Leadership TeamJANUARY 15, 2014

Bell Ringer

How has the Framework of Teaching impacted your classroom instruction in the areas of questioning and engagement?

Clear Learning Goals• Use The Framework of Teaching in Domain 3, Instruction.

Domain 3 - Instruction3 a - Communicating with students

ElementsExpectations for learningDirections and proceduresExplanations of contentUse of oral and written language

Question 1. A student asks, “What are we supposed to be doing?” and the teacher clarifies the task.

Answer: Relevant

Because the student had to ask the question, the directions and procedures were not communicated clearly—evidence for one of the elements for this component, suggesting a lower level of performance.

Question 2. Many questions are of the recitation type, such as “How many members of the House of Representatives are there?”

Answer: Not relevant

While this could be evidence of teacher communication with students, this piece of evidence is more relevant when thinking about the quality of questions, an element for the component Using Questioning/Prompts and Discussion Techniques.

Question 3. The teacher uses technical terms without explaining their meanings.

Answer: Relevant

By using unfamiliar terms and not explaining them, the teacher’s explanations of content are not clear—evidence for one of the elements for this component, suggesting a lower level of performance.

Question 4. “By the end of today’s lesson, you’re all going to be able to factor different types of polynomials.”

Answer: Relevant

The teacher announces what the students can expect to learn during the day’s lesson—evidence for one of the elements for the component.

Question 5. The teacher greets students by name as they enter the class or during the lesson.

Answer: Not relevant

While this is evidence of how a teacher communicates with students, this particular piece of evidence is not related to one of the elements for Communicating With Students. Instead, it is more relevant for the component Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport.

Question 6. The teacher mispronounces the word phonemes.

Answer: Relevant

By mispronouncing a term, the teacher is not modeling proper use of language—evidence for one of the elements for this component, suggesting a lower level of performance.

Domain 3 - Instruction3 d – Using Assessment in Instruction

ElementsAssessment criteriaMonitoring of student learning Feedback to students Student self-assessment and monitoring of progress Lesson adjustment

Question 1. Students evaluate a piece of their writing against the writing rubric and confer with the teacher about how it could be improved.

Answer: Relevant

This observation shows students taking the initiative to monitor their own progress, which is evidence for the component. Both student monitoring of progress and teacher monitoring of student learning are elements for the component.

Question 2. The teacher tells students that they’re doing a lesson because it’s on the test, is in the book, or is district-directed.

Answer: Not relevant

Even though this observation describes the instructor “teaching to the test,” it does not provide evidence of the use of assessment in instruction. Rather, this observation is evidence of the rationale given for what the students will be learning. However, if the only reason for learning a particular concept is that it will be on the test, the teacher is not conveying the importance of the content and of learning, which is an element for Establishing a Culture for Learning.

Question 3. After receiving a correct response from one student, the teacher continues without ascertaining whether all students understand the concept.

Answer: Relevant

This observation is evidence of lesson adjustment—one of the elements for this component.

Question 4. A student asks, “How is this assignment going to be graded?”

Answer: Relevant

This is evidence of assessment criteria—an element for Using Assessment in Instruction. Assessment should not only be used for grading. Rather, it should be used to help revise instruction and support individual student needs. To this end, students should be aware of and possibly even help develop the criteria for assessments.

Question 5. A student asks, “How many ways are there to get this answer?”

Answer: Not relevant

This observation is evidence of the quality of questions/prompts—one of the elements for Using Questioning/Prompts and Discussion Techniques—not evidence for this component. Students are asking rigorous and relevant questions, but do not seem to be self-assessing their learning progress.

Question 6. The teacher circulates during small-group or independent work, offering suggestions to groups of students.

Answer: Relevant

This observation is evidence of feedback to students—an element for the component.

Exit Slip