Instructional Strategies

Featured Strategies: 

Making Thinking Visible: 

• Zoom In
• Color-Symbol-Image 
• Circle of Viewpoints
• Headlines
• See-Think-Wonder
• The Explanation Game

The Library of Congress: 

• Observe-Reflect-Question

TCI- Bring Learning Alive: 

• Visual Discovery
• Writing for Understanding
• Response Groups

Examining the Evidence: 

• Compare a  Variety of Sources
• Decide What You’re Looking At
• Determine the Purpose and Audience

Zoom In – Making Thinking Visible

• Resources on this strategy
  • http://www.rcsthinkfromthemiddle.com/zoom-in.html 
  • http://www.alled.org/zoom-in/ 
• PowerPoint Zoom in Template Boston Massacre for teaching with primary sources
  • Key skills needed to edit it:
    • Create and resize images. Make sure to keep the image proportional – you can usually hold down the ctrl key or use a corner “handle/dot” rather than the middle “handle/dots”. 
    • Draw a shape and resize it.  It is on the insert bar – “shapes”
      • Use the shape fill option to make the shape white – set the lines to no color
    • Arrange – you can move images and shapes from front to back
      • If there is more than one object on a slide – right click on one and use the send to back, or bring to front option.  
• TPS Mississippi Lesson Plans Featuring Zoom-In: 
  • Dust Bowl: An Environmental Disaster and Its Impact 
  • Who Owns History? Investigating the Parthenon and the Debate of the Elgin Marbles 
  • Life in a Suitcase: A History of Ellis Island 
  • Mapping Mississippi 
  • Statue of Liberty: Symbol of the U.S. 

Color-Symbol-Image (CSI): Making Thinking Visible 

CSI is a thinking routine that allow students to express their thinking through non-verbal representations. For more about CSI visit Think! From the Middle 

TPS Mississippi Lesson Plans Featuring CSI: 

• Lewis Hine: Child Labor 
• Child Labor in Mississippi 

Circle of Viewpoints: Making Thinking Visible 

Circle of Viewpoints is a thinking routine that challenges students to take on different perspectives that are represented in a primary source. For more information about this thinking routine, visit Project Zero. 

TPS Mississippi Lesson Plans Featuring Circle of Viewpoints: 

• Debating the Decision of the Atomic Bomb 
• Gladiators in Ancient Rome 
• Women During World War II and the Scarcity of Labor 

Resource: Circle of Viewpoints Template  PDF   Word

Headlines: Making Thinking Visible 

Headlines is a  thinking routine that asks students to synthesize the essential meaning or take-away from a primary source or learning experience. Visit Think! From the Middle, for more information about this thinking routine.  

TPS Mississippi Lesson Plans Featuring Headlines:

• Conspiracy Theories: Escape from Alcatraz 
• History of Voters 
• Spanish American War- Yellow Journalism “Remember the Maine” 
• Women During World War II and the Scarcity of Labor 

See-Think-Wonder: Making Thinking Visible 

See-Think-Wonder is a thinking routine that helps students closely analyze and observe primary sources.  For for information about this thinking routine, visit Think! From the Middle. 

TPS Mississippi Lesson Plans Featuring See-Think-Wonder: 

• Gladiators in Ancient Rome
• Gutenberg: The History and Impact of the Printing Press 
• Lewis Hine: Child Labor 
• Rome’s Social Class: Plebeians and Patricians 
• The Middle Ages 
• Women During World War II and the Scarcity of Labor 

The Explanation Game: Making Thinking Visible 

The Explanation Game is a thinking routine that asks students to make an observation about an object or idea and then ask a question about their observation. Visit Project Zero for more information about this thinking routine. 

TPS Mississippi Lesson Plans Featuring The Explanation Game: 

• Gutenberg: The History and Impact of the Printing Press 
• King Tut: Putting the Reality into the Virtual 
• Women During World War II and the Scarcity of Labor 

Observe-Reflect-Question (ORQ): The Library of Congress 

ORQ is a strategy developed by the Library of Congress used to help students analyze primary sources.  Visit Making the Case with Primary Sources for more information about ORQ. 

TPS Mississippi Lesson Plans Featuring ORQ: 

• Creating Historical Narratives: Investigating the Death of Lincoln 
• Filling in the Map: Exploration and the Growth of Knowledge 
• Gallery Walk: Child Labor and the Photographs of Lewis Hine 
• Mapping Mississippi 
• Reshaped Countries Post-World War II 
• Ruby Bridges 
• Statue of Liberty: Symbol of the U.S. 
• The Wright Brothers: First Flight 

Writing for Understanding: TCI- Bring Learning Alive! 

Writing for Understanding is a strategy that taps into the multiple intelligences that students possess by providing learning with meaningful experiences to write about. For more information visit Writing for Understanding. 

TPS Mississippi Lesson plans Featuring Writing for Understanding: 

• The Economics of Rationing During WWII
• Conspiracy Theories: The Escape from Alcatraz

Visual Discovery: TCI- Bring Learning Alive! 

Visual Discovery is a strategy that pushes students to use their visual-literacy skills while constructing knowledge of an image through higher-level thinking. To learn more about Visual Discovery and how to implement it into your classroom visit Proficiency Talks. 

TPS Mississippi Lesson Plans Featuring Visual Discovery: 

• Conspiracy Theories: The Escape from Alcatraz
• Separate but Equal? 
• Child Labor
  • https://www.ringoftruth.org/blog/2018/1/25/child-labor-in-mississippi-and-the-visual-discovery-strategy?rq=child%20labor
  • https://www.ringoftruth.org/blog/2018/1/25/child-labor-in-mississippi-and-the-visual-discovery-strategy?rq=visual%20discovery 

Response Groups: TCI- Bring Learning Alive! 

Response Groups is a strategy that you can use in your classroom to help students engage in deeper, more meaningful conversations in social studies. Visit the Response Group page to learn more about how to use this strategy. 

TPS Mississippi Lesson Plans Featuring Response Groups: 

• The Cold War: Culture of the 50’s
• The Wright Brothers: First Flight 

Compare a Variety of Sources: Examining the Evidence 

Comparing a Variety of Sources is a strategy that asks students to examine several primary sources in order to gain a more complete understanding of an event or person. For more information about Examining the Evidence visit, One History Primary. 

TPS Mississippi Lesson Plan Featuring Compare a Variety of Sources:

• Battle of Bulge 

Decide What You’re Looking At: Examining the Evidence 

Decide What You’re Looking At is the first strategy of Examining the Evidence. In this strategy students are asked to determine if they are working with a primary source or a secondary source. For more information about Examining the Evidence visit, One History Primary.  

TPS Mississippi Lesson Plan Featuring Decide What You’re Looking At: 

• The Economics of Rationing During WWII 

Determine the Purpose and Audience: Examining the Evidence 

In this second strategy of Examining the Evidence students are asked to determine the intended audience of a primary source in order to determine the meaning of the source. For more information about Examining the Evidence visit, One History Primary.  

TPS Mississippi Lesson Plans Featuring Determine the Purpose and Audience: 

• The Economics of Rationing During WWII 
• The Lynching of Emmett Till: The Response