Choice Boards and playlists are a tools that allow students to choose different ways to learn concepts and practice skills within a learning goal. 

A Sentence Stem is a strategy where the student is provided a part of a sentence and then provides a  written or spoken response to complete the sentence. An example might be, “This reminds me of _____.” or “I agree that _____, because ____.”

Students don't always need to use their voice to "talk." Try having a silent discussion to foster deeper thinking and collaboration instead

Total Physical Response (TPR) is a method of teaching language or vocabulary concepts by using physical movement to react to verbal input. 

A Quickwrite is a low-risk writing strategy in which students are given a few minutes to write down their thoughts, ideas, or feelings about a topic, a personal experience, or a reaction to a picture or prompt.

Socratic Seminar is a structured, collaborative dialogue, focusing on a common text or resource, which students have analyzed and prepared questions to spur the discussion. This strategy provides a format for students to practice skills in critical thinking, reading, and inquiry, as they participate in the inquiry-based dialogue.

Inclusive Welcomes are brief, interactive  experiences that bring  the voice of every  student into the room at the start of a class.

This activity involves learners by asking them to try to find someone in the class who matches a description or knows certain information.  It can be used to practice new vocabulary, to activate background knowledge, or to review concepts. 

Marking the text is an active reading strategy that asks students to think critically about their reading comprehension.

Look and Link is a strategy that combines art-looking and art-making. By looking at two images deeply and exploring inferred and imaginary connections between the images, students can find and share meaning with others. 

Graphic organizers are visual representations (pictures, colors, words, and connectors) of content that enable students to better process, remember, organize, and demonstrate understanding.

Curriculum Compacting is a strategy that identifies student-learning objectives, pre-assesses for prior mastery, and eliminates unnecessary teaching or redundant practice when the student has previously demonstrated mastery of the learning.

Flexible grouping is the strategy where students are placed in groups based on their readiness level, interests, or learning styles. The groups are flexible because the groups can change between each task, assignment, or unit to best support individual student learning. 

Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy that allows students to work in small groups, yet cover a body of information on different topics. Students meet initially in "Home Groups" to review previously introduced content. They separate into "Expert Groups" for a specified amount of time for in-depth study on a topic. The students then return to their original "Home Group" and teach the other group members the essential information from the topic.

Response cards are pre-printed, write-on, or student-made cards that are held up simultaneously by all students.  They display responses to questions or problems by the teacher. 

Four Corners is a debate strategy that requires students to show their position on a specific statement. This technique stimulates student learning through movement and discussion, and it can also be used as a formative assessment.

Effective vocabulary instruction includes multiple exposures using varying definitions.  With this strategy, teachers front-load new vocabulary for the lesson or unit so as the unit progresses, students have already been exposed to the words.

A visual schedule is a set of pictures or words that communicates a sequence of activities a student is to complete independently.

Reflection Protocols cover a variety of strategies that are used to engage students in reflective thinking about their learning. Reflective protocols can be used as formative assessments, checks for understanding, opportunities for students to make connections to the learning objectives, and opportunities for student-to-student or student-to-teacher communication practice.

QSSSA  is a structured conversation strategy to facilitate peer conversations and develop academic language. It can be used in any content area by any grade level.

Pre-reading strategies are strategies that students engage in before reading a text.  These types of strategies help students prepare their mind for what they will read, make predictions about what the text might be about, and review vocabulary and background knowledge needed to be able to fully comprehend a text.

A workstation is a structure for students to practice the current unit of study ideas and engage in ongoing review. It isn’t a specific place; it is a structure for practicing the standards.

Pacing Tools are devices or online applications that the teacher uses to time activities and maximize instructional time.

Tight Transitions is a quick and effective practice that students perform to move from one activity to the next during a lesson without extensive guidance from the teacher.

Co-Constructing Success Criteria with students allows the entire class to develop a shared understanding of what mastery of an assignment or skill looks like or consists of.

The features of a BLEND module can be used to structure a more personalized learning experience for students. BLEND courses and modules can be organized to be more navigable for students and their families.

Philosophical Chairs is a format for classroom discussion that ensures respectful dialogue, mutual understanding, and deep engagement into the subject matter.

In a Learning Huddle, students have the opportunity to work in small groups to learn new skills, review skills they have been learning, or reflect on what they have learned with one another. 

A meeting between a teacher and a student where both the student and the teacher identify strengths and areas of growth during their discussion and then collaboratively select specific strategies that will support the student's progress.  

The D.A.R. protocol invites all students to bring their experiences and knowledge to the content at hand. In this strategy, students will look together at an image, an artifact, a text, or a video. Then, they will share their observations, opinions, and connections to that media. 

The language experience approach integrates speaking and listening, reading and writing through the development of a written text based on first-hand experiences

Make a text or big idea comprehensible by acting it out. This strategy introduces new academic language structures within a context that is risk-free and highly comprehensible.

The Concept Attainment strategy provides students with an opportunity to describe, identify, and construct a new concept through a teacher-led interactive structure.

With this strategy, a small group of students model language, expectations, or discussion for the rest of the class.

The goal of the Gradual Release of Responsibility Framework (also known as the I do, we do, you do model) is to provide appropriate instruction, moving students towards independence.  Students move back and forth between each of the component of the model as they master skills, strategies, and standards. 

The Barometer strategy helps students share their opinions or ideas by asking them to line up along a continuum, taking a position on an issue. The Barometer gets many arguments/positions out on the table, and students are encouraged to move along the continuum as they listen to one another and their positions might change. 

Chunk and Chew is an instructional strategy where the instructor delivers 10 minutes of content (chunk) and then is followed by 2 minutes of student processing and reflection (chew). 

PWIM is a strategy that uses pictures to elicit words from students’ listening and speaking repertoire. 

The teacher breaks each assignment students will complete into smaller, easily completed tasks.

Assistive technology (AT) is any item, piece of equipment, software program, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of persons with disabilities.

This discussion technique allows students to be actively engaged as they walk throughout the classroom. They work together in small groups to share ideas and respond to meaningful questions, documents, images, problem-solving situations or texts.

Think-Ink-Pair-Share is a cooperative learning strategy where students are given structured time to think about a prompt, write down their thoughts in response to the prompt, pair up with another student what they have written, and then share some of their conversation with the larger class.

Table Talk is a strategy that provides students with an opportunity to engage collaboratively with their peers to process new information, solve a problem, or complete an activity. All students are accountable and have a shared responsibility in completing the learning task. The teacher’s role moves from “information giver” to that of a facilitator of learning. It is important that the teacher monitor the groups as they work to check their understanding and progress, ensure they students are on track, and encourage them if they get frustrated or discouraged.

A Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up is a Cooperative Learning strategy where students stand up, raise one hand, go find another student with their hand up and then hold a conversation with that person. 

Cooperative learning strategies, like Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up, help teachers accomplish many goals in the classroom. It increases engagement and provides opportunities for formative assessment and differentiated instruction. Cooperative learning strategies also allow for the collaborative construction of knowledge, provide an opportunity for students to develop and practice communication skills, and prepare students for working on teams when they leave school to join the workforce.

This strategy has students explore what they know about a topic or concept by generating or sorting examples of what it is and what it is not.

Idea and Movement is a strategy that helps students make meaning by embodying an idea physically. Teachers often use this strategy for vocabulary, like “multiply” or “habitat,” and also for complex topics like algebra and environment. In addition, it creates problem-solving challenges to put ideas into motion and revise those ideas upon reflection.

Town Hall Meeting requires every student’s active engagement with their curriculum as they transfer ideas into new contexts. In this strategy, students interact with real-world scenarios and oftentimes complex problems with multiple sides and sources of input.

Pass the Picture is a strategy that presents multiple perspectives through a curated selection of images, provoking conversation and generating inquiry about an academic topic.

In the creative teaching strategy Model Making, students use an artistic medium such as aluminum foil, clay, or newspaper to show a three-dimensional representation of a straightforward vocabulary word or a complex, multi-faceted concept. 

S-I-T is a strategy where students identify something they find surprising, interesting, and troubling about the selected stimulus (video, text, discussion, etc.). Using S-I-T, students can summarize and demonstrate their interaction with a text, an image, or a video.

Turn and talk is an instructional routine in which students use content knowledge during a brief conversation with a peer. 

The Inside-Outside Circle (Kagan, 1994) is a technique in which students move around and interact with each other. It can be used as a cooperative strategy and a summarizing strategy. During inside-outside circle, students either sit or stand facing each other in two concentric circles. Students respond to teacher questions or note-card prompted questions and then rotate to the next partner. In the end of this type of structure, students will have both been teachers and learners of new information.

An Intentional Close is a method of bringing closure to a class or meeting and building a bridge to participants' next steps in an intentional way.