Since the dawn of time, teachers have sought the best teaching strategies to improve their performance. We always look for better instructional strategies, techniques, engaging tools, etc. Like any profession, we want to improve the outcomes for our students. That means updating our instructional playbook with the most effective new teaching strategies, tools, techniques, etc., that boost student engagement and achievement. Here are 50 instructional strategies that are highly effective and, quite frankly, awesome. Since I want to save you time, I have already grouped them into popular domain areas.
Instructional Strategies to Increase Active Learning
Think-Pair-Share: Students contemplate a question independently, discuss it with a peer, and then share it with the class. This is tried and true. Students love to talk.
Jigsaw: Divide content into sections. Each student/group studies a section and then teaches it to others. Allowing students to become mini-experts is also a great confidence boost.
Peer Teaching: Students teach a concept to their peers, reinforcing their understanding. If you can teach it, you know it.
Brainstorming: Encourage free-flowing idea generation about a topic. There are many different ways to brainstorm. Try teaching your students a few, and then show them your favorites.
Concept Mapping: Students create visual representations of concepts and their interrelationships. Concept mapping, or webbing, is a great way to teach connections between different topics and it’s also a brainstorming instructional strategy.
Instructional Strategies Around Questioning
Open-Ended Questions: Questions that don’t have a single correct answer promote critical thinking. This forms the building blocks for active discussions.
Socratic Questioning: Socratic seminars are a great way to expand and challenge students, especially high-performing learners, by asking probing questions that stimulate critical thinking.
Hot Seat: Randomly select a student to answer a question or discuss a topic. This is a great tool for building knowledge. Let students choose their topic an demonstrate their “expert” skills.
Question Stems: Use stems like “How might…?” or “What if…?” to encourage deeper inquiry.
No Hands Up: Don’t allow hand raising except when asking for feedback. This keeps everyone alert. This is a way to engage more lower-performing learners.
Teaching Strategies For Providing Feedback & Assessment
Exit Tickets: Students submit a brief response to a question at the end of class. Tried and true classic for most teachers.
Two Stars and a Wish: Feedback method – two positive aspects and one area for improvement. This is a great formative assessment by students of teacher’s performance.
Peer Assessment: Students evaluate each other’s work. To grade it, they have to know it.
Rubrics: Clear criteria for assessment, shared with students in advance. These are my favorites for assessing writing performance or discussions. It gives students (and teachers) a clear idea of strengths and weaknesses.
Self-assessment: Students assess their work or performance. This is great for helping students to identify misconceptions.
Instructional Strategies for Group Work
Carousel: Rotate groups to different stations where they discuss or add ideas. You can combine this with a gallery walk by having students talk about posters around the classroom for a physically engaging discussion. Make it more challenging and make it a silent gallery walk where students can’t talk; they only add their ideas to posters.
Fishbowl: The inner circle discusses while the outer circle observes, and then the groups switch. Ensure students in the inner circle are talking loud enough for the outer students to hear. Pair this great teaching strategy with a graphic organizer for the students in the outer circle to maximize student engagement.
Snowballing: Start with individual ideas, pair up to discuss, and join groups until it’s a whole-class discussion. This is a physical form of concept mapping. Have students join groups until they have a central concept or theme for the class.
Role-playing: Students assume roles and act out scenarios or concepts. I have the most fun when the role-playing students are NOT the students doing the dialogue. This is a great (and sometimes HILARIOUS) way to make math and science concepts come to life.
Round Robin: Each member of a small group shares ideas in turn. No one gets to provide feedback until after all students have spoken at LEAST once in the session. This does require some practice to be effective.
Teaching Strategies that Increase Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving Skills
Debate: Students argue opposing sides of an issue. Students love to argue.
Case Studies: Analyze real or fictional scenarios to apply knowledge. This forms the basis for the game “Clue.”
What’s the Problem?: Present a solution and have students figure out the problem. This is best done with problems that don’t have a single method for solving them, even if they have a single answer. Combine this with problem-based learning for a real-world application. Students may surprise you.
Analogies: Analogical thinking allows students to relate new concepts to known information and then spark new connections to previously learned work.
Problem-Based Learning: Present a real-world problem students must solve using learned concepts. This is great group work and can expose some creative thinkers. The joy is truly in the journey.
Instructional Strategies to Increase Literacy
SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review – a structured approach to texts. This is probably one of the most consistent methods for structured reading of texts. It forms the basis of close reading.
Graphic Organizers: Visual structures like Venn diagrams organize information. This can be useful in various ways to create a visual approach to learning, helping students “see” the concepts.
RAFT: RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. This writing strategy helps students to identify diverse perspectives. Teaching students this method can help them to understand more about the writer’s and author’s purpose in their writing and reading.
KWL Charts: What I Know, Want to Know, and Have Learned. This is one of my favorite visual organizers for students to use with students before reading a text. It is great when done as a class as well.
Chunking Text: This teaching strategy breaks down complex texts into manageable sections. It is a popular differentiation strategy that helps students to identify high-level concepts.
Instructional Strategies for Increasing Student Engagement
Pop Quizzes: Unannounced quizzes to keep students on their toes. No student loves a pop quiz, but they do love a pop Kahoot
Real-world Connections: Relate content to real-world situations or current events.
Guest Speakers: Involve experts or practitioners to offer real-world insights. Great for CTE courses.
Gamification: Use game elements like scoring and competition to boost student engagement. Don’t take my word for it. The research on gamification is there.
Storytelling: Turn concepts into narratives for easier understanding. This can be an art, but a great hook is how you will get them every time.
Teaching Strategies for Differentiating Instruction
Tiered Assignments: Tasks at varied levels of complexity based on student ability.
Flexible Grouping: Rotate students through different groups so they work with diverse peers.
Learning Profiles: Tailor assignments based on student preferences or strengths.
Anchor Activities: Tasks for early finishers to anchor their learning.
Compacting: Shorten instruction for students who can demonstrate mastery.
Teaching Strategies for Increasing Memory & Recall
Mnemonics: Use memory aids to enhance retention. “I before E except after C or when sounding like A as in neighbor and weigh.” Yes, I still remember it and use it frequently when writing “receive” or “believe.”
Spaced Repetition: Space out study sessions over increasing intervals. Study sessions are more popular for older students, but spaced repetition can be used in various ways.
Visualization: Encourage students to create mental images of concepts. If they see it, they can remember it.
Dual Coding: Combine verbal and visual information. Multimodal means of representation and presentation are great ways to support memory and recall.
Retrieval Practice: Regularly test memory recall instead of reviewing. This is not just a test but more of a check-in. See if students do remember the information through formative assessment. This can help you identify what needs to be reviewed.
Instructional Strategies to Increase Motivation
Growth Mindset Encouragement: Praise effort, strategies, and progress. We all need positive reinforcement. This teaching strategy is a great way to increase student engagement and support motivation.
Goal Setting: Have students set short—and long-term academic goals. Then, see how they progress toward them. Even little ones love feeling successful.
Choice Boards: Let students choose tasks from options. Choice is a very powerful motivator for student achievement.
Real-World Relevance: Show students the practical application of their learning, then watch the magic happen. They will make more connections when you let them do the learning.
Celebrate Success: Acknowledge your students’ achievements, both big and small. My favorite method is brag Tags; you can find out more about them here.
Incorporating these instructional strategies can transform classrooms into dynamic learning environments. Tailoring them to suit specific subjects and age groups can further enhance their effectiveness. Highly effective teachers have added them to their instructional playbooks to boost student engagement and increase achievement. But if you see one you haven’t tried, adapt and innovate these strategies as they deem fit. But don’t take my word for it. Try it yourself, and tell me more about how you made it fit.
Looking for something different? Try this article about Formative Assessments, which may be more up your alley.