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