Projected Look-Fors for the 2009-2010 Year
September
- Encourage all students to answer in complete sentences
- Use Wait time before calling on any students and after any student answers so that processing and any necessary translation can occur.
- Ask learners to retell, paraphrase, and summarize discussion and reading points to promote comprehension and fluency.
October
- Use a variety of instructional approaches to include individual, small groups, and whole class instruction.
- Use flexible grouping; create groups based on a variety of factors, including readiness levels and interests.
- Use an analysis of student readiness/background knowledge levels, interests and information processing styles to identify appropriate learning experiences and teacher support systems.
November
- Do a pre-assessment as part of the planning for a unit of study.
- Design rubrics, performance task lists, and checklists that articulate in precise language performance and assessment requirements.
- Provide Students with clear criteria and exemplars of process and products before they begin the work.
December
- Ask questions as simply and concisely as possible.
- Ask questions that require more than one word answers.
- Use concrete objects, models, and demonstrations to support instruction.
January
- Engage all students in meaningful tasks that provide balance between skill building and meaning making.
- Provide a variety of ways students get information and ways in which students demonstrate what they know (e.g. stations, videos, models, bulletin boards, etc).
- Scaffold instruction that maintains high standards for all students.
February
- Provide visual cues to support understanding.
- Use a variety of writing to learn strategies (e.g. guided writing, interactive writing, entrance and exit slips, stop-n-writes, etc).
- Use what is known about students' families, cultures, and communities as a basis for connecting instructions to students' personal experiences.
March
April
- Include student self-assessment of products and of effectiveness of the effort.
- Teach students to give each other feedback through peer editing and review.
- Engage students in the design of assessment criteria.