Allowing the students to "choose" the lesson, both empowers them and allows them a more engaging learning experience. Part 3 -- Questioning - Ineffective questioning typically asks for a rote memorization paradigm, as opposed to a more robust use of higher-level questions designed to go beyond the text and make the issue relevant, personal, and interesting. Instead, look at the learning target and formulate questions that will continually guide the students towards discovering answers -- not the answer. Use nonverbal clues such as nodding, eye contact, moving around the classroom. Continually ask students "why," or follow up on another student's answer with, "Mary thought this, in your situation, what would you say?" In effect, if the teacher can take Bloom's taxonomy of learning, and simply superimpose that on every lesson (certainly not using every issue every time), but more of a method of moving to evaluation, analysis, and synthesis; the material will stay with the student far longer, and become more relevant; particularly if you ask them for examples or...

Students are typically more used to longer writing assignments; but the technique of writing for formative assessment can easily be integrated into a quick write (tell me all the things you remember about igneous rocks); to graphic organizers (describe the relationship between the pigs and the wolf), to writing and pairing ideas with teams (think, write, pair, share), to summary writing that brings the learning target together. The point is to keep these activities robust, relevant and quick so that students are engaged by them, and come to see writing down ideas, outlines, relationships, etc. As a tool they can use elsewhere. Finally, writing can be used as both formative and summative in the classroom, and can be easily combined with oral communication (write down the 3 most important things you just learned, then share with your neighbor, then come up with 1 thing about which you want…