Identifying Critical Content
"This strategy is integral to helping your students understand new knowledge, make connections to prior learning, and ultimately retain new content."
~ Senn, Rutherford, and Marzano (2014)
Desired Effect
Students can identify the critical and non-critical components of the concept (standard) while understanding how the concept builds in complexity as they learn.
Purpose
By highlighting the information that is critical, students will be able to actively engage in the learning process and have a deeper understanding of the content.
Each learning goal should have 2-3 critical-input experiences that provide focus for the teacher and the students. These experiences should utilize a variety of learning modalities and be fast-paced and engaging to help anchor the information in memory. Identifying critical content is one strategy that you can’t live without!
Teacher Evidence for Identifying Critical Content
Student Evidence for Identifying Critical Content
Scale
Monitoring Strategies to Move to Applying
Monitoring Strategies