Filling the "bag of tricks"

As a teacher our bag of tricks should be bottomless. When we first step foot into the classroom, whether it be as a volunteer or a young, hopeful student teacher, our bag is rather empty. However, the minute that first experience begins, our bag begins to full. It's just our nature to try a variety of things and hang on to the ones that work for a later day. Since that first experience I've tried to fill my bag as full as I can.
After examining Marzano's 9 High Yield strategies, I chose a few of my own instructional strategies to evaluate.
-One of my go-to strategies is that of Similarities and Differences. This is something my students and I do multiple times throughout the day in a variety of forms. Sometimes it's tied to a graphic organizer or anchor chart, other times it's simply through a discussion. I feel this is an effective strategy as they're able to easily attribute likenesses and differences between a variety of topics but they're also able to apply their own schema to what we're comparing. Keeping it open-ended allows the discussion to dive deeper and take on meaning for each individual student.
-Cooperative strategies: I use this in a variety of ways during multiple facets of our day. We begin during Morning Meeting when their greeting or activity involves some sort of think-pair-share strategy or teamwork in order to play a game or solve a brainteaser. We continue as many of their activities revolve around either working directly with a partner or group to complete a task, or working with someone to check their work or problem solve any questions they may have. I feel this is a crucial part of instruction as it allows students to learn in a variety of ways and bounce ideas off each other. It also increases motivation and engagement as they have someone to encourage them and hold them accountable for their work.
-The third strategy I chose to evaluate is my homework procedure. I send differentiated homework home every Friday. This homework consists of one review math section, one new math concept (being introduced the following week), a story or passage that was practiced in their book group that week, comprehension practice with it, and new spelling words. The students then have one week to complete the homework. So far this strategy has worked very well for me. It's taught my students time-management and responsibility. It's also given them the opportunity to bring the homework to school, on a Tuesday or Wednesday, and discuss any confusion or questions. I'm seen a very high turn-in rate and the quality of completion is very high as well.