain, Summarize,
Evaluate." After new material is presented, the teacher spins the
spinner and asks students to answer a question based on the location of the
spinner. For example, if the spinner lands in the
"Summarize" quadrant, the teacher might say, "List the key
concepts just presented."
98)
I Have – Who Has? Students
each receive a card with a vocabulary word and a definition (not the definition
to the vocabulary word that is on their card).
Students must be familiar with all the definitions so that they know when it’s
their turn. The teacher will start out with a definition and will say out loud, “Who has
the word meaning coming into a foreign country to live?”. The person who has
that vocabulary
word would stand and say, “I have immigration. Who has the word meaning resistance
to disease?” The person with
the word calls out, “I have immunity. Who has….. and so on. This game requires
all students to be paying attention at all times. Kids love
this game. (Can also be used with math problems /solutions.)
99)
“I’m Thinking of a Word” Key words are listed on board. Teacher
has large index cards with words on one side and clues on the other. Give students
Game clues: Ex. Not long after I wake up in the morning,
I become this. Famished is a synonym for
the word. I end with an ‘s’. I have three
syllables.” Students write down their guess on a piece of paper. Then turn the
correct answer toward the group. They in turn hold up their
answer to see if there is a match. (key word-ravenous)
100) Index Card (3x5) Each student gets a 3x5 card. They
are given ten minutes to write anything (as much as they can write) on the card
they wish to remember.
Students pair and compare cards. They can add on to their if they wish. The
cards may be used during “pop” quizzes as
a resource.
101) Inside-Outside Circle Review
technique. Inside and outside circles of students face each other. Within each
pair of facing students, students quiz each other with questions they have
written. Outside circle moves to create new pairs. Repeat.
102) Interviews Interviews
may be by the student or may be a form of assessment of the student.
103)
Jeopardy Like the television game.
Many variations (individual or team competitions). Board with
"answers" is prepared in advance (for overhead
or on large cardboard sheet). Students respond with acceptable
"question."
104) Jigsaw Each student on the team becomes an
"expert" on one topic by working with members from other teams
assigned the corresponding
expert topic. Upon returning to their teams, each one in turn teaches the
group; and students are all assessed on
all aspects of the topic.
105)
Jigsaw II Cooperative activity. Basic
steps: Read with group, discuss individual topic with expert groups, report
back to team (to teach them what you learned in your expert
group), test, team recognition.
106)
Keyword Memory Method In the keyword method, students generate keywords that are
similar to the concepts to be memorized, then put the keywords into an arrangement that can be mentally
"pictured." For example, given the task of memorizing "
107)
Learning Centers Individual stations where
individual or paired students explore resources. Designed to extend knowledge
introduced in whole group instruction.
108) Learning Contracts A
form of individualized, active learning, in which the student proposes a course
of study to satisfy an academic requirement and a teacher checks and approves
the contract. The student typically works independently until assistance is
needed from the teacher, at which point it is the responsibility
of the student to ask for help. This form of instruction is becoming more
common in universities and in distance
learning. A second variety of learning contract is sometimes undertaken with
elementary or secondary students in which the
teacher takes a more active role and the function of the contract is to focus
the student's attention
on specific skills or concepts to be learned.
109) Learning Posts Areas in room are designated as
“listening posts” with a particular topic or concept. Groups rotate or
individuals are assigned to a post.
They have 3-5 minutes to “hear” what is offered. One students reports out with
a one minute summary of group’s discussion.
110) Learning Stations Individual
stations where individual or paired students explore resources. Designed to
extend knowledge introduced in whole group instruction.
111) Library Research Many
projects require research in the library to enable students to supplement the
information they can find in their textbooks and on the Internet. To further
encourage library research, teachers can provide guidelines for projects and
writing assignments to encourage students to
become familiar with using resources in the library.
112) Line-Up Student
teams are given concepts that can be put in order. Each team member holds one
concept and the members line up to represent the correct order.
113) Listen-Think-Pair-Share Students listen to questions,
individually think about a response, discuss their ideas with a partner, then
share their ideas with the class.
114) Manipulatives Manipulatives are objects used in
the classroom to allow students to make connections to concepts through touch.
Examples might include a bag of beans for
counting, or a microscope for scientific inquiry.
115) Map Making Student
map making can be tied to many objectives related to mathematics, social
studies, art, reading, and problem solving.
116) Mark It Up Give students each a transparency
sheet and have them lay it over page in their text book. With vis-à-vis markers
you can have
them underline important text, words, etc.
117) Match Mine Pair
activity in which one student draws, while the other waits, then the second
student tries to copy the drawing of the first using only descriptions supplied by
the first student.
118) Meaningful Sentences Given vocabulary terms, students
can be shown sentences in which the terms are used in a context that helps them
to understand the meaning of the terms,
or as an assessment, students can be asked to write meaningful sentences
containing key words.
119) Medium
120) Message in a
Students write a tale about
an imaginary adventure or trip that has left them stranded on a desert island. Their
only chance for Bottle rescue is to write a
message, put it in a bottle, and put the bottle in the water, with the hope
that someone will find it. Brainstorm
information they should include. (For example, explain who they are, where they
were going when they got stranded,
where they left from, and how they were traveling.) They should also include
information about where they are, such as
the climate, what the island is like, what plants and animals they have seen,
and how they are surviving. Record suggestions on the board or chart paper.
When students are ready to begin writing, make maps available. When students finish,
they place the tales in the bottles and set afloat in water. (children’s pool) You
may want to arrange with a teacher of another
class to have your tales sent there. Then the students in that class can try to
figure out who is the writer of each tale.
121) Millionaire Game To review material play “So You Want To Be A Millionaire.” Instead of
one person answering all the questions, pick students at random.
No one knows who will be picked until after the question is read. The
reward is ½ extra credit points for everyone in the class and the penalty
is ¼ extra credit points lost for everyone in class. The life lines are: (1) Phone
a friend. (Ask someone else
in class) (2) Poll the entire class. (3) Ask the teacher. (4) Ask for the question
to be repeated. Once a lifeline is used, it cannot
be used by anyone else. Do the cheer, 'Is that your final answer?'
122) Mix and Match Students
make pairs or sets from randomly ordered objects or concepts on cards.
123) Mix-Freeze-Pair Can be used as a matching game for review. Each
student gets a card. Students switch cards until the teacher says freeze. When the
teacher says freeze, students must find their partner. Check random (or all)
pairs for correct match. (cards may have words
/ definitions, problems / solutions)
124) Mock Trials Students
learn about the legal system by assuming the roles of lawyers, witnesses, and
judges to act out hypothetical legal cases.
125) Most Important Word A
during reading strategy in which the teacher reminds the students to think
about the "most important words" for a particular reading assignment. The teacher
gives some examples of some important words, then students work in groups to
identify others.
126) Move-Freeze-Pair When students need to be physically
active. Have students move around the room, Freeze on your signal, then Pair
with someone
close by to give and/or receive information.
127) Music Four key times to use music: 1)
Before class begins-music sets the emotional tone, promotes interaction; 2)
While learners are physically
moving--up tempo music motivates and encourages learners to mobilize; 3) While
learners are talking in pairs or small groups—provides a pad; 4) After class
concludes—leaves a final positive impression
128)
Newspapers Newspapers as a real world
source of content, or as a product produced by students.
129)
Nonlinguistic An important aspect of learning using techniques that
generate mental pictures to go along with information, as well as creating
Representations graphic representation
for that information. Including Creating graphic representations (a variety of
graphic organizers), Making physical models ( concrete
representations, manipulatives, exemplars), Generating mental pictures (imagination),
Drawing pictures and pictographs, and Engaging in kinesthetic activity
(physical movement). See more in Marzano’s Classroom
Instruction That
Works.
130) Note-Taking The process of recording information presented by a
teacher for the purpose of improving recall or understanding by the student. Notes typically include a
combination of direct quotes of what a teacher says, diagrams, and additions by
the student to
add emphasis or to indicate areas where outside study may be required.
131) Numbered Heads Each student is assigned a number. Teacher poses question. Students huddle in their groups to make sure
all can respond, teacher
calls a number, the student with that number answers for the group.
132) Online Assessments Teachers can go to the website
below to find various prepared assessments according to grade level and skill,
including TCAP, Gateway,
EOC, ACT, & SAT
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/assistance.htm
133)
Oral Presentation Oral presentations are a
form of direct instruction. Lectures are the most common form of oral
presentation in the classroom. Other forms of oral presentation
include talks given to describe a project or research findings.
134) Outlines An
outline is a skeletal version of some larger presentation or writing. Outlines
usually include phrases or sentences that are critical to the topic and are
arranged in the same order that the concepts will be (or were) presented in the
final version. Outlines may be used to guide the creation
process in writing or planning, during a lecture to help students follow the
concepts being presented, or by students in
their note-taking or studying.
135) Pair Problem Solving A problem-solving technique in
which one member of the pair is the "thinker" who thinks aloud as
they try to solve the problem, and
the other member is the
"listener" who analyzes and provides feedback on the
"thinker's" approach.
136) Pair Project Pair
projects take two basic forms. In the commonest form, two students work
together to accomplish some task. The task may be to produce a tangible object
(like a poster or model) or may be to make a presentation to the class. The
more global form of pair project is for classes in
different parts of the world to collaborate on a project. The students perform
similar activities in both locations then compare results.
137) Pairs Check Pairs
work together and check each other's work.
138) Pairs Worksheet Students with partner. One
does odd; one does even; one partner watches as the other partner works and
explains the process, then the roles reverse.
Student turn in 1 paper and both get the same grade.
139) Panels In a panel discussion,
a small group acts as experts to answer the questions of the people in the
larger group. In a classroom setting, students are selected to
become experts on a topic and are given at least a day to prepare for the
discussion. Panel discussions can also be held using
outside experts.
140)
141) Paragraph Shrinking Partners
read in pairs. For the first paragraph, one reads and the other summarizes by
stating the main idea of that paragraph. The partners then switch roles for
the second paragraph.
142) Partner
143) Password Objective: Students will be
able to identify vocabulary words with one word clues. Procedure:
Write words
on individual 3x5 cards. Divide class into two teams with each team choosing
the first giver and receiver. The giver tries to get the receiver to say the
word by using one word clues. (Synonyms are real handy to know.) Givers and
receivers are changed if the giver has to pass
(does not have a clue) and the receiver is changed when the receiver has missed
two words. Team with the most correct wins
144) Peer Editing Students
read and give feedback on the work of their peers. Peer editing is not only
useful as a tool to improve students' analytical skills, but also provides
students with an alternative audience for their work.
145) Peer Evaluation Students
evaluate presentations or work of fellow students.
146) Peer Questioning Students
ask questions of each other. Often occurs during student presentations.
147)
Peer Teaching Each learner reads a different selection and then teaches the essence of
the material to his or her randomly assigned partner.
148)
Personal White BoardsWhiteboard (shower board) purchased at
a hardware store and cut into individual whiteboards for students. Have a
procedure for picking
them up or handing them out as well as a marker & wiper to go with it.
Students can then write an answer, work a problem, perform a skill, etc. for instant feedback or assessment
149) Photographed Current
brain research tells us that things are most often remembered when they have
been experienced or visualized. With Vocabulary this strategy, drama is combined with vocabulary
development. A student chooses one of the vocabulary words and creates a frozen representation of the word. For
example, a student would strike a pose to convey the word "timid."
150) Photo Journalism Can be used as assessment.
Students chronicle events through pictures and reporting.
151) Pictionary Students create visual
representations of vocabulary words. Class is divided into two groups. Teacher
is the host. A player from each team steps up to the
board. Player 1 is given a key word to draw. Team members hopefully guess.
Points awarded. Team two does the same. Words are
put into categories so the game progressively gets more difficult. It’s nice to
have different colors of markers. Also,
if you use chart paper you can keep the drawings on the wall.
152) Pictorial Autobiography Students create
collages representing their interests, background, or culture. Students can
either share them and explain them to the class, or post them
anonymously to allow students to try to guess which collage belongs to which
student.
153) Placemat Group activity for sharing of ideas.
Divided large piece of paper into sections- 1 section per group member. Draw a
circle in the middle of the paper. Each group
member writes ideas about issue, or topic in their section. As each group
member shares with rest of group, the person to the
right of speaker summarizes and records speaker’s main points in circle.
154) PMI Plus/Minus/Interesting.
Group students. Give each group 3-column organizer with headings Plus/Minus/Interesting
for recording
responses to three questions about a topic assigned by the teacher: 1.What are
the positive ideas about this? 2.What
are the negative ideas about this? 3. What is interesting about this? This
strategy can be used within a range of classroom
activities such as analyzing texts or examining issues.
155) Positive Profile Students
analyze characters from reading by completing a personality evaluation form
that includes positive characteristics such as "hobbies,"
"strengths," and "smartest action performed."
156) Posters Students create posters on topic
according to teacher guidelines.
157) Prediction Pairs Students
are paired as they listen to the teacher read a passage aloud. At each pause in
the reading, the teacher prompts students
to discuss with their partner what they predict will happen next in the
reading.
158) Preposition Creativity
activity: list of prepositions (above, in, because, opposite) is interposed
between two lists of words, then try to make
Creation sense of the
combinations. Used to generate novel solutions to problems.
159) Presentations Students prepare presentations on
topic according to teacher guidelines.
160) Previewing the Text Previewing the text provides an
opportunity for readers to skim through the text before actually reading. This
strategy provides students
with a mental outline of the text they will be reading. Previewing will help
students improve their comprehension and should be used automatically whenever
students are faced with a new text.
161) Projects Students prepare: a dance, a letter,
a lesson, advertisement, animated movie, annotated bibliography, art gallery,
block picture story,
bulletin board, bumper sticker, chart, choral reading, clay sculpture, code,
collage, collection, comic strip, computer program, costumes, crossword puzzle,
database, debate, demonstration, detailed illustration, diorama, diary,
display, edibles, editorial
essay, etching, experiment, fact tile, fairy tale, family tree, fiction story,
film, filmstrip, flip book, game, graph, hidden picture,
illustrated story, interview, jingle, joke book, journal, babeled diagram,
large scale drawing, learning center, letter to the editor,
map with legend, mazes, mobile model, mosaic, mural, museum exhibit, musical instruments,
needlework, newspaper story,
non-fiction, oral defense, oral report, painting, pamphlet, pantomime, papier
mache, petition, photo essay, pictures picture story
for children, plaster of Paris model, play, poetry, political cartoon, pop-up book,
postage stamp, commemoratives, press conference,
project cube, prototype, puppet, puppet show, puzzle, rap, radio program, rebus
story, recipe, riddle, role play, science
fiction story, sculpture, skit, slide show, slogan, soliloquy, song, sound,
story telling – Tall Tales, survey, tapes-audio- video,
television program, timeline, transparencies, travel brochure, venn diagram,
web home page, working hypothesis, write a new
law, video film, and others.
162) Puppet Puppets
are useful for role play and presentations.
163) Puzzles Student created puzzles can be used
in a variety of ways. Ex. Have students draw map of continent with countries
labeled. Then
they cut up, place in baggie and pass to partner.
164) Online Lessons Assistance for helping teachers.
Here is one very helpful website. There are too many others to list.
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/index.htm
165) Outcome Sentences Have students complete outcome
sentences to express what they learned from the lesson presented. Es.: I
learned. . . ; I was surprised.
. . ; I’m beginning to wonder. . . ; I rediscovered. . .; I wonder. . .; I
feel. . . ; I think I will. . .; In order for this strategy to work
effectively, outcome sentences should be varied—never repetitive.
166) Presentations Can be used as assessment. Student
presents information is chosen pre-approved format.
167) QAR Question/Answer Relationship or QAR
helps students understand different levels of questioning and the relationships
between questions
and answers. Often students respond to questions with either a literal answer
or by stating that “it” is not in the text. QAR provides four levels of questions: 1.)
Right There!—The answer is found in the text. The words in the questions can
usually be
found in the same sentence with the answer, 2.) Think and Search!—The answer is
in the text, but the words are probably not in
the same sentence. Read the text; look for ideas that can be put together, and
think about what the author is saying; 3.) The Author
and You!—The author provides ideas and makes students think, but connections to
students’ knowledge are needed to answer
the question, and 4.) On Your Own!—Students must apply their own knowledge and
what has been learned to answer the question.
168) Question, All Write The teacher asks a question, all
students reflect and make their own notes. An example is “What makes for a good
paragraph?”
169) Questions Have
students apply "who, what, when, where, why, how" to all problems. Or
ask students to generate questions.
170) Questioning (from Ron Walker) Used raised hands only for difficult questions; use Call and Respond
for material that should be mastered Techniques Remember to give wait
time after each question, and ask follow-up questions; Why? Do you agree?
171) Quickdraw Pair
activity in which students have a short period (typically 30 seconds) to share
all they know by writing with symbols or drawings.
172) Quicktalk Research
indicates that the act of talking about the things we learn moves short-term
memory data into long term memory.
First, students are
numbered off as ones or twos. Say, "Number 1’s raise your hands. Turn to
your partner and tell them what you
know about ____. You have thirty seconds. Go!" Once 30 seconds have gone
by, regain the attention and then say, "Alright,
Number 2’s, it’s your turn to share what you know. You have 30 seconds.
Go!"
173) Quickwrite Cousin
to Quicktalk except students have a short period (typically 30 seconds) to
share all they know by writing
174) Quiz-Quiz-Trade Students quiz a partner, get quizzed
by a partner, and then trade cards to repeat the process with a new partner. Teacher
or class creates a set of cards based
on the content to master. Each card has a matching card. For example, to learn
vocabulary, one card would be the word and the
matching card would be the definition. Each student receives one card. Stand Up-Hand Up-Pair
Up. With cards in hand, all students stand up, put a hand up, and find a
partner. Partner A Quizzes.
Partner A quizzes Partner B. For example, if Partner A
has a vocabulary word, he/she asks his/her partner to define the word. If
Partner A has a definition, he/she reads the definition
and asks his/her partner to identify the word defined. When done, students
trade cards and get ready for another round. Repeat a number of times.
175) Randomized In situations where the teacher wants to ensure that all students have
an opportunity to answer questions, the teacher
Questioning creates
note cards with the students' names on them, then shuffles the cards. AFTER
asking each question, the teacher reveals the name of the
student chosen at random to answer the question.
176) Raps Songs
about class topic written and presented by students.
177) Reader's Theater Students
adapt some of their reading to present to other students in the form of a play.
These productions can be simple or elaborate and include posters,
programs, sets, and costumes.
178)
Read Aloud Done by the student or the teacher is a helpful technique for improving
reading skills and engaging readers of all ages. Hearing the text while looking
at it on the page helps many readers process the information more effectively
and understand how it should be read.
179) Reading for A type of reading in which learners interact with text to
collect information, or to improve their understanding of specific Information topics.
180) Reading Roadmap Map
to guide students in their reading. Shows when to skim, when to read carefully,
questions to consider.
181) Reciprocal Teaching This
strategy involves four components: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and
predicting. Begin with the generation of a
Reinforcing Effort summary statement, considered a “first
draft” of a summary. Proceed with the questioning, clarifying, and predicting
phases to engage students in analysis activities. Students take turns being the
teacher for a pair or small group. Teacher role may be to clarify, ask questions, ask for
predictions, etc. or form pairs, one A and one B. After a chunk of content has
been presented, ask A;s
to rehearse half of what was presented. Invite B’s to rehearse the remaining
half. The teacher circulates as pair partners rehearse,
correcting any misconceptions or answering question. Teachers can ask
content/process questions to the entire class. Class can respond chorally or with cards
they hold up, etc.
Instructional techniques to address
students’ attitudes and beliefs through reinforcing effort and providing
recognition. Teaching about Effort and Achievement and Keeping
Track of Effort and Achievement are important components. Recognition through Effective Praise vs. Ineffective
Praise is the other half of this important strategy. See more in Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That
Works.
182) Relay Summary Team
activity to summarize reading. One team member writes one sentence summarizing
reading then passes page to teammate. Continues until everyone
in team has added at least one sentence.
183) Reports Use exemplars and models and go over
rubric for success.
184) Research Papers Use exemplars and models and go over
rubric for success.
185) Research Project Use exemplars and models
and go over rubric for success..
186) Retelling Provides an opportunity for
readers to process what they have read by organizing and explaining it to
others. It develops students’
story grammar because they must identify crucial points and the support
information. Also reinforces sequencing since it demands
remembering information, events, and processes.
187)
Revising Students can learn by
revising their own work, or by revising the work of others.
188)
Rivit Pick six to eight important words from reading.
Begin by writing numbers and drawing lines on the board to indicate how many letters
each word has. Fill in the letters to
the first word one at a time, as students watch. Stop after each letter and see
if anyone can guess the word. Once someone has guessed the correct
word, ask him or her to finish spelling it and write it on the
board. Begin writing the letters of the second word, pausing for a second after
writing each letter to see if anyone can guess
the word. Continue in this fashion until all the words have been
completely written and correctly guessed. Have students
make prediction about reading based up on the words. Board
at the beginning looks like this: 1._
_ _ _ _
2._ _ _ _ _ _ _
189)
Role Play Students play the role/s
of established person or character.
190) Round Table In groups, students write down their thoughts,
solutions, and ideas. Pass the paper around the group. As each person reads, they initial if they agree or leave
blank if they do not. When paper returns to owner they read ideas and review
own thoughts to present an argument using new and
different ideas.
191) Round-Table Discussion At a table, 4 or 5 participants
informally discuss topic among themselves and with the audience.
192) Rotating Review Teacher puts headings on poster
board or paper for review. Rotate posters around classroom from group to group.
In groups, each individual must add one thing
they remember about the heading. Posters rotate around room until all groups
have seen all posters. Use different color
markers for each group to track.
193) RSQC2 (Recall,
Summarize, Question, Comment, and Connect) A summarization technique in which
students Recall (list) key points, Summarize
in a single sentence, ask unanswered Questions,
Connect the material to the goals of
the course, and write an evaluative Comment.
194)
Rubrics A tool for assessment. Teachers can go to the website below
to customize a template for projects, etc.
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
196) Self-Assessments Students
reflect on their performance and self performance. Can be rubrics, checklist or questions.
197) Scaffolding Providing temporary support
until help is no longer needed. Can take many forms (examples, explanations,
organizers, etc.) but needs to build on student's
existing knowledge.
198) Scrapbook Can be used as assessment. Student
put events, pictures, etc. in scrapbook form.
199) Script Student-generated
scripts and screenplays.
200)
Scavenger Hunt Can be done on the Web or in text for lesson.
201) Self-Assessments Students
reflect on their performance and assess themselves.
202) Send A Problem Each student in group puts a question
on one side of an index card and an answer on the other side. Stack cards
question side up, place in envelope, and pass on
to the next team. Those team members pass the cards out. A
team member from group number one reads its question first.
The team discusses the question, then, if they have consensus, the card is
turned over. If the team does not agree with
the answer, they can write an alternative answer on the back of the
card. The team continues until all cards are read.
Collect and pass to the next group. After the cards are returned to the
original writers, discuss any alternative answers.
203) Sequencing Choose reading material appropriate for your
students; short books or short stories. Use two works unfamiliar to your
students. Pair students. Give one student
story A, and story B to the other, and have them read the story. Have students
list the order of events in the story. Students
rewrite their list, jumbling the order of events. Students exchange papers.
Have students sort the order of events they have received
from their partner. Additional exercise: Students can write their own story
based on the events they have just sorted. You
can then lead a discussion contrasting students' writing with the original
stories. Options/Variations:
Use readings of historical events and discuss how history would have
been different if certain events had taken place in a different order.
204) Set Objectives & Used in a precise and sophisticated
way, goal setting and feedback enhances students’ learning. Goal setting is the
process of
Provide Feedback establishing a direction for
learning to realize both short-term and long-term desires. Feedback is a
technique providing students information
on how well they are doing. It should be “corrective” in nature, timely,
specific to a criterion, and can be student generated from rubrics.
205) Share-Pair Circles Divide
class into two equal groups and each group forms a circle. The inner circle
faces outward and the outer circle faces inward, to form pairs of facing
students. In response to teacher questions, each pair discusses their ideas,
then one of the circles rotates to create new pairs. Repeat until the original
pairs are again facing each other.
206) Shared Writing Each student contributes one or two
sentences to a story written by the whole class.
207) Silent
208) Silent Scavenger Hunt Good for review of multiple pages of practice done under
time restraints.Teacher numbers one side of index cards for as many students as are in class
plus 2-4 more. On the other side of the index card, teacher puts partial list
of correct answers with page number where they are found. Cards are placed
number side up on students’ desks (one card per desk with extras placed on
tables, etc.) On signal students start by turning over the card on their own
desk to check answers and change any incorrect on their paper with absolutely
no talking. When time is up, students turn the card back to number face up and
leave it on their desk. Next, with signal, students get up to find the next
number and bring the card back to their desk, check the new set of answers
against their own and wait for signal. On some cards teacher can leave blank
and instruct upon questioning to use that time to look over their existing
answers or blanks. Start with 45 second intervals, then 30. End by explaining
learning can take place without speaking.
209) Sitters and Movers Number students 1’s and 2’s down
rows or across seating arrangement. Have two lists of questions, one for the
1’s and another for the 2’s. Take turns asking questions and when finished or
on signal, let 1’s stay seated and 2’s move to next partner. Continue moving
until all questions are answered.
210) Skill Inventory There
are two basic formats for a skill inventory. Individuals may either generate
their own list of skills, or individuals may "check off" skills they possess
from a list of skills. Used as a self-assessment in many fields but most often
used as part of career exploration or professional
development.
211) Skits
212) Snowball Teacher assigns each pair
of students a word (A/B partners). Student A writes the word.
Student B writes the definition. After all students have finished, each
student crushes his/her piece of paper into a "snowball."
Definitions go to one side, words on the other. When teacher signals,
students throw their snowball toward the middle of the room. Each student
picks up the snowball closest to him/her and
reads it. Students then try to find the match to the word of
definition on the snowball.
213) Somebody Wanted But So After reading activity that uses a
graphical organizer to help students evaluate character ("somebody"),
motivation ("wanted"), conflict
("but"), and resolution ("so").
214)
Speeches Use a ready made rubric or make you
own. Discuss with students the requirements for success.
215) Spelling Notebook A
student-generated list of words maintained by the student to remind them of
words they need more work on.
216) Spider Map A
form of graphic organizer to help students see the relationship between details
and the main topic.
217) Spongy Vocabulary To review vocabulary in any
subject, take strips of masking tape and tape them to a rectangular sponge. Use
a marker to write Review the vocabulary words on the
tape. Have the students toss the sponge around the room to other students. The
words that get chosen
can depend on which finger is touching a particular part of the sponge. For
example, if a student's left finger lands on a specific
word that is the word they must try to define.
218) SQ3R (Survey,
Question, Read, Recite, Review)
219) Stations Using stations involves setting up
different spots in the classroom where students work on various tasks
simultaneously. These stations invite flexible grouping because not
all students need to go to all stations all the time.
220) Sticker Partners Hand out questions, vocab, etc. with
a sticker at the top. Have two of each kind or color so they must find their
matching partner for
what ever the assignment.
221) Sticky
222)
Stir the Teams
Students are assigned to
teams and each student in the team has a number (typically 1 through 4). Teams
discuss their group answer to the teacher's question,
then when the team is done they give a signal. When all teams are done, the
teacher calls a number (from 1 to 4) and the students with
that number rotate to the next group to share their team's answer with their
new team. The procedure then repeats
through the series of questions.
223) Story Impressions The
teacher presents ten to fifteen terms to students prior to reading. These terms
appear in the same order that they appear in the reading. Students write a
passage using the terms that they think predicts what will happen in the
reading. Students share their predictions with others.
Finally, students read, comparing their predictions (story impressions) with
the reading.
224) Story Method for Memorization Each word to be memorized is included
in a story made up by the student.
225) Story Pyramid Using the pyramid word format to
respond to reading. Adapt to your content area. Add as many levels as
needed.
_____
One word reaction
_____
_____
Two words describing main character
_____ _____ _____
Three words describing the problem
_____
_____ _____ _____
Four words describing the solution
_____
_____ _____ _____
_____
Six words describing the moral of the
story
226) Story Starters Writing activity in which
students are given a prompt or story starter. Examples of story starters: A
long time ago, the old people say... or At a time when the
rivers were made of chocolate and wishes could come true... Back in the days
when animals could talk... Here's a story I
learnt from an owl. I told it to a king. He gave me this pin. I want to tell you now the story of … I will tell you a story which
was told to me when I was a little boy/girl.
In a land that never was in a time that could never be...
227) Story Structure Review Students are asked to recall key
features of a story using a blank story map.
228)
Story Telling
229) Story Telling/Retelling Teachers read stories to students
then students retell the story by acting it out, answering questions, or
writing about the story.
230)
Structured Note-Taking
Students are
given a graphic organizer in which to record notes.
231) Student Response Groups Small groups of students who
provide peer evaluation of the work of the other students in the group. Useful
for writing or other creative projects because it
gives the author an audience to experiment with before submitting work to a
larger audience or for evaluation.
232) Students Writing Having students write test questions
is a very adaptable technique that can be used for all subjects.
Test Questions Steps: In groups or individually Students:
RICA
Method Read
or study a passage or graphic.
Identify relevant information.
Create a connected question and correct
answer.
Add 3 distracters (incorrect answers)
Tip: Remind students that incorrect
answers should be plausible. In the beginning, it may be best to have students create questions with correct answer
and teacher create 3 incorrect answers.
233) Study Groups
234) Study Guides Guide prepared by teacher to help
students study for test.
235) Student Made
To help students review for exam,
divide the class into the number of units covered. Each group has about
twenty-five minutes Study Guides to prepare one overhead transparency with the
most important information from the section. At the end of class, each group shares their overhead with the
others.
236) Stump the Teacher 1 Game where students make
up questions based on a reading assignment. The teacher gets a point if he or
she can answer the question, and the students get a
point if the teacher fails to answer the question.
237) Stump the Teacher 2 Have
each student find a spelling word for the teacher. They can choose any word
from the dictionary, but they have to be able to pronounce it, give the
definition, part of speech, the origin of the word, and use it in a sentence.
Teacher then attempts to spell the word. This strategy not only gives students
practice in all the uses of a dictionary, but also they observe the teacher model the steps in spelling a word:
sounding it out, looking at the number of syllables, matching consonants and
vowels to the sound.
238) Summarizing and Note TakingUseful academic skill requiring students to distill
information into a parsimonious, synthesized form. Must have classroom practice in summarizing to check student
skill level. Use Marzano rules—Delete trivial material that is unnecessary to understanding; Delete redundant material;
Substitute superordinate terms for lists; and Select a topic sentence, or
invent one if it is
missing. Also, can use The Narrative Frame in fiction summary. The
Topic-Restriction-Illustration Frame is another summary technique used in
expository material. T-T-I pattern can
have a number of questions Topic (T)—general statement about the topic to
be discussed; Restriction (R)--limits the information in some way; and
Illustration (I)—exemplifies the topic or restriction. Two more
techniques are The Problem/Solution Frame and The Conversation Frame from
Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works.
239) SQ3R Survey,
Question, Read, Recite, Review. A study strategy. Primarily used with selections from textbook or
articles with headings. It
provides a systematic way to approach informational text prior to reading. An
approach to studying and reading to improve comprehension and retention.
240) Task Cards Specific
instructions or guides for student use at learning centers. May be an
assignment, or how to practice skills.
241) Team Games TournamentDivide class into several groups and have groups sit in a
circle. Each group is given an answer sheet in an envelope and an envelope
containing questions cut into strips. Movement and Turns rotate clockwise.
Starting person draws a question out of the envelope, reads it aloud, and gives an
answer to the group. The person on his/her right person picks up the answer
sheet after the answer
is given to check to see if answer is correct. If the person on the left of
person with question challenges the answer, he/she
may give a different answer. Whoever is correct keeps the question as a sign
they got it correct. If neither gets it correct, it goes back into the
envelope. Next person draws out another question, reads aloud, gives answer to
group. Person on their left checks,
and the game goes on. At end of game or on signal, teacher sees who has most
points (number of correct questions) or just gives extra credit, etc. for correct
answers.
242) Team Projects Students
work in teams to accomplish a task (either learning, or creating a physical
product).
243) Telephone One
student is chosen to leave the room while the teacher teaches a short lesson to
the rest of the class. The absent student returns and is taught the lesson by
the students. The student who was absent is given a (typically non-graded)
quiz. Results of the quiz are used for reteaching.
244) Television Educational
television programming is used in the classroom.
245)
Test A Friend Have students formulate and write test questions on
one side of their paper and put the answers on the back of the same paper. On signal
they exchange with someone and take their test, writing the answers on a clean
sheet of paper and labeling with the test
maker’s name. Then they check their answers by looking on the back and marking
the number they have correct. Then they exchange
with another student and take a new test and check. After they have exchanged
three to five times, stop and collect answer sheets to see how they do.
246) Think Ink Pair Share Like
Think-Pair-Share but with writing component.
247) Think-Aloud Teacher
describes own thoughts while reading aloud to class to help readers better
understand what they are reading by forcing them
to think about what they read as they read it. Think aloud strategies are not a
sequence but a set of habits of mind common to all effective readers which, if used
well, can help readers make sense of a wide variety of texts in different media
and of varying complexity.
They are predicting, describing, comparing making connections, monitoring and
correcting, questioning, clarifying, applying
previous or new knowledge, identifying what is important, troubleshooting and
problem solving, speculating, philosophizing, estimating, etc. Can also be used as an
informal assessment of students’ thinking and comprehension.
248) Think-Pair-Share Teacher
poses a problem. Students think individually, then pair (discuss with partner
answers), then share ideas with class.
249) Three-Stay One-Stray Students are in groups and each
group member has a number (1-4). After the problem solving discussions are
complete and all
team members indicate that they can give the team's report, you designate the
student from each team who will "stray." (Ex. Say, “Numbers twos stray;
everyone else stays”)That is, the one student from each group designated as #2
leaves it and rotates to another team to give the
report.
250) Three-Two-One (
251) Three-Two-One Oral activity. Students give the
same talk to three different students with decreasing time to do it. Students
work in pairs. Student
A talks to Student B and has a time limit of 3 min. B listens and does not
interrupt. When the 3 minutes are up, teacher says,
"Change partners". Student A then moves to a new Student B. Teacher
says "Begin" and Student A gives exactly the same talk to the new partner but
this time has only 2 minutes. When the 2 minutes are up, the teacher says
"Stop. Change partners."
With a new partner, Student A now has 1 minute to talk. During the three
deliveries of the same account, the B students do not talk and each listens to
three different people. When the A students have given their talk three times,
the B students
can now go through the same sequence, this time as speakers. Could also be
252)
Three Step Interview A
cooperative structure in which teammates interview one another on a particular
topic. Consists
of an interviewer, a responder, and a recorder. Roles
rotate after each interview. In a team of three, partner A interviews B, while
C records key aspects of the response. Roles rotate after each interview, allowing
all members the opportunity to be interviewed. In a group of 4 – A interview B while C
interviews D. Reverse roles so that B
interviews A and D interviews C.
Reconvene group with each person sharing partner’s
response.
253) Tic-Tac-Toe Divide class into teams. Write the
numbers 1-9 on the board in a tic-tac-toe arrangement. The students call out a number and you have a list of words
assigned to 1-9. They must give the correct
definition to take the space.
254)
Timed Drill
255)
Timed-Pair-Share Pair activity with time limit.
256)
Timelines Students create a
timeline writing and illustrating significant events with each section of the
timeline. Take 2 unsharpened pencils
and tape to each end of the paper. This allows students to roll up their
timeline like a scroll and tie together with a piece of yarn. Use freezer paper cut
in long strips. Make a timeline of their own life, a story or book they’ve
read, or for history.
257) Toss a Question/ Form of review of what students have
learned. They can form questions and responses from memory. Use a Catch an Answer soft
ball (like a nerf ball) Explain that
they will be practicing the questions and answers you have been studying. Begin
by throwing the ball to one student and ask
her/him a question. The student who catches the ball must give an appropriate answer. She/he then must ask another
question and throw the ball to another student. The student who catches the
ball must give the appropriate answer and ask
the next question, and so forth.
258) T-Notes Provides students an organized
method of note taking while listening or reading. Students divide a sheet of
notebook paper in half.
While listening or reading, students record words or key points in the left
column. In the right column, students record definitions or explanations of key points.
259) Transformation of Text Supply students with a text and ask
them to transform it from its original genre to a different genre. For example,
supply prose and ask students to create a poem
with the same essential ideas.
260) Trash or Treasure Put students into small
groups. Collect a number of newspaper articles on a topic and give copies of
the articles to each group of
students. Ask a question and tell the students to sort the articles into two
groups according to whether they are relevant to the
question (treasure) or not (trash). The students can then rank the articles
from the most to the least useful, and justify their rankings. Ask another
question and let your students reconsider their selections, to show how the
relevance of the information depends
on the question.
261) Turn to Your Partner Teacher
gives directions to students. Students formulate individual response and then
turn to a partner to share their answers. Teacher calls on several random
pairs to share their answers with the class.
262) Tutoring One-on-one
approach to teaching or re-teaching concepts. May be done by teachers, peers
(other students) or professional tutors.
263)
Twenty Questions Students work in pairs,
seated back to back. Student A is given an ordinary object familiar to both.
Student B must try to find out what the object is by asking up
to 20 questions. After a successful identification or 20 questions, change
roles and try another object. After
students become adept at asking questions about familiar objects, they might
want to try the same activity using artifacts.
Discuss how to formulate questions that generate broad information versus those
that yield only a little data.
264)
Two Cents Worth To encourage
participation from all students, everyone has to give his or her 'two cents
worth'. Each student is given two pennies at the beginning of class
and has to have a comment or question in order to turn in his/her pennies in by
the end of the discussion. It really works well, forcing
the quiet ones to participate, and limiting the eager ones to contemplate their
thoughts before spending their pennies.
265) Two-Column Notes A
note-taking guide where students list main ideas, headings, or vocabulary in
the left column and explanations in the right column.
Ex. for cause and effect; listing causes in the left column and the effects in
the right or list key vocabulary in the left column
and definitions in the right. Advantages: Using the folded sheet can be a great
study aide; students can quiz themselves
or each other with the answers hidden on the other side of the sheet.
266) Two-Min.-Talks Group students into pairs. Inform
students that they will each be talking about topic X for two minutes. They will need to select which
student will begin first. Using a stop watch, tell students to begin talking.
At two minutes, instruct students to switch.
At this
point, the other partner begins talking. It is okay for the second person to
repeat some of the things the first person said. However,
they are encouraged to try and think of new information to share. Share
responses with the entire class.
267) Understanding Gauge Stop at any point during instruction and ask students to gauge their
understanding of the concept using the fingers on one hand.
Five fingers indicates full understanding and one finger shows there is
frustration or confusion. Quickly scan the room and see if a full class
re-teach is necessary or perhaps some individual or small group intervention
would be more efficient.
268)
Videotapes Commercially
produced tapes for educational purposes, or student made for assessment
purposes.
269) Videotaping Students
produce videotapes then review their presentations. Useful in improving
metacognitive and communication skills.
270) Visual Aids Any
graphical aids used in presentations or to clarify or improve writing.
271) Visual Memory Display picture for a second or two,
then ask students to describe as much as they can remember from what they saw.
272) Vocabulary Match List Give
students list of words to match before they read the chapter or story.
273)
Vocabulary Review After reading a story or studying a
chapter, write key vocabulary words on 4x6 cards with a marker. Teacher holds a
word card above a
student's head making sure student does not see card, but rotating card so rest
of class does. Without saying the word, call on another student
to give definition of the word. The first student tries to guess the word.
Continue the activity until all the vocabulary
word cards have been answered correctly. Can also be used with numbers on the
cards; students make up a math problem
answered by the number on the card, which the first student must guess.
274) Voting Cards Students
can be given laminated cards at the beginning of the year to be used to express
their opinions in class. When they agree with a statement, they might
hold up a green card, disagreement could be signified with a red card, and yellow could be used to show
indecision or uncertainty.
275) VSS (Vocabulary
Self collection Strategy) As a class, students nominate words they'd like to
learn more about.
276) Wallpaper Task Students review information they
have learned. Each student designs a piece of “wallpaper” that encapsulates key
learnings. Wallpaper
is posted. Students take a gallery/”wisdom” walk and note what others have
written/illustrated. Can jot down ideas.
277)
Walking Tour
Passages from reading are
posted on individual pages around the room. Groups tour the room and discuss
each passage, then summarize.
278) Want Ads Students
write want ads. Varieties include "historical," "humorous,"
and as a famous character.
279) Web Webbing
in writing.
280) Web Quest http://webquest.sdsu.edu/designpatterns/all.htm
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/
http://webquest.org/matrix3.php
281) What Is It? The
teacher brings an object to class that is unfamiliar or has some historical
significance. Ask students to identify the object or describe
how it might have been used.
282) What’s My Word Students play in pairs, using pencil and paper.
Player 1 chooses a spelling word and draws a short line for each letter. Player
2 tries
first to guess and gets five guesses asking questions such as "Does it
have an ion?" If the answer is yes, Player 1 fills in the
word part. "Does it have any n's?" and so on. Does it rhyme
with? and so on. By using the process of elimination, they should
be able to get the right word by the fifth guess. Then players 1 and 2 then switch roles. At
the end of the game, players add
up their incorrect guesses. The player with fewer incorrect guesses wins.
283) Where Am I? Pair
activity where partner1 points to a place on a blank map and partner2 selects
the location from a list or names the location. Partner1 checks the
response with a key. Partners switch roles halfway through the list.
Alternative approach: partner1 describes location (no
maps) and partner2 guesses where it is.
284) Where Is It? To
improve ability to describe place and location in writing. Number small paper
objects (about 2 inches tall). This can be seasonal. You could use pumpkins,
Christmas trees, even cartoon characters. Number from 1 to around 20. Each team
will need paper numbered from 1 to 20. Make a chart and pre-teach a lesson on common
prepositions (on, over, beside, above, under, etc.) Hide your numbered
objects around the room. Place some so they can be easily found, others in more
difficult places. Divide the students into groups of 4. Two students are the
searchers and two are the recorders. When you say "Go", the two searchers begin looking for
a numbered object. When they find one, they return to their group and whisper
to the recorders exactly where they found
it. The recorders write it on their paper in a complete sentence. This should
all be done quietly so other teams don't hear what
they found. The objects can be found in
any order. When the time limit is up (15 minutes is good)
have students share their answers. Give a point for each correct response. The team with the most
points wins.
285) Where Were You? Writing activity. Students' interview
their parents about certain historical events, taking notes about where they
were and what they remember. Add
to this list: First man on moon, Kennedy assassinations, Ronald Reagan shot,
Mount Saint Helens erupting, Nixon resigning, Challenger
accident, Bombing in Oklahoma City, John Lennon shot,Elvis Presley dies, 9-11
Point to Remember: Go over the journalism topics: who, what, when, where, why, how. Have
students make their own list of events from last year that they remember,
to discuss with their parents.
286) Whispering Game Vocabulary strategy. Divide
class into teams. Give the last person in each team a word. When teacher says
"Go", the last student
whispers the word to the one in front and so on until the first in line has the
word and runs up to the board and writes it. First
team with correctly spelled word on board gets a point. At the end the students
see the whole list on the board again.
287) Who Am I? Students attempt to determine
their secret identity (taped on their back) by circulating and asking
"yes/no" questions of classmates.
They are allowed three questions of classmates or unlimited ones until they
receive a "no" response. They then find
a new classmate to question. (use for characters in a story, people in
history)
288) Who’s Got the On many 3x5 cards put problems and an answer on back,
but they do not match. Start the students out by putting a question Answer on
the board. Someone has the answer on his/her 3x5 card. They walk up and put the
answer on the board and also put up the next question (the question on
their card). Give them a new card and they sit down. The process continues and
everyone eventually gets up to the board.
289) Word Associates Requires students to identify which word or object is
different from a series of others. Students then make a general statement to link the other words or objects.
It requires higher-level thinking skills and help students identify
relationships between words while recognizing categorizing factors.
Examples: In these groups, which one
does not belong? Explain why. •
290) Word Bank List
or collection of words for students to choose from.
291) Word Chain Game
that helps students categorize. Teacher supplies category and a first word,
then students supply the next word "in the chain."
The chain is formed having the next word
start with the ending letter of the previous word. For example: Category = Things found in the kitchen. Words: SinK -
KnifE - EggbeateR - RefrigeratoR - and so on.
292) Word Walls Word
walls are not only a great use of space, but an excellent learning tool. Word
Walls are a systematically organized collection of words displayed in
large letters on a wall providing students with a daily, easily accessible
reminder of the importance of
developing their vocabulary. At the same time it gives the teacher a ready
source for ongoing activities with student for extending
and practicing their words.
293) Wordsplash
A collection of key terms
from a written passage which the students are about to read. The terms selected
represent important ideas that the
teacher wants students to attend to when they actually do the reading later,
but initially the students'
task is to make predictive statements about how each of the terms relates to
the title of the reading. Display selected terms randomly and
at angles on a visual (overhead or chart). Students brainstorm and generate
complete statements
(not just words or phrases) which predict the relationship between each term
and the topic. Once students have generated statements for
each term they turn to the printed material, read to check the accuracy of
their predictive statements
and revise where needed. "Splash" refers to the random arrangement of
the key terms around the topic at the start
of the activity.
294) Work Sheets Most
text books come with worksheets that can be copied. Also, there are numerous
web sites which have printable worksheets
than can be downloaded for free. http://www.schoolexpress.com/
All subject areas, especially social studies
and science related classes, can benefit from visiting the appropriate age website
below. 
READING
IN THE CONTENT AREA (INFO AND STRATEGIES)
FOR MIDDLE
SCHOOLS: http://www.state.tn.us/education/ci/cistandards2001/la/cicontentreadmiddle.pdf
FOR HIGH
SCHOOLS:
http://tennessee.gov/education/ci/cistandards2001/la/cicontentreading.pdf
Ending your class is as important as beginning your class. Five minutes or less may seem like a short amount of time, however, over a period of several weeks, it becomes a significant chunk of wasted or lost learning opportunities. Most of the time, unused end minutes become a breeding ground for discipline problems. “Time on Task” means students are spending every minute of their time in class focused on the task of learning. It is up to the teacher to plan and adapt for using that time wisely. Here are some quick activities to help you manage those ending times successfully.
Ending & Exiting Your Class
1) Application Cards At
the end of instruction, students write a real world application for the
knowledge on a small card and submit it to teacher.
2) CATs Classroom
Assessment Techniques: Simple, in-class activities that give both you and your
students instant, useful feedback on
the teaching-learning process. They can be in the form of oral responses,
written responses, or signals. Everyone responds at the same time. Example of oral response: “Class, when I say
Tell Me, I want everyone to say the name of this figure. Ready,
Tell Me” - Use thumbs up / thumbs down for True / False
questions; Agree or Disagree Cards, etc.
3) Cheat Notes Summarization technique. At the end
of class or mini-lesson, students prepare a single note card of information
they believe will be
on test. Students are allowed to bring these notes to test. As students gain
confidence, withdraw use of cards during test.
4) Checklist At the end of class, students can
use a checklist to see if they have info for next lesson, completed necessary
activities, etc. Checklists
can be used to satisfy many objectives. They can be useful as a memory tool or
in encouraging creativity. They can also
be used directly as assessments, or as a review tool in preparing for
assessments.
5) CROWN A
closure technique that encourages students to reflect on the completed lesson.
CROWN = Communicate what you
learned. Reaction
to what you learned. Offer one
sentence that sums up what the whole lesson was about. Ways you could use what
you learned. Note how well you did
today.
6) Debriefing A
form of reflection immediately following an activity or at the end of class.
Asking questions such as What worked well?” “What should have
been done differently? and so on.
7) Exit Slips Students
must write the concept taught in class that day or explain three vocabulary
words and how they are related, etc. as
a “ticket”
to leave class.
8) Get the Gist This activity forces students
to squeeze meaning into a tight, precise summary. The goal of GIST is to have
students convey with 20 Words the "gist" of what they have read or what they
have learned by summarizing in 20 words. If reading, extraneous details must be discarded
as a clearly defined focus is found. It is best to require a sentence format.
Students learn to ask themselves: What is the most important person,
place, or thing? What is the most important idea about the person, place or
thing? If at the end of the lesson,
students learn to ask
themselves, “What skill or concept have I learned” or “What did I do in class
today?”, etc.
9) Grab Bag Near
the conclusion of a lesson, have a student draw an object or word from a bag.
The student must explain or illustrate how the object is
related to what they have learned.
10) Learning Logs Learning logs help students
integrate content, process, and personal feelings and operate from the stance
that students learn from
writing rather than writing what they have learned. Have students make entries
in their logs during the last five minutes of class
or after each completed week of class. They differ from journals in that
journals are usually free flowing whereas Learning
Logs are more concise. The following questions could be used to guide students:
What did I do in class today? What did
I learn? What did I find interesting? What questions do I have about what I
learned? What was the point of today's lesson? How
does this connect to a previous lesson?
11) Luck of the Draw All
students’ names are put into a container. At the end of class, a student's name
is drawn at random from the container. At the beginning of the next class the
student whose name was drawn is required to present a 1-2 minute review of the
previous day's lesson.
12) Meaningful Sentences Given vocabulary terms, students
can be shown sentences in which the terms are used in a context that helps them
to understand the meaning of the terms,
or as an assessment, students can be asked to write meaningful sentences
containing key words as they leave.
13) Minute Papers An
end-of-class reflection in which students write briefly to answer the
questions: "What did you learn today? and "What questions do you still have?"
14) Muddiest Point A
question used to stimulate metacognitive thinking. Students are asked to name
or describe the concept they understand the least from the lesson (their
muddiest point).
15) Newscast Use
the last few minutes to show newscasts written and produced by students.
Newscasts can either be about current happenings,
or be used to explore historical events.
Ex. World War II Newscasts
16) One Sentence Summary Students are asked to write a single
summary sentence that answers the "who, what, where, when, why, how"
questions about the topic or today’s lesson.
17) One Word Summary Select
(or invent) one word which best summarizes a topic. Have students write 2-3
sentences justifying the selection of the summary
word.
18) Quickwrite Can
use during the last few minutes of class. Cousin to Quicktalk except students
have a short period (typically 30 seconds) to share
all they know by writing. Can then swap with partner or pass to the right, etc.
for others to read.
19) Pair Review Teacher (or students) generates 10
questions for A and 10 for B partners. Answer choices are listed for partner to
choose from as partner
asks question from the list.
20) Self-Assessments Students
reflect on their performance and assess themselves with teacher created
instruments or student made.
21) Sum It Up Have
students imagine they are placing a classified ad where every word used costs
them money. Tell them each word costs 10
cents, and they can spend "so much." For instance, if you say they
have $2.00 to spend, then that means they have to write a summary that has no
more than 20 words. You can adjust the amount they have to spend, and therefore
the length of the summary,
according to the text they are summarizing and the time you leave to finish.
22) Summaries Condensing
information into smaller chunks. The teacher controls the length by varying the
method and by limiting the number of words.
Can be used at the end of class or lesson.
23) The Last Word Summary technique. Each letter in topic name is
used to remember key ideas in topic. (example: snow, Six-sided ice crystals. Near center is dust particle. One
snowflake is usually made of more than one crystal. Water vapor freezes to
form.)
24) Triangle Review Draw a small triangle and have
students answer, “What are the 3 points I want to remember”. Other shapes can
be used—Circle for
“What are some questions still going around in your head?” or Square for “What
are some things you saw, heard, or did that “squared”
with your beliefs?
25)
Ticket to Leave Closing
activity where students respond in writing or verbally to short assignment.
List the steps of the scientific method, etc.