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Pre-K – 2nd Grade Marzano’s 9 Strategies at a Glance By Robert J. Marzano

Instructional Strategies Definition: How it looks in the Classroom:

Questions,

cues, and

advance

organizers

The teacher or student asking

questions (who, where, why, how).

What is the teacher doing in advance

to see what the students know and

their prior knowledge.

Teachers should use cues and questions

that focus on what is important (rather

than unusual), use ample wait time before accepting responses, eliciting

inference and analysis. Advance

organizers should focus on what is

important and are more useful with

information that is not well organized.

Pre-K: show and tell-model questions

K: sharing-students asking questions

1st: make up their own questions

2nd: K-W-L chart

Graphic organizers, provide guiding

questions before each lesson, think alouds,

inferencing, predicting, drawing conclusions,

skim chapters to identify key vocabulary,

concepts and skills, foldables, annotating the

text, etc.

Summarizing and

note taking

Recalling the important

information and students putting

information in their own words.

Students should learn to eliminate

unnecessary information, substitute

some information, keep important

information, write / rewrite, and analyze

information.

Pre-K: retelling, sequencing

K: illustrate to retell

1st: key concepts, main idea, oral and written

2nd: journals

Teacher models summarization techniques,

identify key concepts, bullets, outlines,

clusters, narrative organizers, journal

summaries, break down assignments, create

simple reports, quick writes, graphic

organizers, column notes, affinity diagrams,

etc.

2

Reinforcing

effort and

providing

recognition

Praising a child to motivate and

acknowledge students

participation. It’s important to

tell students that putting forth

effort is worth the success.

Teachers should reward based on

standards of performance; use symbolic

recognition rather than just tangible

rewards.

Pre-K: Skittle

K: marble jar

1st: charts, clips

2nd: computer time

Hold high expectations, display finished

products, praise students’ effort, encourage

students to share ideas and express their

thoughts, honor individual learning styles,

conference individually with students,

authentic portfolios, stress-free

environment, high-fives, Spelling Bee,

Constitution Day, School Newspaper, etc.

Homework and

practice

Work done during class time and

reinforced during independent

practice. Independent practice

should happen when a student

knows the content well enough to

do it independently.

Teachers should vary the amount of

homework based on student grade level

(less at the elementary level, more at

the secondary level), keep parent

involvement in homework to a minimum,

state purpose, and, if assigned, should be

debriefed.

Pre-K: centers, small group

K: independent centers

1st: reading log, independent centers, seat

work

2nd: centers, reading logs, math facts

Retell, recite and review learning for the day

at home, reflective journals, parents are

informed of the goals and objectives, grade

level teams plan together for homework

distribution; teacher email.

3

Nonlinguistic

representations

Visual aids to promote and

reinforce learning including new

learning

Students should create graphic

representations, models, mental pictures,

drawings, pictographs, and participate in

kinesthetic (hands-on) activities in order

to assimilate knowledge.

Pre-K: pictures paired with text or w/o,

whiteboard, manipulatives

K: songs with actions

1st: graphic organizers, writing grid

2nd: illustrating story programs

problem-solution organizers, spider webs,

diagrams, concept maps, drawings, charts,

thinking maps, graphic organizers, sketch to

stretch, storyboards, foldables, act out

content, make physical models, etc.

Cooperative

learning

Students working together to

complete a task and everybody is

involved.

Teachers should limit use of ability

groups, keep groups small, apply strategy

consistently and systematically but not

overuse. Assign roles and responsibilities

in groups.

Pre-K: circle time, centers

K: centers, small groups, pair/share

1st: pair/share, reading groups

2nd: buddy reading, flash cards

Integrate content and language through

group engagement, reader’s theatre, pass the

pencil, circle of friends, cube it, radio

reading, shared reading and writing, plays,

science projects, debates, jigsaw, group

reports, choral reading, affinity diagrams,

Students tackle word problems in groups and

explain their answers, etc.

4

Setting

objectives and

providing

feedback

A skill to be mastered by the

student with appropriate praise.

A direction or path to achieve a

specific objective.

Teachers should create specific but

flexible goals, allowing some student

choice. Teacher feedback should be

corrective, timely, and specific to a

criterion.

Pre-K: correcting letter formation

K: essential questions, verbal praise,

correcting

1st: essential questions, rubrics

2nd: AR goals/rewards

Articulating and displaying learning goals,

KWL, contract learning goals, etc. Teacher

can display objectives on the in-focus

projector and follow-up on the mastery of

the objective at the end of the lesson.

Generating and

testing

hypothesis

Applying the students’

understanding

Students should generate, explain, test

and defend hypotheses using both

inductive and deductive strategies

through problem solving, history

investigation, invention, experimental

inquiry, and decision making.

Pre-K: hands on (sink/float) predictions

K: verbalize predictions

1st: predictions made on information given

2nd: story starter

Thinking processes, constructivist practices,

investigate, explore, social construction of

knowledge, use of inductive and deductive

reasoning, questioning the author of a book,

finding other ways to solve same math

problem, etc.

Identifying

similarities and

differences

Describing how things are alike

and different.

Students should compare, classify, and

create metaphors, analogies and non-

linguistic or graphic representations

Pre-K: sorting objects by attributes

K: listing

1st: comparing two stories

2nd: fiction vs. non-fiction

Thinking Maps, T-charts, Venn diagrams,

classifying, analogies, cause and effect links,

compare and contrast organizers