Observation week (Day 2 09/7/16) - Domain 2: Instruction- Day 2- Content 2

APS 6: PROVIDING CONTENT FOR LEARNERS

On observation day two, there was an extension of using context clues to determine the
meaning of vocabulary words with a test. Students were to place each vocabulary word in the
sentence which best fits the context of the word. The evidence that suggest that the teacher did
have thorough knowledge and understanding of the content was that she created sentences that
were structured with clues which would assist students in understanding the meaning of their
vocabulary words. Our first block class is the higher performing students (English 1), which
allowed the teacher to use more complex sentences. The other classes do not perform as high as
the English one students which lead the teacher to construct more simple sentences for
students .Making the sentences less complex for the lower performing classes showed me that
Mrs. Hailey recognizes what she needs to modify as she teaches each class. This also shows me
that she knows her learners, one of the APS standards.
To organize and present the content in order to make it clear and meaningful to the
students and to promote higher levels of cognitive processing, Mrs. Hailey included the names of
people who are actually in the school building, including herself and students. For example, one
sentence on the test read, Sarah is such an insightful person, she was the only student who
knew that the stranger on campus was an armed and dangerous criminal. In reality, the student
Sarah really is a very insightful or perceptive student which seemed to be very appealing to
students. Relating the content to things that are common to students really seems to be something
that pulls students in and increase their level of engagement to the lesson. It is something that I
definitely will carry with me throughout my career as a teacher.