Christina Aguila

EDUC 5265
Strategy Tool Kit

1.See, Think, Wonder

What do you see?

What do you think about that?

What does it make you wonder?

Purpose: This strategy is very useful for looking at art. It encourages students to
make careful observations and gives them the opportunity to interpret and
question the artwork in front of them. During this process students are asked to
use critical thinking to ask questions and engages their curiosity to explore art.

Implementation/Use: You can do this strategy in different variations. The way I

have seen it presented to a class is in a group discussion. Students are asked
what they see in a picture or object, then they are asked to share what they think
about the object, and what they wonder. If you wanted to take it one step more
you could have students look at the art for 1 min then write down 3 things that
you see, think, and wonder using a graphic organizer. This strategy can be used
at the beginning of a lesson to really get the student thinking of the different
interpretations and different viewpoints students in the class have about art. It
also encourages students to back up their interpretation with reasons and gives
students ideas about how to write about art.

Observation Notes: A teacher is doing a unit on Illuminated letters and shows

one that has some interesting detail that shows a story. Students can think
independently if using the graphic organizer format and then share at the end of
the activity.

Rationale: This strategy is very affective especially with visual work. It gives the
students a way to observe things differently than they might normally and really
have deep thought about what they are looking at without having a right or wrong
answer. This strategy creates a safe environment for all students to share their
thoughts and allows them to break down what they are seeing, thinking and
wondering in order to describe and analyze artwork more in depth. This could be
used on anything visual in content across the curriculum and is a great way to
get students thinking about the visual world we are surrounded by every day.

Analysis: This strategy allows student to think about something on a higher

level, write down ideas and then be able to share out what they have noticed.
This strategy does not put anyone on the spot to preform it merely gives student
to observe in a more meaningful way. It can be easily adapted to most situations
in an art room and is a great way to practice observation, which can be an
important part of creating in the art room. This strategy uses and improves
listening, speaking, and mostly thinking.

2.I used to think but now I think

Purpose: This routine helps students to reflect on their thinking about a topic or
issue and explore how and why that thinking has changed. It can be useful in
consolidating new learning as students identify their new understandings,
opinions, and beliefs. By examining and explaining how and why their thinking
has changed, students are developing their reasoning abilities and recognizing
cause and effect relationships. Remind students of the topic you want them to
consider. Students write a response using each of the sentence stems:
I used to think. But now, I think

Implementation/Use: This strategy can be used whenever a students

thoughts, opinions, or beliefs are likely to have changed as a result of instruction
or experience. If a new information is introduce, a film is watched, a visiting artist
has a presentation, class discussion, or a new experience occurs.
Most of the time this strategy would be presented at the end of a unit in class to
see how the information they know has changed.

Observation Notes: I have not seen this in action but I am assuming that it can
be done with almost anything in the art room or other subjects. A teacher could
be talking about line and shape show a video about this and then have the
students write about how their thoughts have changed. While looking at the
movie present a question on the board to think about. Can lines be expressive?
How?
Rationale: This strategy points out that with every experience and new
knowledge that we collect can change our opinion and ideas. It is a way for
students to reflect on what they have learned and what they already know.

Analysis: This strategy shows them how their thoughts might of changed over
time. It is a way for students to reflect on their work in a way that is more for their
own documentation. This can be a work that is recorded in their journal and
students can refer back to it to remember information about past units. This is a
unique way to reflect on new knowledge obtained in the art room. I always think
that reflections are for students to talk about what they have learned about their
own work and this could be not as critical of what they liked and did not like about
how their work turned out. This strategy uses listening, critical thinking,
questioning and writing to reflect on what is being learned in the classroom.

3.Think, Pair, Share

Purpose: The Think-Pair-Share strategy is designed to differentiate instruction
by providing students time and structure for thinking on a given topic, enabling
them to formulate individual ideas and share these ideas with a peer.
Implementation/Use: Have students share and explain their shifts in thinking.
Initially it is good to do this as a whole group so that you can probe students
thinking and push them to explain. Once students become accustomed to
explaining their thinking, students can share with one another in small groups or
pairs.

Observation Notes: In this strategy, a problem is posed during an observation of

this the teacher introduced the word struggle, students have time to think about it
individually, and then they work in pairs to solve the problem and share their
ideas with the class. The teacher randomly chooses 3 students to share what
they have talked about during partner discussion. This strategy can be used for a
wide variety of daily classroom activities such as concept reviews, discussion
questions, partner reading, brainstorming and topic discussions.

Rationale: Think-Pair-Share helps students develop conceptual understanding

of a topic, develop the ability to filter information and draw conclusions, and
develop the ability to consider other points of view.

Analysis:
This learning strategy promotes classroom participation by encouraging a high
degree of student response, rather than using a basic method in which a teacher
asks a question and one student answers. Additionally, this strategy provides an
opportunity for all students to share their thinking with at least one other student
which increases student involvement in classroom learning.

4.Do Now
Purpose: A DO NOW should be focused, efficient, and effective. It is an activity
in class that students can complete all by themselves with no instruction. The
purpose of this activity is to establish a self-managed habit of productive work.
The question should preview the days lesson or a quick review of what they
have already learned. You want to review the Do Now in 3-5 minutes keep it
short and move on to the lesson planned for the day.

Implementation/Use: This strategy is a warm up activity that is always done in

the beginning of class. It gets the students thinking before the class has even
started. It should be a short time for students to think about questions. I have
read 5 minutes or less.

Observation Notes: I saw this in action in an art room. It was a few questions
on struggle. The teacher talked about the word struggle to her students first and
then asked them to do the Do Now. This is not how it was supposed to be set up
but since her students are all ELD I think that it was wise for her to explain the
word before asking questions about it.
Rationale: This strategy is a quick way to review or preview what is happening
in class. It is a way for students to independently think about information and
then have a brief discussion with the whole class. It is a way to see where
students are and what students might need help with information learned in
class.

Analysis: This activity allows students to work independently with no instruction.

It is a marker to show what a student knows or prep them for what they are going
to learn. This activity uses reading and writing to help students form ideas and
answer questions directed at specific topics.

5. Quick Write/Draw
Purpose: Given a topic, students write and/or draw freely during a timed period.
While traditional writing focuses on students abilities to express ideas with
correct language usage, the Quick Write is an instructional approach that
activates students knowledge and presents new material. It can be used in a
broader range of disciplines. In the art room it can be used to cultivate future art
critics, get students thinking about different artist or help them understand a topic
in art. It isnt even to hone students writing skills. It is just an activity that will help
students see tons of artwork and lets them write about what they think of the art.

Implementation/Use: Instructors may give a prompt or pose a question and give

students several minutes to form a written response, either as a review or
synthesis of learned materials or as preparation for new content. If placed at the
end of class, Quick Writes may involve students writing about what they learned,
what problems they encountered, what they liked or disliked about the lesson,
and whether they understood the concepts.

Observation Notes: This can be a way for students to write and think critically
about contemporary and historical art. Each week, every student will write about
a different artist of their choice. Students must show two examples of the artists
work and write two sentences describing what they like about it. This teacher had
set up an online group through Schoolology. This way student can share their
ideas and like other students artists picks. Im not sure this would be a possibility
in all classrooms but you good adjust it to choosing two artist for students to write
about or have students choose and then project a picture of the artwork for
everyone to see.

Rationale: This strategy helps students tap into previous knowledge and get
students thinking about artist and can be used throughout all content areas. It
helps student think about what they know and allows students to write freely
about what they are thinking about. It is not essay based it is just about whatever
comes to mind.

Analysis: This strategy allows students to use critical thinking and gets students
read for future writing projects. It is a way for students to write down what they
are thinking without worrying about spelling or grammar. Its an activity that
warms up the brain about a topic and can be a prewrite for a more in-depth
paper. It also can be the precursor to a new unit to see and understand what
students already know about a topic.

6. Web Diagram

Purpose: Web diagrams are useful educational tools in any subject area. They help
students organize their thoughts and ideas for answering questions, function as a pre-
writing tool for essays, or gathering information to then use in a project and provide a
visual display of information. They can be an easy way to differentiate instruction for a
variety of learning styles.

Implementation/Use: Web diagrams can be used as a brainstorming tool to generate

ideas before students begin an assignment, such as a writing task, a set of word
problems, or before an art project, to gather ideas or formalize procedures.

Observation Notes: I have seen this used in the art room for collecting information.
The art project was What is your Story? a painting project that was about telling ones
personal story. To get prepared the teacher had students do a web diagram about their
family and what things they do and are interested in. This helped student think about
what they wanted to include in their art project and what was important to them.

Rationale: this strategy is helpful in getting students brainstorming about topics and can
be used across curriculum. It helps students make connection and gather information in
a visual form.

Analysis: This strategy helps students organize their thoughts and help them
brainstorm in a way that they will be visually able to see the connections made. It helps
them break down thoughts into different sections and then make connects to different
experiences. It is a great way to get students to think deeper about a subject and
organize their thoughts to be used for the future project.

7. 3-2-1 Bridge
Purpose:
1. Three

After the lesson, have each student record three things they learned from the
lesson.
2. Two

Next, have students record two things that they found interesting and that theyd
like to learn more about.

3. One

Then, have students record one question they still have about the material.

4. Review

Finally, the most important step is to review the students responses. You can use
this information to help develop future lessons and determine if some of the
material needs to be taught again.

This activity asks students to uncover their initial thoughts, ideas, questions and
understandings about a topic and then to connect these to new thinking about
the topic after they have received some instruction.

Implementation/Use: This activity can be used when students are developing

understanding of a concept over time. It may be a concept that they know a lot
about in one context but instruction will focus their learning in a new direction, or
it may be a concept about which students have only informal knowledge.
Whenever new information is gained, bridges can be built between new ideas
and prior understanding. The focus is on understanding and connecting ones
thinking, rather than pushing it toward a specific outcome.
Use Three-Two-One at any time during a lesson to encourage students to think
about their learning: As a Check for Understanding during any portion of the
lesson, during class discussions as a way for students to record their thoughts,
as a closing activity so that students can review what was learned in the lesson,
as an exit ticket at the end of the class period.

Observation Notes: This routine can be introduced by having students do an

initial 3, 2, 1 individually on paper. For instance, if the topic is democracy, then
students would write down 3 thoughts, 2 questions, and 1 analogy. Students
might then read an article, watch a video, or engage in an activity having to do
with democracy. Provocative experiences that push students thinking in new
directions are best. After the experience, students complete another 3,2,1.
Students then share their initial and new thinking, explaining to their partners how
and why their thinking shifted. Make it clear to students that their initial thinking
is not right or wrong, it is just a starting point. New experiences take our thinking
in new directions

Rationale: The 3-2-1 Bridge thinking routine unveils words, questions, and
connections that students associate around a topic. The "bridge" part of the
routine shows the transition from prior knowledge to new understandings that
have been built throughout the unit/lesson of study.

Analysis: This strategy allows students to break down the different parts that
they have learned during the lesson, what they found interesting and what they
have questions on. It is a great way to assess where students are in their
understanding and use this data to adjust instruction for student learning.

8. KWL Chart
Purpose:
K-W-L is an instructional strategy that is used to guide students through a text or
video. Students begin by brainstorming everything they Know about a topic. This
information is recorded in the K column of a K-W-L chart. Students then generate
a list of questions about what they Want to Know about the topic. These
questions are listed in the W column of the chart. During or after being given
information about the topic, students answer the questions that are in the W
column. This new information that they have Learned is recorded in the L column
of the K-W-L chart.
This chart:
Taps into students prior knowledge of the topic.
Sets a purpose for understanding reading and visual images.
Helps students to monitor their comprehension and shows them what they
have learned after information has been given about the topic.
Implementation/Use: This strategy can be used to help collect data from
whatever it is that they are doing weather it is reading information about an art
history or art topic or watching a video or having a group discussion. It should be
done in the beginning of the class time and at the end of the class time. This
activity asks for prior knowledge and gives teachers an idea of what students
already know. It also gives students a chance to ask questions or let teachers
know what they are interested in and want to know more about. At the end of the
class time it lets students think about what new knowledge they have learned.

Observation Notes: I have used the KWL chart in a reading activity in class. I
had students write down what they already knew about hieroglyphs and then
write down a few things that they want to know about the topic. I could have
asked students to ask 3 questions about hieroglyphs and it might have fit better
for middle school age students. Then students were asked to read an article
about hieroglyphs and write down what they had learned that was new after
reading. Students were then asked to share some of the new things that they
learned about hieroglyphs.

Rationale: This strategy is a way to see students interest, what they know and
what they learned. It is an informal way to assess what students are learning and
what material needs to be reviewed. This strategy also makes it possible for
teachers to differentiate projects depending on interests.

Analysis: This allows students to work independently with very little instruction.
It sets a purpose for the reading and can cause students to have a better
understanding of what has been read. It gives student and idea of what they will
be reading and allows students to use critical thinking.

9. Exit Ticket
Purpose: Exit tickets are a formative assessment tool that give teachers a way to
assess how well students understand the material they are learning in class. This
tool can be used daily or weekly, depending on the unit being taught. A good exit
ticket can help teachers understand where their students are and help them
assess how to adapt instruction to meet students' needs for the fallowing day.

Implementation/Use: There are four different kinds of prompts that teachers

can use on exit slips:
Prompts that provide formative assessment data
Prompts that stimulate student self-analysis
Prompts that focus on instructional strategies
Prompts that are open communications to the teacher
Observation Notes: I have not seen this happen in an art room but if it did
happen I think it would be something simple like asking students a question or
having them describe what they learned.
Here are some examples of wording that might be used for an exit ticket:

What is one thing that you learned in art today? And why do you think it is
important?
The most important thing I learned in art today was
My favorite thing I learned in art today was
What are you confused about regarding what you learned today?
How can what you are learning in art be applied to your daily life?
The thing that surprised me today in art was

Rationale: This strategy is helpful in monitoring students. By reviewing student

responses teachers can quickly assess students understanding, struggles and
what they like or create. With this information teachers can create differentiated
learning groups.

Analysis: In this activity it allows the student to privately share ideas about the
class, be honest about what they are feeling and show understanding of material
presented in class. Monitoring students miss understandings, knowledge about a
subject and their likes/dislikes can guide the classroom to be a better working
environment for everyone. This activity helps you learn more about your students
in a less evasive process and helps guide instruction in a way that fits the
students needs.

10. Gallery Walk- I Like, I Wonder, Next Steps

Purpose: Use a Gallery Walk format for students to get feedback on their work.
Hang student products, such as drawings, visual representations, poster
projects, etc. Students, individually or in groups, rotate around the room and
provide feedback to the creator of the work. Students are required to record one
thing they like about the work displayed, one thing they wonder about it, and one
thing the creator could do next or improve. This can be done before work is
submitted to the teacher so that students may use their classmates feedback to
improve their products. Students can write feedback on chart paper posted by
each work, or they can use three different colored sticky notes (one for each
category) to write their feedback and stick it directly onto the student product for
instant feedback.

Implementation/Use: It makes perfect sense to model a critique off of a gallery

walk because a gallery walk is a reference to seeing art. The goal of this critique
is for students to receive lots of feedback on their art. Peers and instructors
provide positive constructive feedback that is anonymous. This type of feedback
is given once modeling of positive feedback is presented by the teacher. Strong
consequences are given before time for students that put negative comments for
feed back and teacher observes students writing as gallery walk is in process.
This form of critique can be done during any stage of the process to give
feedback to students. There are three parts to the gallery walk: giving questions
to think about, setting up the scene, and implementation.

Observation Notes: I have seen this activity done in many different ways but the
one the I would incorporate into the art room is during critiques. The art teacher
had students pick a question out of seven to write at the top of their blank piece
of paper by their art work. Students then walked around the tables and wrote
answers to the question on the page for 5 different students. Once that time was
over the students read their feedback wrote their name at the top of their page
and turned it in with the art piece.

Rationale: The gallery walk critiquing method is powerful. Students think a bit
more deeply about what they want out of a critique through a focus question, and
they participate much more willingly through anonymously written feedback.

Analysis: The gallery walk critique has many different styles. The one I liked the
best was I like, I wonder, next steps but I have also seen it in other ways that
were good for critiques. This form of gallery walk gives students questions to
think about and let them write down feedback anonymously. This causes all
students to participate in the critique process and makes it more comfortable to
be honest about what they are thinking about the work.