Joe Gondolfi TIE 535 Instructional Design AUSL Fall 2012 Instruction Commentary Identify the number of the

lesson or lessons from which the clip(s) were recorded. The lesson from which the clips were recorded was one in a series of lessons aimed toward the ACT English College Readiness Standards. These lessons were predominantly designed by AUSL teachers, and based on Dr. Arthur Whimbeys sequence for teaching grammar. This lesson is situated within a unit on the verb to be. In it, students learn how to use the verb to be as a helping verb to create the present progressive tense. They also learn when it is appropriate to use the present progressive tense. At the end of the lesson, students will be able to identify the present progressive tense in sentences, and use it appropriately in their own writing. 1. In the instruction seen in the clip(s), describe strategies you used to engage students in learning tasks to develop skills and strategies to comprehend or compose text. In this lesson, students learn via a combination of direct teaching, I Do/We Do/You Do, and independent and cooperative inquiry. The purpose behind these strategies is threefold. First, because this is a 9th grade class, these students should have encountered this in their previous schooling. However, we cannot be sure that every student has the same knowledge of these concepts. For this reason, students begin their learning with independent inquiry. The Do Now asks them to look at two similar sentences--one that is in the present tense, and one that is in the present progressive. Then, they are asked to determine the difference between the two. After completing the Do Now, I direct teach the concept, conduct a sequence of I Do/We Do/You Do, and then release the students for cooperative learning in their pods. a. Cite examples of strategies aimed at engaging all your students and examples aimed at engaging specific individuals or subgroups. If you described any of these fully in the lesson plans or the planning commentary, just reference the relevant description. The independent and cooperative inquiry in the lesson engage all students, because independently they can assess what they already know, and cooperatively, those who are unfamiliar with the content can receive assistance from their peers are are familiar with it. Because each student assumes a role--teacher, learner, or a combination of the two--they are more engaged with the lesson. No one is penalized or left behind for not knowing what is being taught, and no one is bored by reviewing something they already understand.

The direct teaching and I Do/We Do/You Do are largely aimed at the students who lack proficiency in this content. Because nearly 100% of our students come from homes where English is not the primary language spoken, many of them do not regularly hear academic English outside of school. Furthermore, because some students elementary and middle school education might have lacked this content, it is important to ensure an accurate understanding of the concept. Lastly, students who think they have a strong understanding of the content but may have some inaccurate knowledge can have those inaccuracies corrected. Direct teaching and I Do/We Do/You Do is the teacher input--the basic content that I deliver, so the students can work with it and practice it independently. b. How did these strategies reflect students academic or language development, social/ emotional development, or cultural and lived experiences? As I mentioned above, in order to account for discrepancies in students educational background, this lesson is structured in such a way that students who have a firm understanding of the content can guide students who might be encountering the content for the first time. Furthermore, because many of them have limited experience with academic English, by providing a direct teach and I Do/We Do/You Do, I can ensure that they receive accurate instruction with which to practice. Lastly, allowing students to work together in groups, cooperatively, utilizes skills that they will need throughout their lives. Cooperative work is a learned skill, and it is one we have focused on from the first day of class. 2. Cite examples of language supports seen in the clip(s) to help your students understand that content and/or participate in literacy discourse central to the lesson. Unfortunately, due to a technical problem, a key part of the lesson was not captured on video. Since approximately 99% of our students come from a Spanish-speaking household, I asked the students to make a connection between the present progressive in English and the present progressive in Spanish. a. How did these strategies reflect students varying language proficiencies and promote their language development? Because both languages follow nearly identical patterns (English: run becomes is running; Spanish: correr becomes esta corriendo) I asked students to utilize their knowledge of Spanish and make that connection. Thus, they have a firmer grasp of when and how to use the present progressive, and now they have the language to describe it in English. 3. Describe strategies for eliciting student thinking and how your ongoing responses further their learning. Cite examples from the clip(s).

The best instructional strategies for eliciting student thinking is to encourage them to work through a problem and then make explicit their thinking. This is most evident during the Do Now. Students were asked to look at two sentences and explain what made them different, thereby highlighting the content for this specific lesson. Furthermore, by Cold Calling and asking students to clarify each others misconceptions or lack of understanding provides more opportunities for teacher-facilitated student-tostudent communication. 4. Reflection a. Reflect on students learning of concepts and academic language as featured in the video clip(s). Identify both successes and missed opportunities for monitoring all students learning and for building their own understanding of skills and strategies for comprehending and/or composing text. Using checks for understanding--specifically the fist-to-five--asks students to assess their own understanding of the concept, and it also makes visible to me what needs to be covered more thoroughly. Furthermore, as I circulate while students work cooperatively, I can very quickly look at their work and see who has the fullest understanding and who needs more practice. I can also identify specific examples that I need to highlight as we look over their work to clarify situations that can be confusing. Secondly, one of the greatest successes of the lesson was making the connection between the present progressive in Spanish and in English. This allowed students to have a fuller understanding of the concept and to see how they have been using it already. One missed opportunity, I believe, was allowing students to make more connections and build more understanding independently. Students might have more fully made meaning of the lesson had they had more opportunities to construct knowledge on their own. Even the progressive equals in progress clue could have been something that was student generated, rather than teacher delivered. b. If you could do it over, what might you have done to take advantage of missed opportunities or to improve the learning of students with diverse learning needs and characteristics? I would consider making the grouping of students more purposeful. As of this lesson, students were grouped in a way more to manage behavior than enhance learning, so in the future, I could group students for certain lessons heterogeneously in terms of understanding. By using exit slips and interim testing data, I could have those groups pre-determined and simply have the students names on the folders containing their materials, thus having a quick way for them to find their seats and get started.

Lastly, I think I would offer more opportunities for students to work cooperatively without input from me. The lessons are designed for minimal teacher input, so allowing them more opportunities to work with the material and work with it authentically would enhance their understanding much more than my delivery of content.