West Morris Regional High School

Mpendergrast@wmhsd.org

908-879-6404 

extension 1378

 

10 Four Bridges Road

Chester, New Jersey, 07930

Activating a Lesson/Learning Experience

 

Things to consider...

 

· Is the expectation(s) clear as to what the students will know, understand, or do?

· How does the teacher frame the lesson?  Does the teacher use essential questions?  Does the teacher paint the big picture? Or, is this left for “discovery” throughout the unit?

· How does the teacher activate prior knowledge?  How does the teacher thread previous concepts and learning experiences to the new one?

· Does the teacher create anticipation for the lesson?

· Does teacher use an Anticipatory Set?  In other words, does the teacher engage the students by relating the topic to their life experiences?

· Do the students have an understanding of where the class is going?

· Does the teacher gauge the students’ interests?

· Does the teacher gauge student knowledge of the topic?

· Does the teacher use routines to get the class prepared for learning?

· Approximately how many of the students were engaged?  Interested?

· Did the physical structure of the room contribute to the success or failure of the strategy?

Look for: do now’s, graphic organizers, visuals, charts, stories, essential questions, think-pair-share, collaboration, exploration, etc.

 

 

Activating a Lesson/Learning Experience

 

1) How did the teacher begin the class? (Greet students, take attendance, check homework, routines, communicate expectations, etc.)

 

2) What was the learning objective or enduring theme for the lesson?  What did the teacher want the students to KNOW (facts, vocabulary), or UNDERSTAND (concepts, principles, generalizations, enduring themes, essential questions), and/or BE ABLE TO DO (basic skills, thinking skills, skill specific to the subject area) as result of this lesson/learning experience?  Were these expectations clear to the students?

 

3) Specific methodology used to frame the lesson/learning experience.  How did the teacher engage the students or introduce the lesson?

 

4) Reflection: Was the strategy effective?  What did you learn from this visitation?  How could you modify the strategy for your own class?

 

 

 

Effective questioning

 

Things to consider...

 

· Does the teacher use essential questions?

· Does the teacher use open-ended questions?  (What if...?)

· How does the teacher handle incorrect answers?

· How does the teacher reword questions?  How often does the teacher reword questions?

· Did the teacher follow a whole-part-whole pattern?  In other words, did the teachers paint the big picture and then ask questions that built on one another?

· Did the teacher follow a question-answer-question pattern?  In other words, did the teacher follow up answers with probing and exploratory questions?

· Did the teacher question mostly students with their hands up?  Or, did the teacher distribute the questions randomly?

· Did the teacher question males and females equally?  Did the teacher question students from various parts of the room equally?

· Did the teacher let the students off-the-hook (especially for complex or critical questions)?  Or, did the teacher probe, reword, or reframe the question and persist?

· How did the body language of the teacher contribute to the effectiveness of the questioning?  Did the teacher express genuine concern?  Was praise genuine?  Did the teacher make eye contact?  Did the teacher appear genuinely excited by answers?

· Did the teacher model critical thinking?

· Where did the teachers’ questions fall on Bloom's taxonomy?

o Knowledge: list, define, tell, describe, identify, label, named, who, when, where, etc.

o Comprehension: summarize, describe, interpret, etc.

o Application: apply, demonstrate, calculate, illustrate, examine, modify, relate, classify, etc.

o Analysis: analyze, explain, connect, classify, compare, and infer, etc.

o Synthesis: combine, integrate, rearrange, create, design, intent, what if, compose, formulate, etc.

Evaluation: assess, rank, test, measure, recommend, convince, judge, discriminate, support, conclude, etc.

 

How does the teacher use wait-time or pause?

How does the teacher check for understanding?

Does the teacher's questioning engage most of the students?

 

 

QUESTIONING

 

1) Approximately what percentage of the teachers’ questions were recall or fact-oriented?

2) How did the teacher use questions to extend or refine student answers/knowledge? How did the teacher probe? (Compare, contrast, classify, categorize, synthesize, connect to previous knowledge, integrate with life experiences, analyze, evaluate, etc.)

3)How did body language contribute to the effectiveness of the questioning?  (eye-contact, physical distance, energy, expressiveness, etc.)

4) What was the best or most effective question in the entire lesson?  Why?

5) How did the pattern of questioning contribute to the effectiveness of the questioning?  (Questions distributed randomly, male-female equity, student with hands up/without hands up, wait-time, etc.)

6) Reflection: What did you learn from this visitation?  How could you modify your questioning technique to make your lessons more effective?

 

 

Closure

 

Things to consider...

 

The research on the effectiveness of closure in relation to student learning is significant and compelling.  Closure can be many things and it can take many forms.

 

· In an introductory lesson that focuses primarily on basic skills or discrete content, it might be a simple check of understanding.

· However, closure also refers to the idea of checking for student understanding of essential themes.

· Closure activities help students organize their learning.

· Closure helps students see the big picture, connect important concepts and prior learning, and it helps eliminate misunderstandings.

· It is the thread between lessons and it very often sets up the next day's learning experience.

· Closure may closely follow learning experiences that require higher-level thinking activities.

Although it is generally used at the end of the class period it certainly may take place after any learning experience/activity.

 

Closure

1) How did the teacher close on the lesson?  (Question, journal, homework, graphic organizer, think-pair-share, self-assessment, notebook reflection, exit ticket, 3-2-1, two minute summary, etc.)

2) What was the purpose of the closure--checking for understanding of basic skills or checking for understanding of large overarching, enduring themes?

3)Was the closure effective?  Did it help students form a coherent picture of the central concepts and themes and did it eliminate misunderstandings?  Did it help establish threads between learning experiences, concepts, or previous knowledge?

4)(Optional) What additional insights did you gain through a discussion with the teacher?

 

Reflection: What did you learn from this visitation?  How could you modify your use of closure to make your lessons more effective?