Organize Your Teaching
Explore resources designed to improve instruction so that students can better understand, remember and apply what they have learned. 
- View a visual diagram of all four practices
- Watch a topic overview and download planning templates
- Listen to an expert
Explore the subtopics below to learn more about the recommended practices:
To learn more about the research underlying these practices, view the IES Practice Guide, Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning.
Discuss and Design: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Visual Representations
Organize Your Teaching > Abstract & Concrete > Overview & Tools
Use this tool to guide discussions, in groups, of ways to use graphics to promote learning. Related Media and Files: Using Graphics to Support Learning (Slideshow and Transcript)
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Planning Chart Activity: Incorporating More Concrete Connections to Abstract Concepts
Organize Your Teaching > Abstract & Concrete > Overview & Tools
This tool provides a format for brainstorming activities that use understandable representations to teach difficult concepts.
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Classroom Observation: Tracking Questions and Responses
Organize Your Teaching > Higher-Order Questions > Overview & Tools
In teams, use this observation form to observe ongoing questions and responses generated by class instruction and then provide feedback on impact and possible improvement.
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Sentence Starters for Generating Higher-Order Questions
Organize Your Teaching > Higher-Order Questions > Overview & Tools
Use this tool to develop questions and sentence starters that will help generate deeper explanations from students.
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Discuss and Design: Effective Classroom Structures for Higher-Order Questions
Organize Your Teaching > Higher-Order Questions > Overview & Tools
Use this observation chart to convene a school in-service session for teachers to learn about creating classroom structures that utilize student questioning to build explanations. Related...
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Learning Together About Using Higher-Order Questions to Help Students Build Explanations
Organize Your Teaching > Higher-Order Questions > Overview & Tools
The discussion questions in this tool can be used to convene a school in-service session for teachers to learn why and how to teach using higher-order questions. Related Media: Using...
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Lesson Planning: Developing a Review Game
Organize Your Teaching > Spacing Learning > Overview & Tools
Use this lesson plan template to design a game that requires students to recall important facts.
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Planning Chart Activity: Building in More Frequent Review
Organize Your Teaching > Spacing Learning > Overview & Tools
This planning chart activity can help to examine the sequence of activities throughout a unit or quarter to map out how key concepts will be revisited. Related Files: Learning Together About...
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Learning Together About Spacing Learning Over Time
Organize Your Teaching > Spacing Learning > Overview & Tools
The materials and worksheet in this tool can be used to convene a school in-service session for teachers to learn why and how to space learning over time. Related Media and Files: Spacing...
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Learning Together About Quizzing
Organize Your Teaching > Spacing Learning > Overview & Tools
Follow the steps in this tool to convene a school in-service session for teachers to learn why and how to use quizzes to support students’ retention of key ideas. Related Media and...
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Discuss and Design: Creating Problem Sets With Worked Examples
Organize Your Teaching > Examples With Practice > Overview & Tools
Adult advocates can use this planner to collect information about the areas in which the student’s teachers have seen or would like to see improvement. Related Files: Student Handout: Order...
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Learning Together About Alternating Examples With Practice
Organize Your Teaching > Examples With Practice > Overview & Tools
This in-service plan can be used to convene a school in-service session for teachers to learn why and how to alternate worked examples with practice. Related Media and Files: Alternating Worked...
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