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.
Learning Together About Connecting Abstract and Concrete Representations of Concepts
Organize Your Teaching > Abstract & Concrete > Overview & Tools
This training activity can be used to convene a school in-service session for teachers to learn why and how to make concrete connections to abstract concepts. Related Media and Files: Planning...
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Tool
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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Tool
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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Tool
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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Tool
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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Tool
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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Tool
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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Tool
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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Tool
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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Tool
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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Tool
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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Tool
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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Tool
