Instructional Resources
Bloom's Question Stems -- Use the sample question stems in this list to encourage higher-order thinking in your class discussions or written assignments. Posing questions from the lower end--knowledge and comprehension--and then moving to higher-level questions can help invlove more students in learning and promote deeper understanding of subject matter.
Fostering Effective Classroom Discussions -- The English Department at Virginia Tech established these guidelines for fostering effective classroom discussions at the college level, but the ideas are easily adaptable to elementary and secondary classrooms.
Jigsaw Classroom -- This site provides an overview of the Jigsaw technique. In addition, there are links which breakdown the steps of the Jigsaw, provide tips on how to implement it in the classroom, and links to various articles on the technique.
ADDinSchool.com --The structured classroom setting can be a tremendous challenge for individuals who have difficulty sitting still, being quiet, and paying attention to the right thing. ADDinSchool.com provides you with hundreds of ideas to help students who have ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
ADD/ADHD Checklist for Classroom Teachers --This resource contains suggestions from 450 surveyed teachers for working with students who have Attention Deficit Disorder. This site looks at physical arrangement, lesson presentation, organization, tests, and behavior.
Teachers’ Links --There are more links here than you could ever use in categories like lesson plans, new teachers, reading, language arts, literature, writing, poetry, social studies, students with special needs, ESL, physical education, art, music, drama, Internet projects, multicultural and character education, free newsletters, NBPTS, and more.
Strategies to Extend Student Thinking --Twelve Simple and Practical Ways to Encourage Your Students to Think
Making a Difference-One Student at a Time --Beth M. Arthur of Southern Illinois State University offers this online book that contains a whole chapter on reading strategies perfect for expository texts such as DRTA and KWL that help students better construct meaning. Many of the strategies involve prediction, which Arthur explains is one of the best ways to engage students in meaningful transactions with text.
Strategic Processing of Text: Improving Reading Comprehension for Students with Learning Disabilities --This site provides a scholarly explanation regarding why students have difficulty reading expository texts, especially learning-disabled students, and offers strategies to help students better construct meaning from exposition. The author, Joanna P. Williams, specifically highlights one strategy that involves having students make three "passes" through a piece of expository text. Students look for different features in each pass.
Best Practices I --This handout provides a good overview of best practices--instructional strategies that have proven to be effective. It also contains classroom management, assessment, and literacy hints.MiddleWeb Teaching Strategies Resources Page --Find links to information on topics like inquiry-based learning, differentiated instruction, using the jigsaw method, exhibitions, integrated curriculum, project-based learning, brain-based learning, technology, classroom rubrics, performance tasks, and multiple intelligences on this web page.
