NIS Learning Curve

                                                                  Excellent online teaching isn’t based on the ability to navigate a Zoom room or create a Google doc. Excellent teaching happens through teacher decision-making — how teachers decide to respond to and engage with students, select curriculum materials, organize learning and use communication strategies. In this session, we explore how teacher decisions in both planning and practice impact student learning in the online environment. ~ Dr Rhona Bondie Over the last year, schools have faced significant challenges to effective teaching and learning. Sometimes with no notice, teachers have had to teach their classes fully or partly online. And they have met that challenge with professionalism,...

  Instructional Strategy#13: Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) This strategy provides a scaffolded way for students to use evidence to formulate and justify their own arguments by breaking down materials and research into smaller pieces for analysis.                                                                                                                                                              (Click on the images to enlarge) McNeill, K. L., & Krajcik, J. (2008). Inquiry and scientific explanations: He...

Instructional Strategy#12: Create the Problem This mathematics-focused instructional activity has students create a hypothetical problem that matches a given real-world solution.                                                                                                   (Click on the images to enlarge) Keeley, P., & Tobey, C. (2011). #11. Create the problem. In Mathematics Formative Assessment: 75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning (p. 80). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, SAGE.                                                               ...

  Instructional Strategy#11: Annotating Text Annotating text is a strategy that engages students in close reading to build their vocabulary and reading comprehension. Students identify difficult or confusing passages within a text and then seek to explain them.                                                                                                                                                               (Click on the images to enlarge) Blow, M. (2016). Engage readers and increase comprehension: Ann...

  Instructional Strategy#10: Crosscutting Cards Each subject has skills and processes that should happen, no matter the grade or content standard. This strategy helps students understand the connection between those processes and their learning.                                                                                                                          (Click on the images to enlarge) Happy Learning!

  Instructional Strategy#9: CHOICE BOARDS Choice Boards are an accessible and customizable way to bring differentiated instruction into any classroom. Themed activity grids can be designed with activities of varying difficulty levels and point values for students to choose from. They allow students' personal interests and preferences to be stimulated for greater engagement and active learning. Sample Template for Choice Boards                                                                                                               (Click on the images to enlarge) Happy Learning!

  Instructional Strategy#8: Fiction in the Facts Students analyze statements to differentiate between fact and fiction, promoting critical thinking and discourse among students to identify correct content-area knowledge.                                                                                                                                            (Click on the images to enlarge) Happy Learning!

Instructional Strategy#7: CUBES Squared CUBES Squared is a strategy to help students dissect questions in both  English Language Arts (ELA) and Math. Students encounter a problem  or passage and use the steps in the CUBES acronym to solve the key  question.                                                                                                                                        (Click on the images to enlarge) Happy Learning!

  Instructional Strategy#6: Elevator Speech This strategy encourages students to prepare and deliver short persuasive speeches using a version of the "elevator speech" concept. Students hone their public speaking skills as they persuade their peers to consider the validity of a topic.                                                                                                                                           (Click on the images to enlarge) Happy Learning!

  Instructional Strategy#5: Tweet Up This strategy is used to help students synthesize and summarize  information in a clear and concise manner                                                                                                                                                  (Click on the images to enlarge) Happy Learning!

  Instructional Strategy#4: First Word Last Word This formative assessment strategy asks that students construct  statements about a topic both before and after instruction,showing how  their understanding of that topic changed over the course of instruction.                                                                                                                                      (Click on the images to enlarge) Happy Learning!

Instructional Strategy#3: Five Whys This problem-solving strategy allows students to analyze a problem in  order to find its root cause. Students are prompted to actively reflect on  and examine the problem, while teachers passively facilitate.                                                                                                                                                (Click on the images to enlarge) Happy Learning!

Instructional Strategy#2: Collective Brain Dump  Students access previous knowledge by first working independently and  then with a group to brainstorm a list that defines a given topic before creating a whole-class list together.                                                                                                                               (Click on the images to enlarge) Happy Learning!  

Instructional Strategy#1:   3-2-1 This short writing activity helps students summarize their understanding of material, evaluate this understanding for gaps in knowledge and communicate this to their teacher.                                                                                                                       (Click on the images to enlarge)      Happy Learning!