Recognition and Reinforcement start with positive talk in your classroom. Positive talk can be anything that is presented positively to a student such as good job, or great work! However to get the full benefit of this strategy your positive talk needs to shift into specific, personal, and frequent talk about academic behaviors. For example, "Kate, I love how you were using your chart to help you solve those math problems, keep it up!" This is highly motivating to students and it helps you get more of the behaviors you want in your classroom because you are reinforcing the behaviors that you want to see more of. 

Frequent small group purposeful talk about the learning is so effective because it gives students a chance to verbalize and process the content being taught to them. The person doing the talking is doing the learning. This strategy is versatile in that it can be implemented at the beginning, middle, or end of your lesson. The bottom line is that giving your students more opportunities to talk will help them learn and remember more information. 

Critical Writing, is the pen really mightier than the keyboard? YES! So much research shows that writing things down helps students to remember them. It also helps students think, make connections, learn vocabulary and so much more. Critical writing can be easily incorporated throughout your lesson and it is okay for it to be messy! Think brain dumps and exit tickets, or even pair it with purposeful talk for more impact!

Work in the Power Zone. This strategy is all about proximity to students, the closer you are to students the more you can teach them, gather formative assessment data by listening to their conversations, and monitor their behavior. When a teacher is in the power zone she is walking around her classroom or working with small groups. The power zone is critical to maximizing all of the other fundamental 5 practices because it gives you more opportunities to see and respond to the needs of the class. In my humble opinion, it is way more exciting than sitting behind your desk and grading papers at home.