The Marzanos 9 instructional strategies for teaching and learning are a way of thinking about how to teach and learn that can help you become a better teacher.
Curriculum
Instructional strategies
The Marzanos 9 instructional strategies for teaching and learning are a way of thinking about how to teach and learn that can help you become a better teacher.
They’re based on Dr. Ernest R. Marzano, who spent years researching what makes for effective teaching and learning in K12 classrooms.
Education resources
Marzano’s 9 instructional strategies
His research has led to the development of nine instructional strategies that have been proven to improve student achievement. This article looks at the 9 strategies and what they mean.
1. Identifying similarities and differences
When teaching students to identify similarities and differences, you teach them to look for evidence. When we ask them to find something that is the same or different, we ask them to conclude based on what they see. This is a very important skill for students because it helps them understand the concepts they are learning about, and it teaches them how to use their critical thinking skills. When students can identify similarities and differences, they can also compare two or more things and decide which one is better.
2. Summarising and note taking
Summarizing and note-taking are two important strategies for learning. Summarising is summarizing the main points of a text, while note-taking is writing down the information students might want to remember from a text or lecture. Both can help you learn key concepts in the course material.
Summarizing helps you understand the main ideas of reading; this can help produce an accurate summary of what you’ve read. Note-taking helps you learn in various ways: by helping focus on important details and making it easier for students to access those details later on.
3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition
It’s easy for students to get discouraged when they feel like their efforts aren’t getting recognized or rewarded. They may become frustrated and give up on the task at hand, or they may believe that they’re not cut out for this kind of work and that they’ll never be able to do it well.
A good way to counteract this is by reinforcing effort and providing recognition. If you see a student putting in the work, even though it’s difficult for them, make sure that you take a moment to let them know how well they are doing and if they are making good progress. This can go a long way toward helping them keep on track through the rest of the project or assignment.
4. Homework and practice
Homework is an important component of the Marzanos 9 program. Teachers should assign homework to students that reinforce what was learned in class and can be used to review and reinforce lessons. Homework assignments should be detailed and specific, with clear learning objectives, so students know what they are expected to do when they complete the assignment. Students should also be given ample time to complete their homework assignments. Teachers must clarify how long they expect students to spend on each assignment.
5. Non-linguistic representations
The human brain is a powerful tool but is also limited in its ability to process and store information. This means that the brain cannot handle all the information we need to learn, so we must use other ways of representing information. Non-linguistic representations are images or diagrams that help us understand concepts better and make them easier to remember. They can be drawings on paper or other kinds of visual aids like graphs and charts.
6. Cooperative learning
Cooperative learning is a highly effective instructional strategy for teaching and learning. This approach emphasizes the importance of working together to maximize learning potential. Cooperative learning allows students to work in small groups, encouraging them to develop their social skills and make new friends. This approach also allows students which help them build confidence in their ability to accomplish tasks independently. Cooperative learning can be used in all subject areas.
7. Setting objectives and providing feedback
Objectives are important for students because they give them a clear goal to work toward, and they give instructors a way to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching methods. Objectives should be set at the beginning of each class, including both long-term and short-term goals. The objective-setting process can help students identify what they need to learn and how they can demonstrate that they understand it once they’ve learned it. Providing feedback helps students know where to improve.
8. Generating and testing the hypothesis
Generating and testing hypothesis is a great way to have students think critically about what they know and don’t know and how they can use that information to reach a valid conclusion. Students should be encouraged to come up with hypotheses and then test them. Students should also be able to explain the outcomes to show their thought processes and reasoning behind their conclusions.
9. Questions, cues, and advance organizers
Questions are a great way to keep students engaged in the content. They can help you gauge how well your students understand the material. Asking questions requiring higher-order thinking skills will also challenge your students, which is always good!
Cues and advance organizers give students important background information so they can more easily follow along with what you are saying.
