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Standard 3 - Understanding and Organizing Subject Matter for Student Learning
Teachers exhibit in-depth working knowledge of subject matter, academic content standards, and curriculum frameworks. They apply knowledge of student development and proficiencies to ensure student understanding of content. They organize curriculum to facilitate students' understanding of the subject matter. Teachers utilize instructional strategies that are appropriate to the subject matter. They use and adapt resources, technologies, and standards-aligned instructional materials, including adopted materials, to make subject matter accessible to all students. They address the needs of English learners and students with special needs to provide equitable access to the content.
3.4 Utilizing instructional strategies that are appropriate to the subject matter
As teachers develop, they may ask, “How do I…” or “Why do I…”
Develop and use a repertoire of instructional strategies appropriate to the subject matter
Guidance: Incorporate direct instruction, inquiry-based learning, cooperative learning, modeling, and formative assessment. Align strategy choice with content complexity and student needs.
Build on students’ life experiences, prior knowledge, and interests to make subject matter relevant and meaningful
Guidance: Use culturally responsive teaching, personal connection prompts, and real-world examples. Embed student interests into learning tasks to increase engagement and ownership.
Use effective instructional strategies and approaches to illustrate a concept and its connections
Guidance: Utilize graphic organizers, analogies, simulations, and cross-curricular connections to deepen understanding. Reinforce learning with concrete visuals and real-world tasks.
Challenge all students to think critically in the subject area
Guidance: Ask open-ended questions, use Socratic seminars, debate formats, and structured academic discourse. Encourage evidence-based reasoning and metacognition.
Help all students develop enthusiasm for and a deep knowledge of the subject matter
Guidance: Bring passion, storytelling, and student voice into lessons. Offer choice and opportunities for exploration through interest-driven projects and inquiry tasks.
Use strategies that make the depth and complexity of subject matter understandable to all students
Guidance: Differentiate tasks by readiness and use scaffolds like sentence frames, anchor charts, and peer tutoring. Introduce Depth and Complexity icons to enrich student thinking.