Independent
You may set aside class time for students to complete their journal entries or assign this as homework. With this approach (particularly if entries are assigned for homework), you may ask more complex questions.
Daily Journal
Grouping students in pairs allows many of the advantages of group work students have the opportunity to state their own views, to hear from others, to hone their argumentative skills
Share/Pair
Choose a list of words and their description, and then create an interactive game
Crossword Puzzle
Waiting forces every student to think about the question, rather than passively relying on those students who are fastest out of the gate to answer every question.
Wait Time
A way of illustrating the connections that exist between terms or concepts covered in course material; students construct concept maps by connecting individual terms by lines which indicate the relationship between each set of connected terms
Concept Mapping
This Interactive Instructional Strategy is mostly performed in group sessions. The process is useful for generating creative thoughts and ideas. It helps students learn to work together, and above all, learn from each other.
Brainstorming
A game of chance in which each player matches the numbers printed in different arrangements on cards using vocal from lecture and class activities.
Bingo Vocab
An effective measure of student comprehension of the readings
Reading Quiz
Presents students with a situation they can relate to from their own life experience. Includes realistic information. Examples can include scripts of exchanges that took place between key parties, news articles about situations of interest, background information about the organization of interest, etc
Case Study
Divide your class into different groups of students and assign them to each of the boards you’ve set up in the room. Assign one topic/question per board. Let them go around the room until all the groups have covered all the boards.
Board Rotation
This method provides instructors with a means of testing student comprehension without the waiting period or the grading time required for written quizzes. Students are asked questions and instructed to signal their answers
Finger Signals
These are best used at the end of the class session. You’ll ask the students to write for one minute on a specific question. Then, you can decide if you are going to open up a conversation about it in your next class.
Exit Slips
This is a highly effective technique for checking student progress, both in understanding the material and in reacting to course material. Ask students to take out a blank sheet of paper, pose a question (either specific or open-ended), and give them one (or perhaps two - but not many more) minute(s) to respond.
Each member of a group is asked to complete some discrete part of an assignment; when every member has completed his assigned task, the pieces can be joined together to form a finished project.
Jigsaw Group Projects
A variation of the Finger Signals approach, this method tests student’s comprehension through their response to a card held by the instructor
Flash Cards
This is a particularly useful method of testing student understanding when they are learning to read texts and identify an author's viewpoint and arguments.
Quotations
Students are given index cards and asked to write down one question concerning the course material. The instructor then draws several questions out of the bowl and answers them for the class or asks the class to answer them
The Fishbowl
students are asked to "act out" a part. In doing so, they get a better idea of the concepts and theories being discussed.
Role Playing
Have students work out the problems themselves. This Instructional strategy is done in the front of the class. Once the student has completed their problem, others provide feedback and encouragement.
Work at the Blackboard
See if students can identify what is the correct answer when given a false fact. It’s useful when going over a previous lesson. It encourages students to think deeply and wager all the possibilities.
Misconception Check
This technique helps students develop their analytical skills in any field by observing your analytical skills in action.
Guided analysis
In groups, students discuss examples of media that made use of a concept or event discussed in class
Video Clips
Make a worksheet or a survey that has a list of questions (make them specific) about your topic, and ask students to circle (or check) the ones they don’t know the answers to. Then, let them turn in the paper. Create corners concerning different questions that were circled
Circle the Question
This instructional strategy gets students involved in discussion of or thinking about course material either before any theory is presented in lecture or after several conflicting theories have been presented.
Critical Thinking Motivators