08 Instructional Strategies

Plan from clear goals

Instructional strategies are methods and learning activities selected to help students achieve specific learning goals. Effective instruction is not a single technique: teachers align goals, teaching methods, materials, and checks for understanding, then adjust instruction as students learn.

Begin with a clear, observable learning goal. Decide what students should know or be able to do, and what evidence would show that they have achieved it. Plan a sequence that introduces and models new learning, provides supported practice, and leads to independent application.

Use evidence throughout planning

A useful planning cycle connects students’ needs and evidence of learning to instructional choices:

1. Identify the goal and prerequisites. Determine the knowledge and skills students need, and connect the new topic to what they already know.

2. Check students’ starting points. Use brief questions, a short task, discussion, or prior work to identify strengths and misunderstandings.

3. Choose aligned instruction and practice. Select examples, explanations, activities, and materials that directly support the goal.

4. Check progress during instruction. Use questioning, observation, student work, or a short exit task to see who is ready to continue and who needs another explanation or practice.

5. Adjust and follow up. Reteach, add practice, change the level of support, or extend learning based on the evidence.

For example, if the goal is to compare fractions, students might review equivalent fractions, examine visual models, solve problems with teacher guidance, and then complete a brief independent task. The teacher uses students’ responses to decide whether to move on or revisit a prerequisite skill.

Match strategies to the learning task

Choose a strategy to fit the learning goal, content, and students’ current understanding—not simply because a method is familiar or entertaining. Direct explanation and modeling can clarify unfamiliar procedures; discussion can help students explain and compare ideas; collaborative tasks can support shared problem-solving; and independent practice can show what students can do on their own. Many lessons benefit from combining these approaches.

Match instruction to the kind of learning required:

• Learning a procedure: Demonstrate steps, think aloud, and provide guided practice before independent work.

• Understanding a concept: Use examples and non-examples, visuals or concrete materials, and questions that reveal students’ reasoning.

• Applying or transferring learning: Give students a new problem or context where they must decide how to use what they learned.

Keep the intended goal consistent while offering reasonable ways for students to engage with content and demonstrate learning. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) encourages planning multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression so students can access challenging learning while reducing avoidable barriers.

Build and gradually remove support

Scaffolding is temporary, adjustable support that helps students complete a task they are not yet ready to do independently. Supports can include breaking a complex task into steps, modeling a strategy, providing worked examples, offering prompts or graphic organizers, and practicing with teacher or peer guidance. Scaffolds should respond to both the task and the learner. As competence grows, reduce support so students assume more responsibility.

A common progression is model → guided practice → independent practice. For example, when teaching students to support a claim with evidence, a teacher can model analyzing a short passage aloud, help the class select evidence for another claim, and then ask students to complete the process independently. Check understanding at each stage: completing steps with help does not necessarily mean a student can yet use the skill alone.

Adapt instruction to demonstrated needs

Students differ in prior knowledge, language, interests, pace, and the supports they need. Adapt instruction using evidence of learning rather than fixed assumptions about ability. Formative assessment involves gathering and interpreting evidence during learning and using it to make timely instructional adjustments.

Possible adaptations include:

• Adjusting support: Add a vocabulary preview, worked example, visual, sentence frame, or extra guided practice when a learner needs it.

• Varying practice: Provide additional practice on a specific prerequisite skill, or offer more complex applications when students are ready.

• Changing grouping: Use whole-class instruction for shared foundations and flexible small groups for targeted instruction; regroup as needs change.

• Offering accessible ways to participate: Provide clear directions, accessible materials, and more than one appropriate way to respond when the learning goal allows it.

For example, after a quick check on multiplying fractions, a teacher might bring together students who are confusing multiplication with addition for a short visual reteaching session, while other students apply the concept to multi-step problems. Grouping should respond to current learning needs, not become a permanent label.

Connect planning, support, and adjustment

Plan from clear learning goals, choose strategies that match the learning task, and check understanding throughout instruction. Use scaffolds to make new learning manageable, then gradually remove them. Adapt materials, practice, grouping, and support in response to students’ demonstrated needs while maintaining meaningful learning goals.