Teaching Strategies Library
Small Changes That Make a Big Difference in Group Work
Even though cooperative learning is supported by research, so many teachers struggle with it and ...
Authentic Small Group Discussions with the Real Talk Strategy
Real Talk is a small group discussion strategy for teachers who are ready to try ...
Ethics of AI Project
AI is here and everyone is paying attention, including our students. Maybe they’re wondering how ...
10 Ways to Give a Better Lecture
Mostly due to overuse and poor execution, lecturing has come to be frowned upon in ...
Collaborative Project Ideas
Working together to solve problems and create new things is a vital part of life, ...
Hexagonal Thinking Actvities
Hexagonal thinking is a simple method that yields big critical thinking results. Kids take a ...
Exit Tickets
Exit tickets collect feedback on students' understanding at the end of a class and provide ...
Worst Presentation Ever!
Giving an effective presentation is not easy, especially for students. Here is a fun way ...
How to Talk to Students About Cheating
Although some behaviors are pretty much universally identified as cheating (e.g., copying exam answers), students ...
Matt Thomas’ EL Video Archives
Here you will find all the video workshops created by our very own Matt Thomas ...
Station Rotations
The Station Rotations Model is essentially the secondary version of Learning Centers, which are commonly ...
Nearpod 101 (It’s Not Just for Distance Learning!)
The premium version of Nearpod is now FREE for PUHSD teachers! If you've never heard ...
How to Use Podcasts in the Classroom
Educational podcasting has been growing in popularity in recent years. Students can listen to a ...
Icebreakers & Community Builders
Taking time to build community, nurture relationships, and support students’ social-emotional needs first will lay ...
Thin Slides EduProtocol
In this EduProtocol, students are provided a word and asked to create a slide with ...
Frayer-a-Thing EduProtocol
In the Frayer EduProtocol, students use a collaborative slide deck to define target vocabulary and ...
Iron Chef EduProtocol
The Iron Chef EduProtocol, modeled after the Iron Chef Cooking show, is a modernized version ...
Cyber Sandwich EduProtocol
The Cyber Sandwich EduProtocol is a lesson frame in which students work in pairs or ...
Thinking Routines for the Online Classroom
Project Zero at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education has created a collection of Core Thinking ...
Virtual Station Rotation Lessons
Instead of rotating physically like they would in a typical classroom, virtual station rotations have ...
6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2021
The six tech tools described in this post are from Cult of Pedagogy's 2021 Teacher's ...
Creating Moments of Genuine Connection Online
With 100% of our instruction being online, it is more crucial and more difficult than ...
10 Ways to Stay Motivated as You Work on Student Motivation
As we're working to increase our students' motivation, how do we not become demotivated ourselves? ...
4 Ted Talks to Teach Executive Functioning Skills
Executive functioning skills are key for our students to find success in the classroom and ...
Building a Better Breakout Room
Google Meet now gives you the ability to put students into smaller meetings, or breakout ...
Creative Ways to Use Jamboard
Jamboard is Google's digital whiteboard that gives students a place to brainstorm and work collaboratively ...
Silent Discussions
Silent Discussions are a discussion warm-up activity that modifies easily to the online environment. Using ...
Engage-Explore-Explain Choice Boards
A choice board is a graphic organizer that allows students to choose different ways to ...
Choose Your Own Adventure Project
This creative "choose your own adventure" learning experience gives students lots of voice and choice ...
Digital Bulletin Boards & Gallery Walks
You don't have to give up Gallery Walks just because we're teaching online. Use this ...
Intro to Eduprotocols
EduProtocols are instructional lesson frames that are designed to engage students in online learning through ...
Interactive Quizzes
Learn how to create interactive quizzes using Google Slides. Template included ...
Interactive Choice Boards
Choice boards are a form of differentiated learning that gives students a menu or choice ...
Digital Interactive Notebooks
DINBs are virtual binders that students use to organize their class notes and activities, and to interact ...
Virtual Icebreakers & Google Meet Games
Features an editable slide deck with yes/no, would you rather, and open-ended questions, and a ...
Bitmoji Virtual Classrooms
Learn how to use Google Slides to create a virtual bitmoji classroom. Includes a tutorial ...
Templates for Organizing Weekly Content
This is a collection of Google Slides templates for organizing weekly lesson plans. Students click ...
Meet the Teacher Templates
This is a Google Slides template for introducing yourself to students. Topics include a quick ...
Meet-the-Student Templates
Give your students a creative way to introduce themselves. Here you'll find templates for virtual ...
Distance Learning Expectations
There are 3 option in this post for communicating distance learning expectations: a Disney themed ...
Syllabus Templates
This is an editable Google Slides template for making a digital version of your syllabus, ...
Article of the Week
Part of the reason students struggle with reading is because they lack prior knowledge and ...
Curation Assignments
When it’s time to plan the learning experiences that would have our students operating on ...
Crumple & Shoot
This high-energy, low-tech game can be used in any subject area and is perfect for ...
How to Teach Collaboration
Before launching into literature circles, fishbowl discussions, Socratic Seminars, or any other small group pedagogy, ...
Word Splash Worksheet
A word splash presents several new (and perhaps unfamiliar) vocabulary words and phrases randomly across ...
Close Reading Bookmarks
This simple tool is an excellent way to help students keep track of evidence as ...
Turn & Talk Sentence Frames
Every 12-15 minutes, students should be given a short amount of time to consolidate their ...
Send-a-Question
This strategy promotes team building and concept review as well as explorations that are more ...
Problem-Solving Carousel
Each station has a different multi-step problem written on a large whiteboard or piece of ...
Value Lines – Where do I Stand?
This strategy is a blend of Bend the Line and Philosophical Chairs that has been ...
Note-Taking: Research Round-Up
We all have our own half-baked ideas about what makes one note-taking approach better than ...
Two No-Prep Strategies to Crowdsource Student Learning in Your Classroom
In this post are two strategies you can use in your classroom that engage students ...
“Two Things”: A Quick, No-Quiz Retrieval Strategy
How can we use retrieval practice to break up our lessons, quickly and easily, without ...
Brain Dumps: A Small Strategy with a Big Impact
Here’s a small strategy that makes a big impact on student learning – based on ...
5 Ways to Turn a Worksheet into a Collaborative Critical Thinking Activity
Here are 5 no prep ways you can turn just about any lower level thinking ...
Make It Stick: 4 Powerful Teaching Strategies Based on the Science of Learning
Over the past few decades, cognitive scientists have been trying to pinpoint exactly which activities ...
How to Build a Better Slideshow
Far too many PowerPoints and other slideshow presentations (by students AND teachers) are suffering from ...
Tech Tools for Mind Mapping
Graphic organizers, or “mind maps,” make thinking visual, organizing concepts in a way that shows ...
10 Review Activities for Any Unit
It's easy for review to get a little mundane, quickly going back over everything through ...
SOAPSTone Analysis: Essay Planning
Good composition, whether written, spoken, or drawn, is carefully planned. This composition has integral parts ...
Forced Choice Partners (Would You Rather…?)
This activity can be used as an icebreaker or as a way to move students ...
Infographics Project
A good infographic can distill a concept so clearly. Take a hugely complex issue and ...
Discussion Warm-Ups
Most students just don't respond well to walking into class and kicking off a discussion ...
Exit Ticket Sorting Bins
Having students self-sort their exit tickets according to their confidence level with the knowledge or ...
Teacher Clarity
Teacher clarity is a measure of the clarity of communication between teachers and students in ...
Getting Started with Genius Hour
Do you find yourself searching for that one project that would truly engage your students? ...
Sketchnoting
Sketchnotes are like one-pagers that you create on the fly, making your choices rapidly as ...
One-Pagers for the Art-Phobic
One-pagers are becoming increasingly popular as a way to help students process what they have ...
Pop-Up Debates
Pop-up Debate is a method for managing and facilitating in-class debates; it is easily modifiable ...
Is That Higher-Order Task Really Higher-Order?
It’s kind of a given that most teachers want their students to be doing rigorous, ...
Wicked Problems & Impossible Projects: 33 Questions at DOK Level 4
Wicked problems and impossible projects are complicated by nature because of the many components, factors, ...
DOK Ceilings
This visual, designed by Erik Francis of Maverick Education, is intended for teachers to use ...
DOK is NOT a Wheel!
Depth of Knowledge. It’s a concept we in education have heard a lot about since ...
What Does DOK Level 4 Look Like?
Curricular elements assigned to this level demand extended and integrated use of higher order thinking ...
What Does DOK Level 3 Look Like?
Tasks and classroom discourse falling into this category demand the use of planning, reasoning, and ...
What Does DOK Level 2 Look Like?
Level 2 includes the engagement of mental processing beyond recalling, reproducing, or locating an answer ...
What Does DOK Level 1 Look Like?
Curricular elements that fall into this category involve basic tasks that require students to recall ...
History of Higher Order Thinking Tools
Cognitive Rigor: Blending the Strengths of Bloom's Taxonomy and Webb's Depth of Knowledge to Enhance ...
Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Classroom Walk-Through Tool)
Looking for rigot walk-through tool: teacher and student roles ...
Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix (CTE)
Hess’s Interpretation Applying Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels to Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimensions in Career and Technical ...
Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix (World Language)
Applying Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels to Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimensions in World Language ...
Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Health/PE)
Applying (Hess’s Interpretation of) Depth of Knowledge to Porter’s Cognitive Demand Categories in Health and ...
Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Fine Arts)
Applying (Hess’ Interpretation of) Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels to Artistic Practices ...
Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Social Studies)
Applying Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels to Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimensions in Social Studies ...
Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Writing/Speaking)
Applying Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels to Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimensions in Writing/Speaking ...
Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Math/Science)
Applying Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels to Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimensions in Math and Science ...
Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Reading)
Applying Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels to Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimensions in Reading ...
What’s It Really About Carousel
"What's It Really About?" Carousel What It Is This activity is similar to the Debate Team ...
A Better Table Summary
This activity allows students to process the most essential elements of the day’s lesson. They ...
List, Group, Label
List, Group, Label is an excellent way to have students collaboratively “spill their brains” onto ...
1, 2, 3 O’Clock
This wrap-up technique allows you to quickly review three important questions by having students respond ...
A-Z Sentence Summary
In this activity, students use alphabet refrigerator magnets to create a Chalkboard Splash review. At ...
Three-Sentence Wrap Up
By asking students for Three-Sentence Wrap-Ups, you eliminate their tendency to add every peripheral item ...
The Biggest Aha Bar Graph
The Biggest Aha Bar Graph allows you to capture what students feel are their most ...
The Biggest Aha Quick-Write
The Biggest Aha Quick-Write is a quick, versatile activity that can provide closure to almost ...
One Word Summary
One-Word Summaries to allow students to summarize the essence of the content presented that day ...
IQ Cards (Insight & Question)
IQ Cards allow all students to share two things: an insight (I) and a question ...
Debate Team Carousel
Debate Team Carousel is an activity in which students debate a position from various angles ...
Pause, Star, Rank
This activity allows students to review their notes while the concepts are still fresh in ...
Lecture T-Chart
A Lecture T-Chart can be very useful to students by allowing them to review their ...
Picture Notes
Picture Notes can provide an excellent way for students to stop and process what they ...
Confer, Compare, and Clarify
This activity allows students to read each other’s notes, make comparisons, and add their own ...
The Ripple
In the traditional question-and-answer approach, a teacher poses a question to the class as a ...
Bounce Cards
Bounce cards are a way to help students who struggle to get academic conversations started ...
Categorizing & Sorting
Categorizing and sorting can be used to help students understand a wide variety of unique ...
Networking Sessions
A Networking Session is a simple mix-it-up activity that allows students to talk to others ...
Thumbs Up/Down Vote
Thumbs Up/Down Vote is another one of those quick techniques that many teachers use frequently ...
Thumps Up When Ready & Processing Cards
Allowing students to take even a brief moment to process their reflections to a prompt ...
Chalkboard Splash
Chalkboard Splashes provide a quick way to debrief students’ responses, Quick-Draws, or abbreviated Quick-Writes. ...
Quick-Draw Gallery Walk
Quick-Draws are opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding of an abstract term or concept ...
Quick-Draws
Quick-Draws are opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding of an abstract term or concept ...
RallyCoach
Partners take turns providing ideas/ answers or solving problems orally or in writing. Variations include ...
RallyTable
Partners take turns providing ideas/ answers or solving problems orally or in writing. Variations include ...
Stand Up – Hand Up – Pair Up
Students stand up, put their hands up, and quickly find a partner with whom to ...
Timed Pair Share
In pairs, students share with a partner for a predetermined time while their partner listens ...
Three-Step Interview
Students interview their partner and then each share with teammates what they learned ...
Talking Chips
Teammates place talking chips in the center of the table to make sure everyone contributes ...
RoundTable
In teams, students take turns generating written responses, solving problems, or making a contribution to ...
RallyRobin
Partners take turns providing ideas/ answers or solving problems orally or in writing. Variations include ...
Quiz-Quiz-Trade
Students quiz a partner, get quizzed by a partner, and then trade cards to repeat ...
Pairs Compare
Pairs generate a list of possible ideas or answers. Pairs compare their answers with another ...
10-24-7 Note Review Strategy
Offers a schedule for student interaction with notes 10 minutes, 24 hours, and 7 days ...
Model Cornell Notes
EQ: How do students use Cornell notes to record, revise, question, review, and summarize new ...
Promoting Rigor with Higher Level Prompts
Provides verbs and teacher prompts for each level of thinking ...
Mix-Pair-Share
The class mixes until the teacher calls "pair." Students find a new partner to discuss ...
Mix-Freeze-Group
Students rapidly "mix" around the room, "freeze" in their tracks, and frantically "group" to avoid ...
Match Mine
Partners on opposite sides of a barrier communicate with precision, attempting to match the other's ...
Inner-Outer Circle
Students rotate in concentric circles to face new partners for sharing, quizzing, or problem-solving ...
Flashcard Game
Partners proceed through three rounds as they quiz each pther with flashcards, mastering the content ...
Find-the-Fiction
Students write three statements and read them to teammates. Teammates try to find which of ...
Find Someone Who
Students circulate through the classroom, forming and reforming pairs, trying to find "someone who knows" ...
Fan-N-Pick
Teammates play a card game to respond to questions. Roles rotate with each new question ...
Gallery Walk/Carousel Feedback
Teams rotate from project to project to leave feedback for other teams ...
Student-Authored Textbooks
Student-Authored Textbooks What if instead of approaching vocabulary as something they had to learn each ...
Vocab Magic Spells
Vocab Magic Spells Like the Tattoo Design activity, I think magic spell vocabulary has the potential to ...
Vocab Post-It Stations
Vocab Post-It Stations Stations are a great way for you to get your kids up ...
Vocab Tattoo Design
If you’re really struggling to get kids interested in the power of words, try an ...
Vocab Review Games
Online Review Games By now, Kahoot and Quizlet are much loved tools for the teachers of a gamer generation ...
Vocab Word Wall Posters
Vocab Word Wall Posters Have you heard of a word wall? Basically you put vocabulary ...
Vocab Postcards
Vocab Postcards I've got a weakness for buying postcards, but I've turned it into a ...
Vocab Video Journals
Vocab Video Journals You know how you sometimes stumble upon AMAZING Youtube videos and you ...
Vocab One-Pagers
Vocab One-Pagers Another great way to get students thinking carefully about their words is to ...