Instructional Strategies Toolkit

Infobase’s Instructional Strategies Toolkit

Looking for effective teaching strategies and resources to help you better engage your students and empower them for success? Check out our expert-led webinars, informative blogs, and wealth of content that will equip (and inspire!) you with invaluable ideas to help your students thrive.

Scroll down for resources to enhance instruction at all levels, covering:

Embedded Librarianship

Collaborative Learning

First-Year Experience

Homeschooling Resources

Classroom Management Strategies

And Much More

For more information, contact us at (800) 322-8755 or OnlineSales@Infobase.com.

Looking for Products to Help with Instruction?

Infobase has a variety of products that support effective instruction for all levels, including streaming video, databases, and teacher resources.

SCROLL DOWN to the bottom to take a look!

Student-Centered Learning: Strategies to Channel Students’ Interests Using Databases

WATCH & LEARN

One of the most important aspects of education is determining how to structure learning in the classroom. Research shows that employing student-centered learning by empowering students to take more responsibility for the learning process positively impacts achievement. One central tool teachers can use to implement student-centered learning is databases. In this webinar with librarian and teacher Jamie Gregory, you will learn more about student-centered learning, including how to plan for and utilize this type of instruction as well as how databases play a vital curricular role.

Empower Critical Thinking and Informed Reasoning in Your Social Studies Curriculum with Primary Sources

WATCH & LEARN

Social studies and history curricula are about so much more than remembering the names, facts, and dates of popular historical events. The National Council for the Social Studies says the “primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.” What tools can we as educators use to help them achieve that goal? In this webinar, instructional designer Waneta Hebert and Andrew Gyory, Ph.D., discuss using primary sources, document-based questions (DBQs), and more to help students become better critical thinkers and thoughtful, educated citizens.

Teach Outside the Box! Finding Instructional Materials in Unexpected Places

As instructors or designers, it can be easy to fall into a rut of looking for instructional materials in the same places, but if we don’t explore beyond what we already know, how can we ever improve? In this webinar, instructional designer Waneta Hebert helps you break through the bubble of your comfort zone to find instructional inspiration in unexpected places. Learn how to find and use nontraditional and non-subject-specific resources such as upskilling resources in your courses.

Differentiated Learning: Strategies to Tailor Instruction to Students’ Needs Using Databases

As teachers strive to meet the individual learning needs of their students, they may be overlooking important, versatile resources readily available to them. Join librarian and teacher Jamie Gregory as she shows how databases can be utilized to meet the differentiated instructional needs of your students. Topics include materials to supplement, support, and scaffold textbook reading; how to use databases to find texts on a variety of reading levels; incorporating images and media into the curriculum and designing activities and projects allowing for differentiated learning needs.

Solving Instructional Needs with ADDIE and Supplemental Materials

Planning for a new semester or a new lesson can feel overwhelming. Where should you begin? What resources should you use? How will you know that it’s working? Join instructional designer Waneta Hebert on a guided tour through the ADDIE model, an easy-to-follow instructional design method that can simplify the design process for anyone. This webinar will cover what course designers should prioritize to keep lessons simple and engaging. Learn about research-based strategies for incorporating supplemental materials into your course design.

Databases 101: Embedding Database Instruction into the Classroom—Going Beyond Information Literacy

How many students hear, “Don’t use Google! Use a database!” and immediately open a Google tab anyway? Students have used Google for all of their lives and naturally want to use what they’re familiar with. Databases, while often just as easy to use as Google, sometimes require instruction to show students how to get the most out of them. Given how the best databases feature vetted information—far superior to the questionable grab bag of Google—it is well worth taking a little time to show students how to use them. Teachers may feel hesitant to add this instruction to an already jam-packed curriculum. Join librarian and teacher Jamie Gregory as she shows you the basics of how you can use databases to your advantage in both the classroom and the school library.

Improve 21st-Century Skills in Classrooms: Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity Using Supplemental Sources

In the 21st century, the focus of learning has moved from the three Rs—reading, writing, and arithmetic—to the four Cs—critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. These 21st-century skills are an integral part of a student’s full education in every subject, and supplemental resources can create opportunities to promote these skills in K12 classrooms. Instructional designer Waneta Hebert for a webinar about all four of these important skills, including why they matter and how you can promote them in your classes.

Spark Agency and Curiosity with Primary Sources and Social Studies Texts in Blended Learning Models

Primary sources serve as a window to the past. They spark curiosity and engagement in social studies while building deep and enduring historical understandings. Join us to explore how to ignite inquiry-based blended learning experiences with authentic primary sources and complex text in your classrooms. Also, discover how to empower students to be agents in those meaningful learning experiences through various blended learning models. You will gain impactful strategies for using digital primary sources, rich text, and document-based questions.

Escape the Room: Engage Students with Interactive Experiences

Escape rooms offer a valid and engaging approach to learning and can help sharpen students’ social, problem-solving, time management, critical-thinking, and lateral-thinking skills while also building their resilience. Fulfilling the growing need for active learning, these skill-building activities can be used to inspire student ownership, differentiate learning in the classroom, and prepare your students with the 21st century skills to thrive in our modern world. Join us to learn how to set up an escape room, get project-based learning ideas for how to use interactive escape rooms in the classroom, and more!

Literature in an Online World: Using Digital Resources to Apply Literary Skills in the Classroom and Beyond

Students in English classes need to gain critical-thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. 21st-century learning requires resources that are more varied, more interactive, and more flexible than what traditional textbooks have to offer. Supplemental resources offer windows to the world that can help instructors and librarians. Join Bloom’s Literature editor-in-chief Jeff Soloway and instructional designer/former English teacher Waneta Hebert to learn ideas for teaching specific skills in literature and language and how you can use supplemental resources to support deeper application of the skills your students need to be successful in your class—and in life!

Impacting Student Learning with Streaming Media

As teachers, we know all about Shiny Object Syndrome. New educational tools are exciting and fun, but if they don’t make a clear and meaningful impact in the classroom, they get dropped by the wayside. Join instructional designer Waneta Hebert on a journey to dive into research-based practices with Learn360 (streaming media for K–12 schools and districts) and Classroom Video On Demand (streaming video for secondary schools), including how these supplemental resources can impact student learning in your classroom and become a lasting staple in your lesson plans.

Project-Based Learning in the K–12 Classroom

Do your students dream of being everything from doctors and inventors to architects and authors? Combine Learn360 videos, interactives, and printables to design projects that provide real-world applications of interdisciplinary skills. With standards-aligned content, Learn360 provides engaging assets to connect social studies, science, language arts, and math curriculum in a meaningful and memorable learning experience.

Creating Creative Book Trailers the Easy Way: 2-Part Library Workshop

Looking for creative ways to engage your library patrons or students? Book trailers are powerful, short videos that can attract readers and nonreaders to a book. Like a movie trailer, book trailers take the best parts of the book but leave an open ending that can only be filled by reading it.

This two-part webinar workshop with librarian Naomi Bates will allow you to explore the dynamics of book trailer creation from start to finish. Find out what you should think about before creating a book trailer and learn about different types of trailers, the tools you need to create them, and Creative Commons sites you can use to make your own unique trailers ready to share in a variety of ways

A Summer On, Not Summer Off: Using the Summer to Prevent Learning Loss for K–12 Students

Summer is upon us…WHEW! Recent events have emphasized the need for K–12 students to continue to develop and grow year-round. But the reality is, many students and their families do not have the resources to combat summer melt and the HYPER MELT that has come with COVID learning loss. This timely conversation facilitated by thought leaders Adam A. Smith and Heather C. Lou elevates the voices of K–12 educators and administrators centering on real strategies for educators, parents, and providers to combat melt in all of its forms so that students have a running start into fall 2022.

Asynchronous Learning Workshop

The COVID-19 pandemic required many librarians to move their instruction online. Though a lot of time is spent discussing Zoom and other virtual meeting tools for synchronous instruction, asynchronous learning or online learning objects have many advantages for accessible and engaging learning experiences. This two-part series focuses on the what, why, and how of asynchronous learning, including its advantages, instructional design frameworks, and specific tools you can use to design asynchronous learning experiences. This workshop are presented by two academic librarians: UNCG Information Literacy Coordinator Jenny Dale and UNCG Online Learning Librarian Samantha Harlow.

Leveraging Supplemental Resources to Engage, Empower, Elevate, and Extend

Supplemental resources are additional items we provide our students to support their learning. Often non-required, these resources can have an impact on student learning. When used for optional activities, these supplemental resources can motivate students to explore topics of interest to them, helping them to take ownership of their learning. By taking away the stress that comes with additional requirements, students are left with the freedom to choose their learning. The key is carefully selecting the right resources and embedding them in the right places.

Help Students Build the Social, Civic, and Academic Skills They Need to Face Challenging Issues, Discussions, and Perspectives

Infobase is proud to partner with BBC Learning to bring you free access to My World Global Curriculum, a suite of current events, news videos, viewing and discussion guides, and prompts produced for educators to use in their classrooms. In a time where media plays an ever-increasing role in forming our worldview, this collection provides a unique platform for teaching current events to today’s students and covers important issues impacting young people. We are excited to share this series with you and your students!

What I Wish I Knew: Advice for Emerging Teachers and Those Who Support Them

The first year in the classroom can be both terrifying and exciting. First-year teachers have dreamt of standing in the front of their own classrooms and imparting knowledge on the next generation, but that first year is often fraught with obstacles. Presenter Waneta Hebert shares from her own experience of relocating from Ohio to Texas as a first-year teacher and how she not only survived, but thrived in the field of education. Now as an adjunct instructor, she discusses how to support future teachers as they prepare to embark on their own teaching journeys.

Leveraging Digital Resources to Inspire Changemakers

Join us for an inspiring webinar where we’ll explore some creative ways to incorporate multimedia resources to support social-emotional learning and promote service learning in your school community. Just in time for Earth Day and Arbor Day, we will use BBC content to preview virtual field trip ideas with streamable learning through our educational platform. Learn how you can use media resources to support your school’s service learning program and inspire your student body and teachers to make a difference.

De-Siloing K–12 Schools: Maximizing Partnerships and Resources to Enhance Curriculum Development

Academic officers, curriculum specialists, educational technology coaches, and librarians in many districts exist in separate silos with little communication and collaboration between them. Join instructional designers Waneta Hebert and Karina Quilantan-Garza to find out how all of these departments can build partnerships to shift usage of underused technology and resources. Participants will learn about how communication and collaboration can strongly influence course development and support information literacy in the classroom.

Using Educational Technology Offline: Tips & Strategies for Your Classroom

It’s 2022. Perhaps you began the year with grand goals of curricular alignment, collaborative activities, and joyfully engaged students. Instead, some students have started the year learning remotely, others have started the year with substitutes, and almost all have started the year with an abundance of screen time. No matter how your year began, we’re pretty sure that you and your students are yearning for a little less screen time and a lot more connection. It’s time to reconnect and find your joy in the classroom again.

Educating Through Trauma: Put the Mask on Yourself First

How to take emotional care of ourselves, our colleagues, and our students

How educators address, name, and define trauma has an impact not only on their students but on their own wellness and work. In this first webinar of a year-long conversation surrounding the myriad complicated challenges to college and career readiness in 2022, higher ed professionals Adam A. Smith and Heather C. Lou discuss ways we as educators can take emotional care of ourselves, our colleagues, our team, and our students.

Learn How to Leverage the Right Digital Tools to Connect with Your Students

Chart a New Course: SEL & Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow’s World

In this webinar, edtech consultant Rachelle Dené Poth joins us as we explore versatile ideas and digital tools for helping students to navigate in the digital world while building the vital SEL and communication skills they need. Providing a space to connect with our students is critical. Whether in our classrooms or virtually, we can foster connectedness by leveraging the right tools. Empower students as they develop skills essential for their future! Presented by Rachelle Dené Poth, an edtech consultant, presenter, attorney, author, and teacher who teaches Spanish and STEAM: Emerging Technology. Rachelle has a master’s in instructional technology and is an ISTE Certified Educator.

Learn valuable classroom strategies from ryan read, instructional technology expert!

Creative Ways to Integrate STEM into Your Curriculum, Whether in Person or Remote

While many educators want to include STEM in their curricula, many question how to successfully do this, especially with students both in person and remote in 2021. In this informative webinar, expert Ryan Read will share creative, practical strategies. Educators from elementary to college level will learn ways to adapt and integrate STEM education both in person and digitally—from creating eco-environments to implementing Genius Hour, and from creating stop-motion videos with objects in nature to creating graphic design projects for future careers. It all starts with the simple question, “What can I do with this?” and leads to amazing discoveries for both the students and teachers.

Integrating PBL into Your Classes Using Free Creativity Tools and the Coaching Integration Matrix

With new technology being used in the classroom both in person and remotely, many educators are looking for ways for students to apply their learning by creating meaningful projects instead of checking off another box on an assignment list. In this webinar, expert Ryan Read shows you how to adapt a lesson plan using his Coaching Integration Matrix and free creativity tools such as Canva, which can be used across any mobile or desktop device. This approach will focus on both the 4 Cs and 7 Cs of Education and utilize the Problem-Based Learning model to show student understanding and application.

About Ryan Read

Ryan Read has an Ed.D. in Instructional Technology with seven years’ experience in the field. He has been a part of several conferences presenting on the use of iPad, Chromebook, digital classroom and technology integration, and the use of his creation, App Dice. A Google Level 1 and 2 Educator, Ryan continues to explore the changes in Educational Technology and classroom integration with the latest technology. He is presently a Business and Technology Teacher at Stillman Valley High School in MCUSD #223 School District. Ryan is also the host of his own podcast, The Pixel Classroom Podcast, and co-hosts the MCUSD #223 Teacher Podcast.

About Kiera Vargas

Kiera O’Shea Vargas is an educator, lawyer, and librarian whose education consulting firm, EPIFHANY, LLC, focuses on mentoring students and educators by assisting them with growth on topics that are typically taboo in society. Her experiences in classrooms, in libraries, and within the many organizations she consults has afforded her an abundance of experience that has helped her over the years. Kiera obtained a B.S. in Journalism and Mass Communication (concentration in Public Relations) and a master’s in science in English Education (concentration in African American Studies) from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. She received her teaching credentials from Greensboro College and has had teaching licenses in several states over the years. She also obtained a master’s in Library and Information Sciences and a Juris Doctor. Kiera will begin her Ph.D. studies in the School of Information Science at the University of South Carolina beginning Fall 2021. In her spare time, she blogs for the American Library Association.

Educator Collaborations for Success: Embedded Librarianship

Encouraging Librarians to Collaborate to Foster Relationships within Institutions

EXCLUSIVE EVENTS WITH KIERA VARGAS

Becoming the K–12 Embedded Librarian: Encouraging Librarians to Collaborate to Foster Relationships within Their Schools

Whether you are an elementary, middle, or high school librarian or teacher, this interactive webinar will give you the knowledge and skills to understand the significance of using the embedded librarian approach to successfully support K–12 students. Education consulting expert Kiera Vargas, founder of EPIFHANY, LLC, shares practical strategies that librarians and educators can use together to develop relationships, assist each other with providing diverse and equitable material for students, and improve student self-efficacy, both during and post-COVID and whether online or face to face.

Read the accompanying blog!

The Embedded Librarian: Building Relationships Across the College Campus

College students are still learning the importance of research, but the library and its many resources can often be a bit daunting and overwhelming. In this interactive webinar, education consulting expert Kiera Vargas, founder of EPIFHANY, LLC, focuses on the importance of embedded librarianship, offering practical examples and strategies for how college librarians and professors can work together to help students feel more confident and less intimidated by research skills and the numerous research platforms.

Read the accompanying blog!

A Special Event on Collaborative Learning, with Infobase and eSchool News

eSchool News Webinar: Strategies for Creating a Successful Collaborative Learning Environment, Virtual or In-Person

An effective instructional strategy on its own merits, collaborative learning demonstrated some additional benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic—for instance, it provided a much-needed sense of connectedness and social interaction among students, and with the right digital technology, was able to be moved seamlessly to a virtual environment. Collaborative learning can increase student retention and learning, enhance self-confidence, and empower students with skills that will prepare them for lifelong success, in the workplace and beyond.

In this webinar, our panel of educators discusses best practices—and pitfalls to avoid—when implementing or improving your collaborative classroom, and why professional training can be so valuable in supporting educators with the tools they need to use this instructional strategy effectively.

Presented by Infobase & eSchool News.

Bonnie Blan, MBA

Professional Development Consultant @Infobase

Bonnie Blan has been an educator for more than 30 years, teaching Pre-K through higher ed. As a Technology Director and Instructional Technology Coordinator, Bonnie worked with educators in numerous school districts to establish instructional strategies for project-based learning. She retired from full-time teaching in 2018 and now works with school districts and Infobase as a Professional Development Consultant for Texas’s statewide digital resources program, TexQuest.

Ashly Spencer, Ed.D.

Instructional Technology Specialist and Gifted & Talented Specialist @Kennedale ISD

Dr. Ashly Spencer works as an instructional technologist for her district, collaborating with district leaders, campus-level administrators, and classroom teachers ranging from Pre-K-12th grade to provide strategies for developing high-quality technology integration into teaching and learning to improve student performance district wide. She is the 2021 TCEA Instructional Technology Specialist of the Year.

First-Year Educators Survival Guide

Ideas & practices for enhancing instruction and more!

First-Year Experience: Interactive Infographic

The First-Year Experience may be different for students transitioning this year. With so many U.S. students learning virtually since midway through their high school senior year, it is obvious that the first-year transition for those who proceed to higher education will be unlike any before. Serving the new and returning student, whether in-person or remote, Infobase is here to help provide insight into the first year and offer resources to support librarians and instructors during these ever-evolving times.
Download Now

Credo’s Interactive FYE Guide, Second Edition: White Paper

Does your job involve working with first-year students? These patrons arrive with varying levels of library experience and of information literacy, so assisting them can be a challenge. In Credo’s First Year Experience (FYE) Guide, Second Edition, Raymond Pun, formerly First Year Student Success Librarian at Fresno State, and now Instruction/Research Librarian at the Alder Graduate School of Education, offers guidance and case studies related to the crucial first year.
Read Now

Taking FYE Online: Advice and Materials from Films On Demand and Credo: Webinar

Credo’s First-Year Experience Guide, Second Ed. has all the information you need to create a solid FYE program, including how to bring it online. In this webinar, we offer tips for your FYE curriculum, as well as ideas for getting students engaged in the online classroom and how to teach IL skills remotely. We also cover material from Films On Demand that will help students make the most of their first year, including videos on study skills, motivation, and financial literacy as it relates to college.
Watch Now

Turn Your Public Library into a Homeschool Hub

Strategies For Programming And More To Support Homeschooling Patrons

Public Library Programs for the Homeschool Community: Webinar

More and more families are taking up homeschooling for their children’s education, and a significant percentage of at-home educators rely heavily on public library resources and services to aid in teaching their children. If you’re looking for creative programming ideas that can help you meet your homeschool community’s needs and help at-home students excel in their studies and beyond, watch this webinar, where we hear from three libraries with three very different approaches to public library and homeschool partnerships.
Watch Now

Master New Skills, Practice Concepts, Share Ideas, and Assess Learning

Learning And Training Courses For Educators & Students

Engage and Motivate Students

Including personalized learning, online instruction tips & more!

Hawaiian Middle School Leverages Streaming Media for Personalized Instruction and Highly Productive, Self-Directed Learning: Case Study

Resources for self-guided learning and personalized instruction for the “YouTube generation” are in high demand.Made in partnership with School Library Journal, our case study profiles how the School Librarian at Central Middle School in Honolulu, Hawaii, successfully utilizes the Learn360 streaming media platform to empower teachers with highly engaging, cross-curricular video and multimedia content for all learning levels.
Download Now

Taking Teaching Online: Tips and Resources from Makematic: Webinar

There have been a lot of changes to the education and learning landscape and educators now more than ever are hungry for pedagogy-focused professional development to help them motivate and engage students in online teaching environments. Acclaimed educational producer Makematic has designed a video course to help educators quickly adapt to online teaching and learning. With a focus on pedagogy over technology, its new Teaching Online Master Class series has been made by teachers for teachers.
Watch Now

Learn Valuable Skills, Concepts, and Ideas in These Webinars and Events

Instructional Strategies for Educators

See All Instructional Strategies Blogs

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This NaNoWriMo, Help Aspiring Authors Write That Novel

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Help STEM Students Learn More About Science Careers

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Trump or Harris? A Featured Controversy from Issues & Controversies

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What Your Students Are Searching for in 2024

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Start Information Literacy Education in High School or Earlier

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Give Students the College & Career Planning Resources They Need

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Many young people approaching adulthood have a sense of what they want to do with their lives, but aren’t exactly...