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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
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