Research-Based Strategies For This Factor
Project-based Learning
Project-based learning (PBL) actively engages learners in authentic tasks designed to create products or design solutions that answer a given question or solve a problem.
Drawing
Encouraging young children to draw and to explain their drawings in the classroom, can support the development of Core Academic Literacies.
Field Trips
Visiting places connected to classroom learning provides opportunities to add relevance to classroom topics and deepen understanding through firsthand experiences.
Guided Play
Guided play is when a child is actively engaged in a playful learning environment, with an adult supporting their play and learning.
Gallery Walk
Gallery walks are ways of showcasing content and materials as multiple “exhibitions” for students to view and interact with as part of larger learning goals.
Flexible Grouping
Flexible grouping is a classroom practice that temporarily places students together in given groups to work together, with the purpose of achieving a given learning goal or activity.
Cooperative Problem Solving
As learners work together to solve problems, they learn new strategies and practice Communication skills as they express their academic thinking.
Think-Pair-Share (Turn & Talk)
Think-Pair-Share (TPS), also known as Turn & Talk (T&T), is when the teacher pauses instruction so students can discuss a topic or prompt in pairs or small groups, to enhance engagement, language development, and learning outcomes.
Mnemonic Device
A mnemonic device is a creative way to support memory for new information using connections to current knowledge, for example by creating visuals, acronyms, or rhymes.
Supported Independent Reading
Supported independent reading, sometimes called Scaffolded Silent Reading, is when teachers scaffold and monitor learners' independent reading time, offering students a choice of accessible texts, and periodic check-in's with individual students to provide guidance and accountability.
Multimodal Teaching & Learning
Multimodal teaching and learning provides opportunities for students to engage with the same content through different sensory modalities, such as visual, auditory and tactile.
Strengths-based Approach
A strengths-based approach is one where educators intentionally identify, communicate, and harness students' assets, across many aspects of the whole child, in order to empower them to flourish.
Goal Setting & Monitoring
Goal-setting and monitoring involves teachers working with students to set individualized academic or behavioral goals, plan actions to achieve those goals, and track progress.
Positive Self-talk
When students are able to encourage themselves through kind and motivating self-statements, they are practicing positive self-talk.
Audiobooks & E-books
Listening comprehension and Decoding are foundational components of reading comprehension and can be supported through the use of audiobooks, digital text-to-speech books, and e-books.
Communication Boards
Communication boards are displays of graphics (e.g., pictures, symbols, illustrations) and/or words where learners can gesture, touch, or point to the displays to extend their expressive language potential.
Discussing Emotions
Discussing emotions with children consists of supporting their ability to identify, label, and manage their feelings.
Encourage Student Self-advocacy
Self-advocacy is the ability of an individual to understand and effectively express and assert their own rights, needs, desires, and interests.
Foster Growth Mindset
Growth mindset is the belief that people can grow their intelligence and abilities (through effort, good strategies, and support from others).
Student Choice
Providing students a voice in their learning is critical for making learning meaningful.
Selecting Culturally Responsive Texts
Culturally responsive texts include those that reflect different facets of students' identities, including race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic, and disability status, as well as the intersections of those identities.
Developing Your Cultural Awareness
Developing cultural awareness as an educator is an ongoing process that includes a recognition and appreciation for the full diversity of students and an understanding of how one's own Identity intersects with students' identities.
Equitable Grading
Equitable grading systems and practices reimagine how to communicate student progress and mastery through various methods that reduce subjectivity and increase opportunities to learn.
Discussing Race with Students
Discussing race with students can range from conversations on cultural celebration (e.g., celebrating the importance of diversity) to developing critical consciousness (e.g., understanding the impact of social inequities like racism and how to dismantle it).
Incorporate Students' Cultural Practices
Learning about students' cultures and connecting them to instructional practices helps foster a Sense of Belonging, increase positive student Identity development, and mitigate Stereotype Threat.
Family Engagement
Family engagement happens when educators and schools collaborate with families to collectively support their child's learning in meaningful ways, both at school and at home.
Translanguaging
Translanguaging is a flexible classroom practice enabling students to listen, speak, read, and write across their multiple languages or dialects, even if the teacher does not have formal knowledge of these additional languages.
Empathy Interviews
A first step to supporting learners is truly understanding who they are.
Check-ins
Checking in with learners, or taking the time to talk with individual learners about their experiences or goals, is important for fostering a positive classroom environment.
Shadowing a student
Shadowing a student involves an educator, administrator, or designated adult observing a learner across different parts of their day to deepen their understanding of that learner's experience beyond their classroom.
Mnemonic Device
A mnemonic device is a creative way to support memory for new information using connections to current knowledge, for example by creating visuals, acronyms, or rhymes.
Building Empathy
Developing empathy in educators and in learners is an iterative process that requires taking the time to understand and honor others' perspectives.
Feedback
Feedback is the process of providing learners with information about their learning to support their progress and improvement, which can come from a range of sources, including teachers and peers.
Rubrics
A rubric is a tool that communicates expectations for success for students and can include symbols or charts that are easy for young students to understand.
Creating a Culture of Error
Creating a culture of error means creating an environment in which errors are valued and encouraged as a necessary part of the learning process, which can help learners to view errors and learning more positively.
Flexible Seating
Flexible seating refers to the practice of offering students a range of work surfaces, seating sizes and heights, movement, and varied body positions in the classroom.
Simulation Learning
Simulations involve students engaging in interactive experiences that mimic real-world scenarios to explore content, practice skills, and solve problems.
Interactive Writing
Interactive writing activities for young learners can include cooperative activities to practice their foundational writing skills and can support engagement with content knowledge as they write and draw to reflect upon what they have learned.
Spaced Practice
Spaced practice is a learning strategy that deliberately spaces out learning or study sessions over varying periods of time, with the purpose of increasing retention, understanding, and long-term knowledge acquisition.
Retrieval Practice
Retrieval practice requires students to access information, or get information “out” from Long-term memory in order to support better retention and understanding.
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