Annotated List of Instructional Strategies with a basis in the

Common Core State Standards

1. Guided inquiry questions with group collaboration- The common core state standards
emphasize skills which rely on the development of students critical thinking skills. By
providing instruction through guided inquiry questions designed to help students add to
their understanding and knowledge, students can learn in a student-centered way. This
can help learning to be more adapted to the individual students needs. When students
develop new ideas through their own critical thinking and building off prior knowledge,
students develop lasting knowledge, confidence, and greater skills of analysis. Group
collaboration in the context of the guided inquiry questions requires students to explain
their ideas to their peers, and often misconceptions are eliminated because of the
discussion. Additionally, the social aspect of this activity builds student engagement and
interest in the topic.

2. Directed Reading Thinking ActivityDRTA is a comprehension strategy that guides

students in asking questions about a text, making predictions, and then reading to
confirm or refute their predictions.

3. Socratic Seminars- A formal discussion based on a text where the facilitator of the
discussion asks open ended questions. This discussion builds critical thinking skills.

4. Three Level Study GuidesStudy guides with questions requiring varying levels of skill
to answer. These types of study guides can help all levels of students access content.
Students are provided these questions before reading a text so that the purpose of the
reading is determined before reading the text.

5. Concept MapsA graphic way of organizing ideas and concepts related to a given topic.
These help students convert and compress seemingly disjoint knowledge and
information into a graphical display.

6. Authentic ProblemsInstruction in the math classroom is centered around the solution

of meaningful problems that require authentic critical thinking skills. Instruction must
provide scaffolding for achieving meaningful learning.

7. 5E model of mathematical instruction-- This model has three stages of mathematics

instruction: introduce, investigate and summarize. The teacher acts as a facilitator in this
 method of inquiry based learning that requires students to engage, explore, explain,
elaborate and evaluate.

8. KWL modelA graphic organizer where the teacher asks students to identify what they
already know, what they want to know, and what they need to do to learn the skill or
concept.

9. Find my RuleStudents are given cards and must find the person who matches their
card. One person has a card with a rule and the other has an example of that rule. This
is a great strategy for pairing mathematical theorems with examples of that theorem in
use.