Strategies

Focus Area

Checking for Understanding
Teacher is able to differentiate between students who know the content and those who do not.

• Wait time (5-10 seconds)
• Think Pair Share
• Response Board/cards
• Questioning, clarifying, predicting
• Summarizing and Note Taking
• Choral response
• Structured random selection of students
• Raised hands/shout out
  

Vocabulary Development
Six-step process used in the context of lesson. Instruction is direct and supports individual student needs.

1. Provide a description, explanation, or example of new term
2. Students restate the description, explanation, and example in their own words
3. Students construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representing the term
4. Students engaged in activities that help them add their knowledge of term in electronic notebooks
5. Students periodically discuss terms with each other
6. Students involved in online games that allow them to play with terms
   

Walk the Walls/Webpage
Is the instructional goal clearly communicated to students?

• Instructional goal posted online or communicated
• Instructional goal assessed
• Specific instruction tied to goals

Non-Linguistic Representation
Visual used supports vocabulary development and is essential to student learning adn understanding of content.

• Schedule of needs based instruction
• Vocabulary with pictures
• Graphic Organizers
• Pictures
• Realia
• Manipulatives
• Models

Definition sheet

Checking for Understanding

• Wait time (5-10 seconds): When you ask the students a question, give them 5-10 seconds 'think time' before calling on anyone. DO NOT call on a student before before asking the question. If they cannot answer call another student, but be sure to go back to them and have them repeat the correct answer.
• Think Pair Share: After posting a question allow time for students to think about their answers (1-2 minutes is usually enough.) Have students jot down their ideas then have them turn to a partner and share. Partners should be set before hand and sharing should be practiced. One minute per partner. This works best when practiced.
• Response Board/cards: Any response that all students perform in unison. Quizdom clickers or chat program will do the job.
• Questioning, clarifying, predicting: Questioning, clarifying, and predicting help students use what they already know about a topic to enhance further learning. Levels of questions are Recall (what, who, when, how many...) Comprehension (how did, why does, examples of...) Analysis (if this then...) Evaluation (what is the best answer and explain why)
• Summarizing and Note Taking: Summarizing is restating the essence of text or an experience in as few words as possible in a new concise form. Note taking is a written summarization of one of a variety of formats (Cornell notes, etc.). Online Article Response form and Online Notes form will do the job.
• Choral response: All students repeat response at the same time.
• Structured random selection of students (popsicle sticks - random workstation number selection): The teacher asks a question that may have several responses. The teacher calls randomly on 4+ students to respond. If student cannot answer call next student, but be sure to go back to prior student.
• Raised hands/shout out - This should not be seen in the classrooms. If structured random response is implemented, students will have no need to raise hand or shout out.

Non-Linguistic Representation

• Schedule of needs based instruction: Posted agenda, learning target, instructional schedule, and/or homework assignment.
• Vocabulary with pictures: This may be presented by the teacher as a picture representation of a vocabulary term or by having the students draw a picture of the vocabulary term.
• Graphic Organizers: There are organizers for every type of note-taking and idea organization; from very detailed handouts to 'fold a piece of paper in fourths and write 'plot', 'setting', 'characers', and 'theme' at the top of each
• Pictures: Any picture that is used to help students understand a vocabulary term or a lesson concept.
• Realia: Objects that can be used to show the students a vocabulary term or concept that may be too difficult to 'get' from a picture or oral description. An example is the 'bit and brace' used in Where the Red Fern Grows - a picture was insufficient fro the students to be able to undersand how it worked to drill a hole.
• Manipulatives: Any object that the student can use to more concretely understand a concept. Very common in math. this could also be items such as word cards to build sentences or junk boxes used for classifcations.
• Models: Any 3d model that is used to help the students understand a vocabulary term or a lesson concept.