When lessons are carefully planned and
students are engaged, there are less
classroom management issues.
You want to utilize class time efficiently:
The best way to engage, stimulate and keep
misbehaving from misbehaving is to plan
lessons in sharp time increments: 5 minutes
for a Do Now; 5 minutes to introduce lesson;
10 minutes for a minilesson; 10-15 minutes
for group work; 5 minutes to wrap-up lesson;
5 minutes for DOL.
Do Now should reflect work from previous
day
Maybe a question to reflect what they’re
learning – synthesizing information
Challenging yet attainable
Simple – 2 problems/one question that
requires a couple of sentences
Decide when you are going to review Do Now
- Right after they’ve completed it or at the
end of class?
Are you going to collect it, or are you going
to walk around to ensure they’ve done it
properly? (they’ve put some effort into it)
An SLO is a statement that describes what
students will be able to do by the end of a
lesson.
SLO derived from CCSS, written, and clearly
stated before lesson begins in child-friendly
language.
The Statement includes the Behavior – Action
words, so students are clear about the lesson’s
intended outcome. Bloom’s Taxonomy
It sets an intention: what are we
going to accomplish today?
We will…
Read the statement to them and
explain what you will be learning.
This is so important. Gives them
a chance to put their Math
Hat/Science Hat on.
We will practice adding and
subtracting decimals. (knowledge)
We will apply our knowledge of adding
and subtracting decimals by creating
word problems that our classmates
will solve
(Application/Analysis/Synthesis)
Quickly review what you
accomplished/learned the day before
Discuss how today’s lesson expands
upon yesterday’s
Present minilesson
Preplanned groupwork: Pairs? Small
groups? Large groups?
Homogeneous? Heterogeneous?
When you set the intention for the lesson, you are
activating schema. You are providing background
knowledge or helping them access what they may
already know about the subject. Doing this helps
students connect to the lesson, which in turn
deepens their comprehension.
Simple strategies: Use technology to show
students a short clip or pictures.
Read aloud from a picture book.
Create a K-W-L chart, which is separated into at
least three sections: What you already know;
what you’d like to learn; and then what you’ve
learned as the lesson progresses.
Students think about what they already
know about the topic and then turn to a
partner and share their information. The
most important part of a think-pair-
share is that students get a chance to
share with the whole class after they’ve
shared with their partner. You could
write their answers in a Web as a
brainstorm or you could start a K-W-L
chart.
As you plan a lesson, how can you break it
down, so you are not lecturing for the entire
period? How can you present material in 5-
10 minute increments so students have time
to work in groups and be engaged? When I
first started teaching, I used a timer to train
myself to teach in minilessons.
It takes practice and commitment, but it’s
worth it. You want to teach one concept, and
then give students time to practice and
master that concept.
Meaningful
Synthesizes lessons (how are you bringing
information all together)
You are walking around to ensure students
are talking the talk and staying on task
Gives you a chance to support someone one-
on-one if needed (and it always is!)
Break up assignment into smaller increments
(pause after first problem to review; then
have students move on to next problem)
Work in sharp time increments (timer on
Smart Board)
If you want to create a large group, you need to
make sure your classroom can accommodate
that. Is there room for them to spread out to
work comfortably? Will each member of the
group have a task? Everyone should have a
responsibility. What tasks will they work on? Are
they challenging enough to keep the group
focused and on-task? Sometimes when you
assign large groups, it takes them longer to get
organized because of the adjustment to
everyone’s needs. Will they have this time build
into the project?
As they are working, you are walking around
supporting them. You can see who understood the
lesson and who needs support. This is a great time
for you to help struggling learners. You can
personalize instruction on the spot and give a
student the exact information, skill or strategy that
would be most beneficial at that moment. I’ve
found that this makes all the difference in a
student’s academic abilities.
The most beneficial differentiated strategy is
walking around and working with students
individually.
An engagement strategy could be completing a
graphic organizer, working on word problems,
solving a problem, answering guided reading
questions – any activity where students have time
to think and discuss their answers. It’s also a
great time to get them moving around the room.
Perhaps they can work at board, you can tape
chart paper to a wall and have them stand and
work there. Others can meet in different parts of
the room. It’s important to give student a chance
to move and converse as part of a lesson.
Build in time to review work students accomplished.
Students have learned the information, they’ve
worked together to analyze and synthesize it, now
they need time to verbalize what they’ve learned.
When I ask students, “What did you learn from this
lesson?” it tells me a lot. I call on random students to
hear their answers. Some can articulate what they’ve
learned. Others need prodding to put their thoughts
into words. By verbalizing what they’ve learned, they
are deepening their understanding of the lesson. It
brings an end to the lesson; you can tie loose ends if
students still have questions or if they don’t
completely understand something.
If students can’t answer the question, “What
did you learn today?” then you know that the
information didn’t reach them. It’s so
important that we know where students stand
in the learning process. This ensures daily
that I’m in touch with my students’ abilities.
For me, if students fail a test, I feel it was
more a reflection of my teaching and that I
was out of touch with their needs.
A DOL is how a student demonstrates that she/he has learned the
lesson objective.
Always completed individually.
Criterion (criteria) statement that specifies how well the student must
perform the behavior
A DOL is not a quiz or homework
A quick assessment at end of lesson.
You’ve explained what you want to teach
They’ve practiced the skill(s) in groups while you walked around
supporting them
Now they demonstrate the skill on their own.
It could be a problem they complete
Something written
Tied directly to an SLO and CCSS
Can be accomplished in five to eight
minutes – No More!
Just 2-3 problems
Varies day to day
Simple
Designed before the lesson is
conducted
Practice Skills/Performance Tasks
(manipulatives, writing and/or solving word
problems, drawing, creating diagrams)
Answers on Dry Erase Boards
Graphic Organize
Exit Card (index card or pain paper)
You are studying cells in science – use 3
vocabulary words from the chapter to describe
a cell. (1-2 sentences)
You can choose to collect it, but I strongly
recommend that you walk around and read
everyone’s answers while they’re working. I
would even have clipboard to document
classes’ answers.
The information will help you target instruction
and inform you of who needs help the next
day.
Meaningful
Consider time and fact that they have
homework in other subjects – keep it
reasonable.
Are you going to collect it? Review it? Grade
it?
Think about quality of test you’re going to
give.
Ask other teachers and students: are they
having tests/quizzes in other classes that
day? Don’t want to overwhelm them.
Please limit the number of handouts. As you
plan lessons, engagement is foremost.
Be creative with resources
Plan for technology
.
Will the students use props or manipulatives to learn?
How are you going to get the brain and hands to work together?
What hands-on, tactile component can you use?
How can you integrate the Smart board or ipads?
Can you play a video for your auditory learners?
Can you create an interactive element for the students where
they can get up and work at Smart board for your kinesthetic
learners?
Do you have picture books or informational texts with wonderful
pictures to pique students’ curiosity?
Do you have a graphic organizer that will help them sort and
categorize the information they are learning?
Do you have pictures for your visual learners? Do you have
board games or dice games? A map? Other activities?
All you have to do is Google a keyword, and you will find hundreds
of creative resources and ideas at your fingertips.
