Working in pairs, students read a shared text to each other, but each version of the text is missing specific words. Students listen to each other and fill in missing words on their own papers. Split dictation requires students to listen very carefully and pronounce the words as best they can.

Chris Maldonado turned his classroom tables into visual thinking surfaces by sanding and painting them with whiteboard paint, allowing students to communicate through visuals.

In Kyle Haller-Erby's senior seminar class at SF International, newcomer English Language Learners engage in literature circles once a week. Students first work in heterogeneous groups to read a chapter and complete an individual response. Students then prepare for the literature circle discussion by moving to role-alike groups. Finally, students move back to their original groups for the discussion.

Second Set Partners is a turn and talk strategy meant to improve students' listening and speaking skills. First, students talk with a rug partner. Next, they switch partners and tell the second partner what the first partner said.

Elizabeth Iwaszewics uses this strategy as a warm opener to help students transition from recess or lunch and to the classroom.

In this video, Anna Dearlove explains how she uses hand gestures to clarify language and encourages students to use gestures to explain their own thinking.

In this lesson, students are working on phonics, fluency practice, and a reading guide focused on a text about Frida Kahlo. Christopher Maldonado begins the class with an opening question related to the text they've been reading. Next, students engage in a short phonics activity. Afterwards, students work in pairs or small groups on a reading guide about Frida Kahlo. Finally, class ends with a fluency practice.

Kindergarten students in Elizabeth Iwaszerwicz's class work together to create and present posters about American symbols. First, Elizabeth reviews the discussion norms and gives her students a chance to warm up with their partners. Next, students move into groups where they read and record facts about an American symbol. Finally, students take turns sharing their posters.

Anna Dearlove works with a small group of ELLs during designated ELD time to prepare them for a science lesson on plants and insects. Through reviewing key terms and showing examples, providing sentence stems and models, and practice, she hopes to prepare students to be able to make a claim about variation when they move to whole class.