Instructional Strategy Cafe

Strike Out strategy: Show slide 6. Have participants get into groups of four with proximity partners. Ask the question, "What skills do you need for college readiness?" Instruct the participants to list as many skills as they identify in their small groups. Then, pass papers to the group on their right. Based on the answers given, strike out one item that does not meet the criteria or that is the least important. Participants will continue to pass papers to the right, and groups will continue to mark off one item from the list until only the most important skills remain. Allow groups time to share out the skills that are remaining on their lists.

Create the Problem strategy: Show slide 7. Present this instructional strategy, letting participants know that they are going to use the information on the next slide to create a problem that would result in the given solution. Use the information on slide 8 to create a problem.

Strategy Harvest strategy: Show slide 9. Present the problem on the slide and instruct participants to solve the problem and record their strategy on the attached Strategy Harvest Note Sheet, found either on the table or in their folder. After a couple of minutes, ask everyone to find an Elbow Partner and share the strategy they used. Participants will take turns sharing and recording the new strategies on their note sheets, "harvesting" the strategies others used. Participants will continue to find a new partner one or two more times and record the new strategies shared each time. Bring the group back together and have a few participants share out either their own strategy or a new one they learned and might use in the future.

GramIt strategy: Show slides 10-11. Participants will write an opinion statement about the concept presented in the infographic found on slide 11. It must contain fewer than 140 characters and include a hashtag. Read the example from the slide: Students today must learn how to move beyond basic comprehension. #CriticalThinking

You can use a website like Padlet to create a forum so that participants can post their GramIt statements for all to see and scroll through simultaneously.

Move to slide 12 and identify the infographic “Data Never Sleeps,” located either in participants’ folders or on the table. Participants will use this infographic to write their comments and share them with the whole group.

3-2-1 strategy: Show slide 13. Introduce this slide as the Engage portion of a lesson that could be used when teaching about the Dust Bowl. Inform participants that they are using the 3-2-1 strategy with a picture deconstruction. Ask participants to write down three things they notice about the picture, two things they can infer based on their prior knowledge of the Dust Bowl, and one question they have about this picture.

Synectics strategy: Show slide 14. Explain that this is a science strategy, but it can be adapted to any content area. It is similar to making a simile or metaphor in Language Arts—but it uses things you wouldn't normally compare and explains the connection between the two objects or ideas.

Use the example on the slide for participants to explore: A cell is like a _________ because ___________________. Ask participants: Is it most like a shopping mall, a bowl of gelatin, a brick wall, or an iPod?

Participants will choose one of the four answer choices and then write an explanation of why a cell and the chosen object are most alike. After participants have written their explanations, have them share out what they wrote.