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Speaking and Listening Strategies:
Speaking and Listening Strategies:
Carousel - The carousel is a discussion strategy in which learners sit or stand in two concentric circles. The inside circle faces outward, and the outer circle faces inward. Each student has a partner. This strategy can be used as an opportunity for students to discuss ideas or questions with multiple rotating partners or as a way for students to share and receive feedback on something they have created.
Inquiry Box - An inquiry box is a great way to promote curiosity and get students thinking and talking about a topic of inquiry or essential question. Place a concrete item that will prompt thinking about the topic of inquiry inside a closed box called the "Inquiry Box."
Clock Partners - One of the most powerful ways to build classroom community is to encourage diverse partnerships. To do so, students mill around looking for different partners for each clock time on their graphic organizer. Students can then keep their appointment clocks in a safe place and pull them out whenever the teacher asks them to find a certain partner, such as their 3 o'clock partner.
Give One - Get One - This simple strategy provides a quick way to share ideas with many different members of the classroom community. In this strategy, students share one idea with a peer and then gain one new idea from a peer. Students can give one and get one with multiple students in the class, leading to each student gaining a variety of ideas.
Speaking Chips - Speaking chips is a simple strategy for holding students accountable for their contributions in a conversation. Provide students a designated number of "chips". Each time a student contributes to the conversation, s/he will play one of her/his chips. Once all of the chips are gone, that student becomes a listener in the conversation, encouraging those who haven't yet had a chance to contribute to speak.
Cubing - In this strategy, the teacher presents 6 questions about the lesson or content. In small groups, students roll a die and then answer the question that corresponds to the number rolled. If the same number is rolled more than once, the group may either roll again or elaborate on the response already shared.
From "60 Formative Assessments," compiled by K Lambert, OCPS Curriculum Services, 2012
Numbered Heads - Students in small groups are numbered off 1, 2, 3, 4... The teacher then poses a question and all of the students discuss the question. Then the teacher calls a number, and that student is responsible for representing the ideas of the small group to the class as a whole.
From "60 Formative Assessments," compiled by K Lambert, OCPS Curriculum Services, 2012
Whip Around - This is a simple and quick share out strategy in which each person shares his/her thinking. Oftentimes, students prepare multiple thoughts/responses. Then, all students stand and begin sharing out ideas. The first student shares one idea, then another student shares an idea, and the sharing continues winding around the room.
Writing Strategies
Writing Strategies
PQA - Put the question in the answer. This strategy is helpful to use when you are encouraging your students to answer questions in complete sentences. Explicitly teach your students how to use PQA and then refer back to this strategy every time they are answering questions (written and orally!).
Example: Who is the main character in the story? PQA Answer: The main character in the story is _____.
Your students will know to look for the beginning of their answer right in the question! It also helps students with their spelling.
Genius Ladder - From Whole Brain Teaching - Teach your students to write in complete sentences. Once they have mastered a simple sentence, then move up the ladder and expand to more complex sentences. Students will learn parts of speech and will have fun creating fun and silly sentences with their friends. Even if you don't apply all of the whole brain teaching strategies into your classroom, you can still use the genius ladder to improve your students' writing!
Stretch a Sentence - Help your students expand their sentences with simple questions. Who? Doing What? When? Where? Why? Students will start with a simple noun and will add to their sentence after answering each question to create a complex sentence.
Write the Rainbow - Use this strategy when you are looking for ways to help your students structure their stories. The kids will also love the colored paper and writing a rainbow! Click here to learn more about how to use this strategy with your students!
Heart Map - This prewriting strategy will help your students think about all of the things in their lives that makes them happy. Keep this heart map in their writing folder all year and they can continue to add to it and get story ideas from it throughout the school year. Click here for a free heart map from Teachers Pay Teachers.
Reading Strategies
Reading Strategies
Linger Finger - Invite students to not "zoom" through the reading selection, but to linger awhile! This strategy invites students to use a "linger finger" to look across the parts on a page. It suggests that students verbally say something each time their finger lands on a spot of interest which increases comprehension and enjoyment of making connections!
Visualize to Focus - If you have students who struggle to focus while reading, this strategy invites them to read while using their senses to create a picture in their minds as they move through the text. Ask students to read a little bit of the text and then invite them to visualize what they have just read using prompts such as, "What do you see? Hear? Taste? Smell?" Then ask them to further define the images they are creating by asking them to describe the picture they have in their minds.
Get Off the Bumpy Road! - When we are helping students with fluency, practicing phrasing can be really effective! Remind students that it is sometimes hard to read smoothly the first time they see something new, but with practice, it becomes smoother.
Allow them the opportunity to reread the selection using phrasing where chunks of the text are scooped together. Encourage students to pause only after they have read a few words instead of just after one or two.
FQR (Facts, Questions, Responses) - As students read, they make note of important facts. For each fact that they note they must either write a question and/or a response. Students are shown through a gradual release of responsibility how to use the form. It is modeling intensive, because students have to learn to not only determine important information, but to ask questions that can guide further reading/research and to make connections that help them understand the text.
Vocabulary Strategies
Vocabulary Strategies
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