Reference no: EM133521131

Assignment

Contextual Information

This step allows you to provide a picture of your class that will enable the reader to better understand your instruction and decision-making skills.

Overview

Many factors can affect teaching and learning; these could include the community, the school district, and/or individual school/classroom/student factors.

The information you gather about your teaching and learning context and about individual students will help provide perspective to the rater who will be scoring your submission.

This part of your submission will not be scored, but the information you include should have implications regarding your professional choices.

Your response must be limited to 1,500 characters (approximately one-half page typed). No artifacts can be attached to the Contextual Information textbox response.

1. Describe your classroom. Include the grade level, content area, subject matter, and number of students. Provide relevant information about any of your students with special needs.

2. Describe any physical, social, behavioral, or developmental factors that may impact the instruction that occurs in your classroom. Mention any linguistic, cultural, or health considerations that may also impact teaching and learning in your classroom.

3. Describe any factors related to the school and surrounding community that may impact the teaching and learning that occurs in your classroom.

Step I: Planning - Goals and Student Background

This step allows you to demonstrate your knowledge of an effective lesson plan that facilitates student learning.

Activity: Creating a Plan

Produce a standards-based lesson plan for your whole class that addresses learning needs, includes instructional strategies to engage students, and incorporates assessment techniques to gauge student learning. The lesson plan needs to provide baseline data from both the whole class and the two Focus Students, work samples from the Focus Students, and a fifteen-minute video. Before teaching the lesson, respond to the guiding prompts below.

Prompts

1. What learning goal(s) and standards (state and/or national) did you identify for the class? Explain how they are appropriate for the lesson and your students' learning needs.

2. What whole-class data did you use to establish a baseline to measure student growth?

3. How did your students' prior knowledge and background information influence your planning process?

Prompts

1. How do you plan to use academic content language to advance the understanding of the concept being taught in this lesson? Provide a rationale.

2. How do you plan to engage students in critical thinking to promote student learning? Provide a rationale.

3. How do you plan to use questioning skills to promote student learning? Provide a rationale.

4. How do you plan to integrate literacy into the content you will teach to promote student learning? Provide a rationale.

Lesson Activity(ies)

Prompts

1. Describe the activity or activities that is (are) the main focus of the lesson plan. Explain how you designed the activity (ies) to anticipate and address student learning needs.

2. Describe how you will monitor student learning during the course of the lesson.

3. What student work samples will you require the students to submit as part of your assessment of student learning resulting from the lesson? (The work can be created either during or after the lesson.) How will these responses be integrated into the lesson plan? Provide a rationale for your choice of student work samples.

Step II: Implementing the Plan- Instructional Strategies

This step allows you to demonstrate your ability to implement the lesson plan, interact with your students, and analyze your practice.

Activity: Implementing the Plan

Teach the lesson based on the plan you described in Step 1, and provide a fifteen-minute video from that lesson. Then respond to the guiding prompts below.

Prompts

1. How did you use academic content language to advance the understanding of the concept being taught in this lesson? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis.

2. How did you engage students in critical thinking to promote student learning? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis.

3. How did you use questioning skills to promote student learning? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis.

4. How did you integrate literacy into the content you taught to promote student learning? Cite examples from any part of the lesson to support your analysis.

Interacting with the Students

Guiding Prompts

1. How did you monitor student learning while teaching the lesson? In what ways did evidence of learning guide your instructional decision making while teaching the lesson? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis.

2. How did you provide feedback to individuals and the whole class to advance student learning? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis.

3. How did you use verbal and nonverbal communication techniques to foster student learning? Cite examples from the lesson to support your analysis

Classroom Management

Guiding Prompts

1. What classroom-management strategies did you use during the lesson? Cite examples of the strategies from the video.

2. In what ways did the strategies engage students and promote a positive learning environment? Cite examples from the video to support your analysis.

Step III: Understanding the Two Focus Students- Understanding the Two Focus Students

This step allows you to provide evidence of planning for the learning of the two Focus Students.

Activity: Collecting Student Work

Choose two Focus Students who reflect different learning needs based on the goal(s) of the lesson. Plan to collect evidence of learning as seen in the baseline data and the student work samples. Then respond to the guiding prompts below.

Prompts

Focus Student I:

1. Identify Focus Student 1's learning strengths and challenges.
2. What data did you use to establish a baseline to measure this student's growth?
3. What evidence will you collect to show his or her progress toward the learning goal(s)?

Focus Student II:

1. Identify Focus Student 2's learning strengths and challenges.
2. What data did you use to establish a baseline to measure this student's growth?
3. What evidence will you collect to show his or her progress toward the learning goal(s)?

Step IV: Reflecting- Reflecting on the Whole Class

This step allows you to reflect on the effectiveness of your lesson for the entire class and the two Focus Students.

Activity: Reflecting on the Whole Class

Think about your lesson plan, the implementation of the lesson, and the student work. Then respond to the guiding prompts below.

Prompts

1. To what extent did the students reach the learning goal(s)? Cite examples from the lesson plan and/or the video that support your conclusions.

2. Reflect on your instructional strategies, interactions with students, and classroom-management strategies. Discuss what went well and what areas you would revise in the future. Cite examples from the video that support your conclusions.

3. Describe revisions that you could make if you were to teach the lesson again. Why would you make each revision? Cite examples from the lesson plan, the video, and/or the student work that would prompt the revisions.

Reflection on the Two Focus Students

Guiding Prompts

1. Based on the baseline data and student work samples, to what extent did each of the two Focus Students achieve the learning goal(s) of the lesson?

2. How will your analysis of the baseline data and student work samples guide planning for future lessons for each of the two Focus Students?