Instructional Strategies

Contents
Instructional Strategies
To jump to the page you want, hold down the Ctrl button and click and
it will take you directly to that page
3-2-1 Assessment
7E Learning Cycle and Instructional Model Active Listening
Advance Organizers
Asking Questions
Background Knowledge Probe
Brainstorming
Brainwriting
Carousel Brainstorming
Circle of Interviews
Cloze Passage
Commit and Toss
The Cornell Note-Taking and Q Systems Coupled-Inquiry Cycle
Critical Thinking Verbs
Decision Making
Designing Exam Questions
Double-Entry Journal
Empty Outline
Entrance and Exit Slips
Exposition and Questioning
Fishbowl
Fist-to-Five
Focused Listing
Four Corners
Four-Resource Model
Frayer Model
Gallery Walk
Graphic Organizers
Hand Signals
IDEAL Problem-Solving Model
Index Card Assessment
Jigsaw
Journals
K W L
Learning Log
Line-Up
Memory Matrix
Mind Map
Misconception Check
Muddiest Point
Multivoting
Pass the Whiteboard
Plus/Delta
Portfolio
Praise-Question-Polish (PQP)
Question-Answer Relationships (QAR)
Question Box
Quick Write
Rally Coach
Reader's Theater
Reciprocal Teaching
Round-Robin Brainstorming
Say Something
Scientific Terminology Inventory Probe (STIP)
Self-Questioning
Socratic Seminar
Star-and-a-Wish
Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review (SQ3R)
Tableau Drama
Team-Pair-Solo
Team-Then-Teacher (TTT)
Think-Aloud
Think-Pair-Share
Three-Minute Review
Three-Stage Scaffolding Process
Traffic Light Icons
Visualization
WebQuest
Whiteboard Presentations
Word Wall Instructional Strategies
3-2-1 Assessment
Monitoring Progress Short
A 3-2-1 assessment (Tweed, 2009) is a strategy in which students take
stock of their own learning by separating what they know from what they
have yet to master. It can be used to quickly assess student understanding
any time new information has been presented.
In a 3-2-1 assessment, each student writes on separate slips of paper
three things learned, two things not yet understood, and one question
still outstanding. When finished, students affix the slips to a bulletin
board, poster, or piece of chart paper divided into columns labeled "3,"
"2," and "1." The teacher can review the notes to construct a portrait of
a class's understanding. The results can serve as a jumping-off point for
further class discussion, redirect a planned course of instruction, or
alert the teacher to a topic that requires reteaching. 7E Learning Cycle and Instructional Model Engaging in Inquiry Extended
Built on the 5E Model developed by Bybee (1997), the 7E Learning Cycle
and Instructional Model (Eisenkraft, 2003) is a progressive series of
steps designed to support students during inquiry-based classroom
activities. The strategy consists of the following stages: l. Elicit: Recognizing that students construct knowledge from the
knowledge they already have, this stage involves discovering and
assessing students' prior knowledge. Failure to elicit prior
knowledge may result in students' retaining or developing
misconceptions of the material to be learned.
2. Engage: Engaging students involves generating excitement for what
is to come in the learning cycle through an interesting question, an
engaging story, or a surprising demonstration.
3. Explore: In this stage, students observe phenomena, record
observations, design and plan investigations or experiments, and
compile the results of their investigations or experiments. It is a
good time for the teacher to interact with groups, provide feedback,
ask questions, and further probe students' understanding.
4. Explain: Students learn about models, laws, and theories that help
to explain what they have found. Afterward, students present
their findings in terms of the overarching ideas they have just
learned. The teacher assists by ensuring that students understand
major concepts and are using new terminology correctly.
Instructional Strategies 5. Elaborate: Students apply what they have just learned to the
situation at hand. This stage can include generating further
questions or crafting hypotheses.
6. Evaluate: Evaluating includes using both formative and summative
assessments to monitor students' progress. This stage can also
include student self-assessment.
7. Extend: The final stage engages students in transferring
knowledge. Its purpose is to make sure that students can apply what
they have learned to new contexts. Active Listening Sharing Ideas
Ongoing Active listening requires several interconnected skills: demonstrating
careful attention to both verbal and nonverbal communications; clarifying a
speaker's message by asking questions or paraphrasing; giving thoughtful,
empathetic feedback; and sharing. It is an essential element of productive
group work and a foundational building block for students as they work
together to engage in inquiry. The following advice can be used to coach
students to improve their active listening skills:
. Use "I" statements to demonstrate understanding (e.g., "Let me see if
I understand. I heard you say. . .").
. Ask questions to gather additional information, refine ideas, resolve
misperceptions, and/or extend the conversation.
. Restate or reframe ideas to affirm understanding, avoid wrong
assumptions, and foster dialogue.
. Provide feedback using a tone that demonstrates openness, empathy, and
support (e.g., answer the speaker's questions; make nonjudgrnental
comments like "That's an interesting point").
. Recognize your own values and biases, and understand how they may
interfere with listening.
. Know how to conclude a conversation (e.g., be reflective, indicate
appreciation, apply information to a new situation).
. Prepare for listening (e.g., review what you already know about the
topic).
. Use your body to demonstrate attention or support (e.g., face the
speaker; make eye contact; use appropriate facial expressions, body
movements, and posture).
. Use silence or hills in the conversation to think through points made
and/or to encourage more disclosure.
Active listening is a skill that requires ongoing practice. Whether
students are listening to a lecture, working in pairs, or sharing ideas in
a group, they should continually work on this skill. Instructional Strategies Advance Organizers Learning Independently Medium
As defined by Ausubel (1960), advance organizers are introductory
materials that help students approach, make connections to, and master new
content. They support students' metacognitive growth by providing a frame
to use when encountering new concepts or ideas.
Advance organizers reflect Ausubel's theory that we organize information
in an orderly fashion, placing new ideas into larger categories of
knowledge that allow us to make sense of what we are learning (Ivie, 1998,
p. 37). Advance organizers do this by encouraging students to recall
relevant prior knowledge they might have, calling students' attention to
what will be important in an upcoming lesson or unit, and highlighting
relationships between ideas that will be presented (Woolfolk, 2003, p.
282).
There are two common types of advance organizers:
. Expository organizers are used when material is completely unfamiliar
to students. They provide new, often contextual information that will
help students understand what they are about to learn. When students
receive biographical information about the author of a text they are
about to read, they are receiving an expository advance organizer.
. Comparative organizers are used when material is somewhat unfamiliar.
They highlight ways in which the material to be learned can be
compared to what has already been learned. A comparison/contrast
exercise that helps students draw connections between what they have
learned in a previous unit and what they will learn in the next is a
comparative advance organizer.
Maver (1979) has constructed a checklist that can be used to determine
whether an advance organizer supports student learning. His checklist
includes the following questions:
. Does the advance organizer allow students to make connections or draw
relationships between concepts to be learned?
. Does the organizer support students as they make connections between
what they already know and what they will learn?
. Is the organizer "learnable," or is it easy for students to use?
. Does the organizer provide students a way to relate to new material
that they would not already have or think to use? (p. 382)
Because advance organizers are a strategy for learning new content, they
should be used at the beginning of a lesson or unit.
Instructional Strategies Anecdotal Notes Monitoring Progress
Ongoing
Lampert (2001) writes that there is a balancing act in managing "the
tension between working with individuals and working with the whole class"
and "the conflict between leaving students alone to see what they can do on
thei