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Teaching Strategies

Community Inquiry

Nurture students' speaking and listening skills with strategies that ask them to draw upon texts during meaningful—and respectful—classroom discussions.

18 TEACHING STRATEGIES

Affirmation Interview

During Affirmation Interview, students practice verbal and non-verbal communication in the roles of “interviewer” and “interviewee.”
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, SL.3-5.1
July 13, 2014

Artifact Add-ons

Artifact Add-on asks students to select and share real-life objects that illustrate concepts and ideas from the central text.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2, RL.3-5.3, RI.3-5.3, SL.3-5.1, SL.3-5.2 SL.3-5.4, SL.3-5.5, SL.3-5.6
July 13, 2014

Brain Share

During Brain Share, small groups of students rotate through stations, discussing and recording concepts from central texts. This strategy is a modified combination of gallery walks and jigsaw.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RF.3-5.4, RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2, SL.3-5.1, SL.3-5.2
July 13, 2014

Critical Listening Guide

A guide to help students interpret, analyze and evaluate information encountered in a variety of media formats. Use this guide with the spoken and performed texts included in the Perspectives anthology.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.4, RL.6-12.6, RL.6-12.7, RL.6-12.8, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.4, RI.6-12.6, RI.6-12.7, RI.6-12.8, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.2, SL.6-12.3
July 13, 2014

Fishbowl

Fishbowl is a strategy for organizing medium- to large-group discussions. Students are separated into an inner and outer circle. In the inner circle, or fishbowl, students have a discussion; students in the outer circle listen to the discussion and take notes.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, SL.3-5.1, SL.3-5.2, SL.3-5.6
July 13, 2014

Four Perspectives

A strategy to introduce the anti-bias framework into group discussion and textual analysis. Students respond to and pose questions from the four anti-bias domains: identity, diversity, justice and action.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.4, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014

Lifting the Text

Students choose an important sentence or phrase from the central text and participate in a structured class discussion about the “lifted” text.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, SL.3-5.1, SL.3-5.4, SL.3-5.6
July 13, 2014

Save the Last Word for Me (3-5)

Save the Last Word for Me is a comprehension strategy that builds speaking and listening skills by structuring a text-based discussion for students. Students highlight two to three of the most important sentences of the central text, then discuss their text-based responses in small groups.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2, SL.3-5.1
July 13, 2014

Save the Last Word for Me (6-8, 9-12)

A comprehension strategy that builds speaking and listening skills through structured text-based discussion. Students record sentences from a text and then discuss their responses in small groups.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.4, RL.6-12.6, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.4, RI.6-12.6, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.2, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014

Say Something

A comprehension strategy during which student take turns reading aloud to each other, stopping occasionally to comment on the text.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.2, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014

Socratic Seminar

A structured discussion in which students examine issues and respond to open-ended questions about a text. Students use dialogue rather than debate to communicate with each other.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.3, SL.6-12.4, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014

Text Talk Time (3-5)

Text Talk Time is a whole class discussion that facilitates rich dialogue, active listening and use of textual evidence.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, RL.3-5.2, RI.3-5.2, RL.3-5.3, RI.3-5.3, RL.3-5.4, RI.3-5.4, RL.3-5.5, RI.3-5.5, SL.3-5.1
July 13, 2014

Text Talk Time (6-8, 9-12)

A whole class discussion structured to facilitate rich dialogue, active listening and use of textual evidence.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.4, RL.6-12.5, R.L.6-12.6, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.4, RI.6-12.5, RI.6-12.6, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.3, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014

Text Treasure Hunt

Student teams look for clues and respond to questions that help them identify details, organization, inferences and comparisons in the central text.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RF.3-5.4, RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, SL.3-5.1, SL.3-5.6
July 13, 2014

Text-based Fishbowl

A strategy for organizing medium- to large-group discussions. Students are separated into an inner and outer circle. In the inner circle, or fishbowl, students have a text-based discussion; students in the outer circle listen to the discussion and take notes.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.3, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.3, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014

Value Lines

Students take a stance on a topic related to the central text and listen while classmates explain their stances.
Grade Level
3-5
CCSS
RL.3-5.1, RI.3-5.1, SL.3-5.1, SL.3-5.3, SL.3-5.6
July 13, 2014

What Would They Say

A discussion strategy that asks students to infer how a particular author or character from a text would respond to questions and scenarios. Students must defend their conclusions using evidence from the text.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.3, SL.6-12.4, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014
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