“This was the best money I have ever spent on a teaching tool.” ~ a teacher in Wisconsin
A model of instruction that moves from specific examples to concepts to one big idea.
Think of as many school rules as possible.
Group them into 3-5 categories.
Write one statement about school rules.
Debrief, focusing on how students’ are thinking throughout this lesson.
Learn what makes an Analyze-level question truly at the Analyze-level.
Let’s look at two different examples of “math puzzles” and see why one works and one doesn’t.
First, students solved math pyramid puzzles where each box is the sum of the two boxes below it.
Next, students will solve a math puzzle using digits zero through nine once to find true equations and explore equality.
Finally, students analyze and compare different math approaches to find the largest and smallest numbers in a problem.
One technique for moving more of our on-level writers up to advanced.
Learn how to do the “Remember” level of Bloom’s Taxonomy well.
I demonstrate my mnemonic for several African countries and let you try the next row.
I unveil my mnemonic, show how the same technique works for learning Japanese, and then let the master talk about memorizing decks of cards.
Here’s how you can move from merely “summarizing a text” to a high-level task that culminates in synthesis.
Develop a creative task that climbs up Bloom’s Taxonomy, demanding a high level of thinking.
Learn to run a lesson based on Richard Suchman’s model of Inquiry Training.
Learn to write a lesson using the Concept Attainment model.
First, we show three examples of the concept and three non-examples. Pick these carefully and beware of setting up false patterns.
Next, we show students three ungrouped items and they decide which are examples and which are non-examples.
Finally, we reveal the correct placements, discuss the patterns students were noticing, and reveal the concept.
Understand the importance of knowing a variety of models of instruction.
Learn to fully explain a concept the four pieces of the Frayer Model.
Design lesson objectives that build on higher-level thinking skills.
We look at the difference between content and thinking skills. Teachers try writing an objective built on higher order thinking.
Then, teachers practice writing two variations of an objective in order to differentiate.
Finally, we explore how content, thinking skills, resources, and product come together to form a complete lesson objective.
Learn to lead a lesson that is built entirely on student curiosity.
In this video, we’ll make use of an inductive model of thinking as students explore geometric shapes.
Ask students to go beyond “I don’t like it” and form critical opinions based on a set of criteria. Students can produce written arguments or turn their opinion into oral presentations.
Beniy Waisanen explains how his students analyze literature using an inductive model of instruction.
Take a direct instruction lesson and add layers, such as art, literature, and higher levels of thinking.
I show how I’d increase the objective of my lesson and embed some art.
Now we compare and contrast the details in two pieces of art.
Finally, we bring our instruction to a piece of classic text.
Create an ambiguous analysis task in which students must decide why each item is the one that is not like the others.
What would it be like if students graphed characters from stories? Historic leaders? Elements from the period table? Objects in space?
What separates difficulty from complexity? And why do complex tasks lead to much more natural differentiation?
Who would win in the Tournament of Least Useful Geometric Shapes or Bravest Shakespearean Characters? Create an academic tournament and watch your students’ brains sweat!
Here’s a simple task that will add complexity to any content from any grade level!
Learn one method for leading an inducive analysis of website reliability.
Empower your students to solve complex problems and let them design your classroom layout.
How I’d use a classic to revamp a study of context clues.
First, students analyze nonsense words in “Jabberwocky” to figure out their meanings through context.
After looking at dozens of lessons that folks sent in, I came up with three big ideas.
While “engagement” is fun, it shouldn’t be our main goal.
First, students roll dice to choose vocabulary tasks, promoting deeper thinking rather than simple engagement.
So your students can identify a story’s problem and solution. Then what?
Go beyond merely explaining strengths and weaknesses and get students thinking in interesting ways.
A big, impressive product doesn’t mean that there was big, impressive thinking.
Comparing fraction strategies? Let’s take it even further!
A high level of thinking also requires the support of thoughtful scaffolding.
How to go beyond merely “identifying patterns” and get students thinking deeply about quadrilaterals.
How to go beyond merely memorizing facts about famous structures.
See how the word “Create” can mask low-level lessons.