Welcome to Hart District Social Studies' Professional Development & Best-First Instructional Practices Hub. This section is designed to support you with research-based strategies that maximize student engagement and achievement. This approach is largely grounded in the work of Tom Sherrington, Doug Lemov, Mike Schmoker, and Sam Wineburg, four leading experts in effective instruction.

High-Impact Teaching Strategies

Rosenshine's Principles in Action (Tom Sherrington)

Tom Sherrington has helped educators apply Barak Rosenshine's research-based teaching principles in practical ways for many years. These strategies emphasize structured instruction, scaffolding, and student engagement.

• Start with Retrieval Practice: Begin each lesson with a short review of previously learned material to strengthen recall. Use bell ringers, quizzes, or class discussions.

• Break Content into Small Steps: Avoid cognitive-overload by introducing new material gradually. Model the skills and thinking processes that students need.

• Ask Questions & Check for Understanding: Use cold calling, exit tickets, and mini-whiteboards to ensure active participation and student-thinking. Consider using Brisk Boost to easily check for student understanding!

• Provide Models & Worked Examples: Share clear examples of high-quality historical analysis, thesis statements, or DBQ responses.

• Guided & Independent Practice: Follow the "I Do, We Do, You Do" model to gradually release responsibility to students.

• Scaffold Difficult Tasks: Support students with sentence stems, guided reading questions, and graphic organizers.

➡ Practical Application: Use Rosenshine’s principles to enhance lecture-based lessons, historical investigations, and primary source analysis. 

Teaching Like a Champion (Doug Lemov)

Doug Lemov’s techniques focus on increasing student engagement, accountability, and academic rigor in every lesson.

• No Opt-Out: If a student struggles to answer, return to them later after discussing the correct response. Consider using Class Companion to engage all learners in checking their understanding!

• Cold Calling: Call on students at random to ensure all learners are engaged.

• Right is Right: Expect precise and accurate responses, pushing students to refine their thinking.

• Stretch It: Encourage deeper thinking by asking follow-up questions.

• Format Matters: Reinforce academic language and clear communication.

• Show Call: Display student work (anonymously or with permission) to analyze strong responses.

➡ Practical Application: These strategies work well in class discussions, debates, Socratic seminars, and source analysis activities.

Focus (Mike Schmoker)

Mike Schmoker emphasizes curriculum simplicity, purposeful literacy, and structured discussion as the keys to improving student achievement. 

• Simplify Curriculum: Prioritize essential content and historical thinking skills instead of covering too much material.

• Frequent Reading & Writing: Use evidence-based reading strategies and writing activities in every lesson.

• Low-Stakes Writing: Incorporate quick writes, historical reflections, and exit slips to build analytical thinking.

• Structured Discussion: Use Socratic seminars, debates, and small-group discussions to encourage historical argumentation.

➡ Practical Application: Schmoker’s approach supports DBQs, historical argument writing, and in-depth classroom discussions.

Historical Thinking & Primary Source Analysis (Sam Wineburg)

Sam Wineburg, a leader in historical thinking education, emphasizes sourcing, contextualization, corroboration, and close reading as key disciplinary skills for social studies.

• Sourcing: Teach students to ask who wrote this, when, and why? before trusting a source.

• Contextualization: Have students place historical documents within their broader time period and events.

• Corroboration: Encourage students to compare multiple sources to assess reliability and bias.

• Close Reading: Teach students to analyze language, claims, and evidence within texts.

➡ Practical Application: Wineburg’s strategies help students critically analyze primary sources, construct historical arguments, and detect bias in media.

Recommended Reading

To deepen your understanding of these best-first instructional practices, explore these essential readings:

📚 Tom Sherrington – Rosenshine’s Principles in Action
➡ A teacher-friendly guide to applying Rosenshine’s 10 principles of instruction.

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📚 Doug Lemov – Teach Like a Champion 3.0
➡ A collection of high-impact teaching techniques that enhance engagement and rigor.

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📚 Mike Schmoker – Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning
➡ A compelling argument for simplifying curriculum and emphasizing literacy in every subject.

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📚 Sam Wineburg – Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts
➡ A must-read on how students learn history and the critical skills they need to evaluate sources.

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📚 Sam Wineburg, Daisy Martin & Chauncey Monte-Sano – Reading Like a Historian
➡ A practical guide to implementing historical thinking skills in the classroom with ready-to-use lessons.

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📚 Daniel Willingham – Why Don’t Students Like School?
➡ A cognitive science perspective on how students learn and how teachers can enhance retention and understanding.

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📚 John Hattie – Visible Learning for Teachers
➡ A synthesis of research on effective teaching practices that improve student achievement.

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