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.
Quizzing With Clickers
Organize Your Teaching > Spacing Learning > See How It Works
Middle school social studies teacher Patrice Bain explains how she uses "clickers" (remote control devices) to give short, ungraded quizzes to prompt student recall of key course material. View the...
Resource Type
School Example
Mastery Over Time
Organize Your Teaching > Spacing Learning > See How It Works
Two math teachers describe their department's focus on student mastery of skills and knowledge over time. They have developed a curriculum that creates multiple opportunities for students to learn...
Resource Type
School Example
Graphic Organizer for Teaching Vocabulary With Visuals
Organize Your Teaching > Abstract & Concrete > See How It Works
Middle-school teacher Bonnie Bowen uses this graphic organizer in her classroom to incorporate the use of visuals in vocabulary instruction. Related Files: Plainwell Middle School Description...
Resource Type
Sample Material
Lesson Plan: Socratic Seminar Planning Form
Organize Your Teaching > Higher-Order Questions > See How It Works
See how teachers at Normal Park Museum Magnet Elementary plan for Socratic Seminars by identifying main concepts, questions, and pre- and post-activities to maximize the effects of using...
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Sample Material
Student Work: Explanation of Math Answer
Organize Your Teaching > Higher-Order Questions > See How It Works
Just because a subject area involves problems with numbers and graphs doesn't mean students can't be asked to generate in-depth answers. View this sample student response to an algebra problem,...
Resource Type
Sample Material
Sample Essential Questions by Grade Level
Organize Your Teaching > Higher-Order Questions > See How It Works
View examples of essential questions created by teachers at Normal Park Museum Magnet Elementary and see how they organize their science and social studies-based modules around these...
Resource Type
Sample Material
Student Assignment: Acme Landscaping Closure Activity
Organize Your Teaching > Abstract & Concrete > See How It Works
View an end-of-unit assignment from the math department at Kettle Moraine High School that asks students to explain in concrete terms the abstract concept of tangent ratios. Related...
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Sample Material
“I Can” Worksheets: Reviewing Concepts Over Time
Organize Your Teaching > Spacing Learning > See How It Works
View "I Can" sheets used by fifth-grade teacher Deb Wickerham for review purposes. Students fill in these worksheets during a unit and then use them to review and prepare for assessments later in...
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Sample Material
Screenshots of Grade Reports Tracking Daily Quiz Results By Topic
Organize Your Teaching > Spacing Learning > See How It Works
View screenshots from an online grading report system, which organizes student quiz scores by the review topics that are cycled through each quarter. The reports highlight areas that need more...
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Sample Material
Screenshot of Interactive Whiteboard Pre-Test With Summary of Student Answers
Organize Your Teaching > Spacing Learning > See How It Works
View a screenshot from an interactive whiteboard in Patrice Bain's social studies classroom. See how students' correct and incorrect responses to short, multiple choice quizzes are summarized for...
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Sample Material
Lesson Plan: Cupcake Geology
Organize Your Teaching > Abstract & Concrete > See How It Works
View the lesson plan from Deb Wickerham's activity called "Cupcake Geology," which uses physical models to illustrate geologic concepts. Related Media and Files: Cupcake Geology: Using Models...
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Sample Material
Student Handout: Order of Operations Homework With Worked Examples
Organize Your Teaching > Examples With Practice > See How It Works
In this sample homework set, both incorrect and correct answers are offered as ways to help students think about the problem-solving steps and strategies involved. Related Media and...
Resource Type
Sample Material
