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Instructional Planning & Assessment (Video)

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Instructional Planning & Assessment (Video)

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Universal Design for Learning Guidelines (CAST.org)

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Universal Design for Learning Guidelines (CAST.org)

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Reenvisioning the UDL Guidelines

Because the UDL Guidelines are meant to be informed by feedback from the field as well as new research, they have been updated several times in the past. We are in the process of updating the Guidelines once again in our UDL Rising to Equity initiative.

This update will focus specifically on addressing systemic barriers that result in inequitable learning opportunities and outcomes. CAST aims to develop a transparent, inclusive, and community-driven process. If you are interested in collaborating and staying updated on our progress, we invite you to complete a brief survey.

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

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Selecting Standards & Objectives (Video)

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Selecting Standards & Objectives (Video)

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Lesson Planning: Selecting standards and objectives 

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Education Majors - Lesson Plan Template (Guided Version)

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Education Majors - Lesson Plan Template (Guided Version)

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Social Studies 10th Lesson Plan Template

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37 Effective Teaching Strategies & Techniques

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37 Effective Teaching Strategies & Techniques

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Top Tech Tools for Formative Assessment | Common Sense Education

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Find the right formative assessment tools for your classroom. These digital tools range from discussion (e.g., Piazza, TodaysMeet) to quizzing, polling, and student responses (e.g., Kahoot, Formative) to interactive lessons and videos (e.g., Nearpod, Flipgrid).

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Top 10 Free Lesson-Planning Resources for Teachers

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Top 10 Free Lesson-Planning Resources for Teachers

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Top 10 Free Lesson-Planning Resources for Teachers

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If you’re looking for stellar material to supplement your curriculum, check out these 10 free resources for teachers.

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How to Write a Lesson Plan: A Teacher’s Guide

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How to Write a Lesson Plan: A Teacher’s Guide

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Lesson planning is a necessary first step in implementing curriculum themes. Creating a lesson plan with clearly defined learning objectives, goals, and a metric for measuring progress toward these goals is vital to ensuring students benefit as much as possible from weekly lessons. Ask questions of yourself that pertain to the structure and benefits of your lessons as well as the needs of your students. Some things to ask when creating your lesson plan are

What is the goal/learning objective of this lesson?

What materials are necessary to teach this lesson effectively?

What types of activities will best help my students learn this lesson?

Which group sizes are best for each activity and will best aid students in their learning processes?

Consider your class's collective and individual learning styles and needs. Are your students more responsive to finding their own research texts than the textbooks and websites you provide? You may have many hands-on learners who need physical activities to help them process information. Be mindful of any special needs or barriers students may have that will require additional materials or assistance to allow them to participate in activities and lessons. Your lesson plan should also be clearly written, concise, and easy to follow and implement. By writing lesson plans in this manner, you'll be able to provide a road map for any substitute teachers in your room to follow in your absence.

Key Components of a Lesson Plan with Examples

Your lesson plan should include:

An objective or statement of learning goals: Objectives are the foundation of your lesson plan. They should be clearly stated and should outline which skills, knowledge, or understanding students are expected to gain as a result of the lesson (ex: "At the end of this lesson, students will be able to observe and identify all 50 United States.") Be mindful that your objectives are realistic, measurable, and in compliance with the educational standards of your school and/or district for your grade level.

Materials needed: Make a list of all necessary materials and ensure they are available well in advance of the lesson. If your lesson requires use of shared materials or spaces (such as computer labs or shared electronics), make sure you reserve these spaces and confirm their reservation. Keep materials together in a secure space and labeled for your lesson, and have extra available. Include any links or media that are necessary for your lesson, as well as materials needed. Ensure your sites are bookmarked and playlists are compiled in advance.

The procedure and instructions: Create detailed notes on both the process for the lesson or activity and on how instructions are to be given. Maybe there is certain information you don't want students to be told upfront, but you want them to discover it throughout the course of the lesson. Your lesson plan should be detailed enough that anyone who reads it will have all the same information and ability to effectively teach the lesson.

Group sizes for lessons and activities: It is best to use a mix of groupings for the activities within your lessons, including individual, pairs, small group, and whole class work. When planning your activities, contemplate which groupings will work best for each activity or if students will have the option of choosing which group sizes work best for them. Consider materials needed and the availability of those materials/resources for each activity.

A method of assessing student progress toward objectives: How will you determine if your lesson plan accomplished its goal of achieving learning objectives? In your lesson plan, detail your process for assessment (oral quiz, written quiz, project, etc.) and get feedback on what worked and didn't work for students. Determine what values will be used to define your lesson's success (ex: students are able to display knowledge comprehension in line with the learning objective 80% of the time).

Any homework assignments relevant to the lesson to extend learning.

Aim to have lesson plans completed no later than the Thursday prior to their implementation. Allow time to observe progress toward the current week's objectives, and determine if extending the lesson into next week is necessary. Give yourself sufficient time to gather necessary materials as well. Some schools and districts require the use of lesson planning books and templates for creating lesson plans. If yours doesn't, you can create your own weekly lesson plan template or download one from a website. Find great lesson plan samples of teacher-created templates here. With some guidance and practice, you'll be on your way to learning how to make a lesson plan of your own.

Lesson Planning for Effective Classroom Management

Lesson planning plays a huge role in providing students with the stable classroom environments that best support their learning. No matter the age group, students respond best to predictable routines in which they are involved and aware of the process and are able to anticipate what comes next. Post your lesson plans in multiple visible places where students, substitutes, and parents can all see them and easily stay caught up on your curriculum. Have students alternate reading the next day's activities, materials, and required homework as an exit ticket.

A lesson plan for teachers that takes into account students' learning styles and interests goes a long way to promoting student engagement and classroom involvement. Encourage your students to give feedback on lessons, either throughout the week or at the end of a completed lesson, and take note of which elements brought out the best and worst responses.

Looking for Additional Lesson Plan Ideas and Inspiration?

Like any skill, creating a good lesson plan format gets easier the more you do it. It might start off seeming like an intimidating feat, but if you're consistent after a while, you find your rhythm. The most important part of the process is to always be considering the needs of your class, and that includes you as a teacher. Creativity in lesson planning is important, but stay mindful of your budget and time restrictions, and don't overextend yourself.

After reading this lesson plan guide, if you're searching for ideas on how to create a lesson plan, check out these links for insights about EdTech trends, introducing technology into your classroom for the first time, and ways to capture students' attention:

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How to Write a Lesson Plan: Guide for Teachers | GoGuardian

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Lesson planning is a necessary first step in implementing curriculum themes. Creating a lesson plan with clearly defined learning objectives, goals, and a metric for measuring progress toward these goals is vital to ensuring students benefit as much as possible from weekly lessons.

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Objectives: the A.B.C.D. Method: Building Learning Objectives

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Engaging Students on the First Day and Every Day

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Engaging Students on the First Day and Every Day

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Picture the absolute worst student experience you've had as a learner, when you were totally disengaged in a particular class. What impeded your learning? Why didn't the course hold your attention? Was the content personally meaningful to you? Did the instructor seem to care about you or your interests at all?

Students form judgments about their courses and their instructors within the opening moments of a class. When teachers fail to hook students' attention up front, engagement remains a struggle for the rest of the semester.

To better approach engagement in my courses at Bryant University-whether on the first day or any day of the semester-I start with empathy. Think about what the course is going to be like for your students. And begin getting to know them-even before they enter your classroom.

Here are seven strategies to help you connect and engage with students in every class you teach, whether that's in person, online, or in hybrid classrooms.

1. Really Get to Know Your Students

Research shows that when you build relationships with students by getting to know them and allowing them to know you, they will learn more. Through knowledge of their backgrounds and interests, you'll be better equipped to connect class content to their lives. You'll enjoy teaching more as well. Here are a few ways I get to know my students.

Index cards. On the first day of class, I have students list on an index card where they're from, their interests, their area of study, past internships, favorite hobbies, professional aspirations, and anything else they would like me to know about them. Of course, this helps me get to know each student. But the primary objective is to use some of that knowledge in the classroom-by incorporating their interests into our discussions and activities. You might think, why index cards? Seems pretty old school. However, I keep the cards in little file boxes forever. When students graduate and return years later to visit or write to ask for a recommendation, it helps jog my memory and recall my personal connection to them.

Google Forms. The same information can be gathered through a Google Forms document. One advantage of this approach is the ability to send the document to students and receive responses prior to our first session.

VoiceThread. This app lets you create a video that others can comment on through text, audio, or video. I create and upload a five-minute introduction of myself for my students. I ask them to comment on my video by posting their own introductory video. They can see their peers' videos as well, so not only am I learning about the students, but they're also learning about one another before the first day of class.

"To me, engagement is also about showing the students you care."

Informal group meetings. In the first few weeks of class, I post times when students and I can get together outside of my office hours. These meetings are in groups of six to eight students and are purely voluntary. We meet for 45 minutes, and the rule of these meetings is we don't discuss the class. When we were able to get together in person, we would meet for coffee or lunches; however, adapting this for online modes since the pandemic started has been easy. It's a great way to get to know students' interests and career or grad school plans-topics about them. And while we don't talk about our particular course, I do like to ask general questions about what they feel makes a great class and about their favorite teaching techniques and learning methods.

2. Establish Expectations for Participation

Students are concerned about what kind of impression they'll have on their teachers, and often this uncertainty makes them hesitant to speak up in class. This self-censoring is an obstacle to collective learning and the exchange of ideas. To combat this, create a climate of psychological safety within your classroom where students know that it's OK to speak up. And make participation a requirement from the start. Here are some ways to encourage participation in your classes:

Call on students-but pay attention when extra support is needed. Collective learning can't happen if the same three people are responding all the time. To get broad participation, I cold call students. They all know ahead of time that I may call on them at any time. For students who are particularly reticent or anxious about that possibility, I might do a warm call and let them know ahead of time so they have some warning. I also emphasize that in my class there's no downside to wrong answers. If I call on you and you're stuck, I'll ask your classmates to come to your aid. "Help them out" is a phrase I use all the time, and students appreciate it. So there's no downside to wrong answers unless you clearly didn't do the work before class.

Have students grade each others' in-class involvement. My students are graded on their thoughtful contributions to class, but not by me. Peer grading certainly motivates students to participate. But it also provides me an incredibly rich record of how students contributed to their peers' learning throughout the course.

Ban the podium when teaching in person. Many teachers spend entire class sessions hiding behind their podiums, clinging to them for dear life. The podium becomes a physical and a psychological barrier. Instead, model psychological safety by getting away from it. Certainly, there are limitations when teaching online, but in person we should be out among the students where we can interact with them. In my classroom, there is no front or back-I teach from the middle.

3. Answer the "So What?" in Everything You Do-and Say

Engagement also happens when the work we give students is personally meaningful. Why does what we're talking about matter? What are the implications for students' lives? Based on your knowledge of the students, how does the topic relate to their next classes, to their careers, to whatever they're passionate about outside the classroom?

Articulating the "so what?" before you hand out an assignment-and including compelling examples that reinforce the subject's relevance-motivates students to do the work well, not just for the grade. For instance, I asked students recently to consider the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. I posed the question, "Why didn't the world take the threat more seriously in late 2019 and early 2020?" We had a lively discussion. Students told stories of how they felt when reading news about the virus as the first cases began to emerge. Then, I assigned our multimedia case study about the Columbia space shuttle accident. I explained that the case would shed light on the crucial question of why humans downplay ambiguous or weak signals of an emerging threat. By relating the case to the headlines of today and their personal experience with the pandemic, I motivated the students to immerse themselves in the Columbia multimedia material.

4. Create Meaningful Prework

Students will also come to class more prepared to contribute if you set the stage with effective prework activities. Reading assignments alone aren't sufficient, and grades are not enough to motivate. We have to broaden our perspective and think creatively about what prework is. The tasks we give students should answer the "so what?" question and require them to grapple with the material in some way, so they're not blank slates when they get to class. It's all about preparing them to engage. I've found the following tasks to be more effective than assigned readings:

Watch a ShowMe tutorial. This is an Apple app, though there are similar apps for other platforms. ShowMe turns your tablet into a whiteboard so that you can draw and bring in different colors and images as you record your voice. It doesn't have to be fancy. The key is making a short video that breaks down a concept and readies students to apply that information. We need to get away from posting lengthy lecture videos and expecting students to sit through them.

"Articulating the 'so what?' before you hand out an assignment-and including compelling examples that reinforce the subject's relevance-motivates students to do the work well, not just for the grade."

Listen to an Audacity podcast. With this free software, you can record short audio podcasts that students can listen to on the go. My podcasts include a few simple bullet points and reviews of key topics.

Conduct interviews. Give students something active to do with the material. Sometimes the most effective prework is having them go out and be anthropologists, to observe or interview people about the topic. It could be someone on campus, out in the community, or even in their own homes.

5. Pace Your Lessons Well

Studies show that class activities should be changed every 7 to 10 minutes in order to keep students' attention. It's also a good idea avoid long lectures, which are a very passive classroom activity, and instead choose activities that involve students. Verbal discussions and Q&As offer some interaction and a break from lecturing, but that doesn't quite equal engagement. Here are a few ways to break up lectures by shifting the topic or mode of instruction:

Short videos. Interject a related video clip and get students to respond to it. Obviously, YouTube is a great source for this.

Polling apps. Every so often, poll the class to get students' quick responses to a particular question or topic. With several polling apps available, you can choose one that's best suited to your classroom setup. Poll Everywhere lets students vote or respond using their smartphones. For online classes, Zoom has its own polling software.

Group work and sharing. Engage students in teamwork. Have them complete a task in teams, then share what they've done with the rest of the class. This can be done in breakout groups when online, but if in person, grouping teams together and getting students up to write things on the board also provides them a chance to move around during the class session.

6. Make Learning Experiences Active and Varied

Pacing your class activities goes hand in hand with incorporating multiple approaches to learning. At one time, I taught almost strictly by the case method. While case studies require much more active learning than a lecture does, they quickly become redundant if used every day. Pedagogical variety, with an emphasis on active learning, is important within individual class sessions and throughout the semester.

Some of the varied learning experiences I've used include working in teams to solve puzzles; running simulations, such as a two-hour virtual climb of Mount Everest; and playing the competitive Ball Point game as an example of iterative problem-solving. Our faculty at Bryant University have partnered with corporations, nonprofits, and public sector agencies to sponsor hands-on projects in which students develop solutions for organizations. In all of these examples, students are engaged in active and collaborative learning.

7. Show Students That You Care

Part of maintaining the rapport and engagement you've fostered from day one is celebrating student successes-even those beyond your classroom. I follow campus news and events and I connect with students on LinkedIn. When I read about their achievements, such as landing a new job or internship, I'll send a little note of congratulations. And they are always grateful for it. To me, engagement is also about showing the students you care.

An Engaged Student Is an Inspired One

Many of us have heard the saying, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." In my teaching, I aim to do much more than transmit a small body of knowledge over the course of a semester. For me, engaging students means sparking their intellectual curiosity, encouraging them to ask thought-provoking questions, and motivating them to tackle challenging problems. If we engage them, we can inspire them to excel in our classrooms and become productive lifelong learners.

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Engaging Students on the First Day and Every Day

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Seven strategies to help you connect and engage with students in every class you teach, whether in person, online, or in hybrid classrooms.

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How to Create Lesson Plans for Engaging and Effective Lessons

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How to Create Lesson Plans for Engaging and Effective Lessons

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How to Create Lesson Plans for Engaging and Effective Lessons

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Paulette Chaffee, an experienced teacher and educational consultant shares a few tips to create an effective and engaging lesson plan.

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Lesson Plans That Promote Student Engagement

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Lesson Plans That Promote Student Engagement

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During my first year as a math coach, a first-year teacher, "Ms. Debbie," came to me for help. Her 4th graders were disengaged and acting out. They weren't learning the content. She was concerned that she couldn't "control the class," and wanted to work on classroom management. But as is often the case, the behavior issues could be traced back to lesson plans that weren't promoting student engagement.

I sat in on one of Ms. Debbie's classes to see her challenges first-hand. The period began with an "entrance ticket," a two question assessment of the prior day's lesson. About 10% of her students breezed through. Half of them tried, but struggled. And the rest made no attempt whatsoever.

After ten minutes, a timer went off. Ms. Debbie collected the slips and began a mini-lecture on "Finding Common Denominators." She walked through her detailed anchor charts, showing students every step of the process. After 15 minutes, the timer went off again. Time for "guided practice." Ten minutes later, group work. Another ten minutes, independent practice.

To make it all happen, Ms. Debbie was rushing around the room, constantly transitioning from one activity to the next. The students' heads were spinning. And to be honest, so was mine.

Finally, they completed an 'exit ticket:' a short quiz on the day's objective. Not surprisingly, about 10% of them breezed through. Half made an effort, but struggled. And the rest made no attempt whatsoever.

Lesson Plans: Keep 'em Simple, Silly

When we sat down for the debrief, I acknowledged all the thought and effort that had gone into her lesson plans. I could only imagine how much time it had taken to make the entrance tickets, anchor charts, and exit tickets.

I asked Ms. Debbie why she had chosen to include so many activities in the same lesson. It turned out that her school had just switched from 45 minute periods to a 90-minute block schedule. All the teachers had received professional development on how to make lesson plans for a block schedule.

The training centered around a ten-part lesson plan. The idea was that students can't focus on the same activity for more than ten minutes, so the 90-minute lesson needed to be broken into many little segments. This attention span myth has convinced many educators that the way to keep students engaged is to constantly switch from one activity to the next. But breaking a lesson up like this actually defeats the whole purpose of a block schedule.

The reality is that our attention spans vary enormously based on what we are doing. Sure, students will drift off during a long lecture on dividing fractions. But when actively engaged in activities they enjoy, children's attention spans can seem endless.

So while the ten-part lesson plan made it easier to fill up time, it did little to ensure that lessons were effective.

Consider instead, the benefits of the three-part workshop lesson. This simple but effective model was developed by John Van de Walle, for inquiry-based math instruction. Since then, the workshop model has been used to create engaging lessons for every subject area.

In the age of remote learning, engaging lesson plans are only increasing in importance. If students aren't interested in a class, they may stop showing up. And traditional classroom management doesn't work in an online setting. The flexibility and effectiveness of the workshop model can help smooth the transition to online learning.

Lesson Plans That Are Engaging and Effective

Try to think of a book, movie, or play that was really boring. It may have had too many characters or too many plot lines. Maybe you weren't interested in the topic. Or you just couldn't relate to the writing style and main character. Soon you got distracted or confused, and eventually you lost interest.

Now, think back to a story that you love. You can see yourself in the main character. You relate to her struggles. Every line connects to the central theme. Sure, it's divided into scenes, but they're all connected. Each brings you one step closer to a satisfying conclusion.

A good lesson is like a good story. It has an engaging opening, a purposeful middle, and a clarifying end. When we activate our students' curiosity and communicate passion for our subject, our lessons could go on and on, without boring anyone. In fact, our students sigh with disappointment when the bell rings.

Maybe the sighing is just a fantasy. But i f you're worried about "filling time" in your lesson, you may be using too much direct instruction. If you're thinking, "My students can't sit for an entire period without getting distracted," you're right! But they discussing, and discovering. can spend a whole block exploring,

The key is to connect every part of the lesson to a meaningful "whole." Start by getting students excited about the topic of the lesson. Then, introduce a challenge for them to work through. Finally, close the lesson by helping students reflect on the learning experience.

Part I: Engage and Inspire

Use the principles of storytelling to create fun and effective lesson plans. Think of the lesson objective as your main character.

First, introduce the "main character" to the "audience." If you've done this part right, your audience will be curious about what happens next. This is what Dan Meyer's, in his famous TED Talk, describes as "baiting the hook."

Starting a lesson by building engagement might be the most important part. Students care when they feel connected. If they don't care, they won't engage in the activity.

I tend to focus on two types of connections: prior knowledge and relevance.

Prior Knowledge

Activating prior knowledge simply means connecting the lesson to what students already know. If you're teaching adjectives, it can be as simple as asking, "Remember when we talked about nouns? Adjectives are words that nouns."

Activating prior knowledge helps students develop a context for the new learning, which is critical for conceptual learning. Prior knowledge also helps students feel confident that they can handle what comes next.
"When will I ever use this."
Many teachers dread these questions. But they show that students are looking for relevance. Answering these questions can be a powerful tool for increasing engagement and motivation. The answer should never be "because it will be on the test."

Find out how students use the learning in real life, and design your introduction around that purpose.

Whether you use a DoNow, a video, or a mini-lesson, make sure the focus is on generating interest. on explaining content. Imagine if you went to the movies, and they started off by explaining the purpose of the story and telling you the ending. Where's the fun in that?

Part II: Hands on Activity

Once our audience cares about what they're about to learn, it's time to introduce the challenge.

The activity, not the introduction, is where the deep learning happens.

This part of the lesson is typically the most difficult, both for teachers and students. For teachers, the challenge lies in shifting from 'sage on the stage' to 'guide by the side.' Textbooks don't really prepare us for this style of teaching.

Helping students learn through workshopping also requires an extra layer of thought and planning. Instead of delivering information, it's like we're creating a maze or a puzzle. By navigating the maze and solving the puzzle, the students figure out what we want them to learn.

When students work to find solutions, they actually understand and remember better. The trick is ensuring the challenges actually lead to understanding, rather than simply creating busy work. That is no easy task, and it helps to have the right resources.

There are a number of problem-based lesson models that can be adapted for different subjects and grade levels.

For math, try the following activities:

Humanities teachers can incorporate problem-based learning with the following:

Story Analysis: Students work in teams to identify plot elements, main characters and more. They also create their own comprehension questions. I used this activity as part of a student-taught short stories unit. (Buy Story Analysis Organizer)

Socratic seminar: Students learn the habits of productive talk, and actually run their own discussions. Provide them with broad, conceptual discussion questions, or have them write their own.

Engaging Students with Debate

Debate is often thought of as a humanities activity, but it can work well in any subject area. Debate can also be used as a step in the writing process for an expository essay.

Select a controversial idea and have students choose a side. Students then find and present evidence to support their position.

You could easily analyze the situation for them and explain both sides. But by going through the process themselves, they are learning more than just information. Organizing and presenting their thoughts helps students to develop higher-order thinking and communication skills.

With hands-on activities, good facilitation is just as important as a good lesson plan. If you're not accustomed to this mode of teaching, you may find that students get distracted or fail to self-start. Rubrics are an effective tool for communicating your expectations and assessing participation. You may also consider graphic organizers and group work protocols to help students share responsibilities.

Part III. Share and Reflect

Once students have taken part in a deep learning experience, it's important to help them cement their learning. Providing time to share and reflect is an important step that is often overlooked, but it should be part of every lesson plan. By helping students process the learning, we can improve retention and help them to apply their learning in other contexts.

Sharing enables students to process their experience as a group. I like to have students present at the end of a lesson. By explaining their ideas, students have a chance to clarify or revise their thinking. Sometimes the simple act of speaking their ideas out loud can help deepen understanding. As can hearing feedback from peers.

The 'share' portion is also the time when we finally bring in direct instruction. I'd never want to start a lesson with "Why I think the American Revolution was justified." But once students have engaged in productive struggle, I'm happy to add to their ideas if they've missed something important.

Reflection is another way for students to solidify their understanding. Some students will enjoy the opportunity to write a short reflection about what they've learned.

More traditional assessments, such as exit tickets or homework ( a last resort) can be effective closers. If you feel that only some students are engaging in group work, ending lessons with a formal assessment can help you understand student need while incentivizing less active students.

Engaging Online Lessons

As educators shift to online instruction, we face a perplexing challenge. Getting students excited about learning is more important than ever. But how do we create interactive learning experiences through a Zoom call?

Instead of trying to recreate the traditional classroom online, focus on the unique benefits of online learning. The online learning experience shouldn't consist of lectures and pre-recorded videos. Consider the following when designing your online lessons:

Breakout Groups: In-person classes aren't always the best for group activities. Some groups need more time than others. And it can be hard to spend quality time with each group. Start your online lessons with a brief, whole-group Engage and Inspire. Then, split students into breakout groups for the Hands-On Activity. Schedule check-in times with each group, and reconnect for Share and Reflect. In an online classroom, these don't all need to happen on the same day - you can schedule small-group sessions whenever they're convenient for you and your students.

Collaborative Documents: The Google Drive suite offer students several ways to collaborate from a distance. The simplest is creating a shared Google Doc. But Google Slides, Sheets, and Drawings are also useful for inquiry-based activities.

Digital Paper: Some activities just seem better on paper. Either because you already have resources you like, or because you want students to draw pictures or diagrams. You can turn .pdf's or even pieces of paper into digital documents using Google Classroom and Kami. This video shows you how to set it up, and how students can edit and submit these assignments.

Create Your Own 3-Part Lesson Plans

Now that you know the three parts to an engaging lesson, you're ready to plan one for your students. I've created a simple template to help you get started. This free download will help you organize your ideas and plan 3-part lessons for any subject.

For more support, schedule a free consultation with an instructional coach. Whether you're planning for an online or an in-person classroom, we'll help you apply the 3-part workshop model to any grade level and subject area.
GET YOUR FREE PLANNING TEMPLATE
About the Author

Jeff Lisciandrello is the founder of Room to Discover and an education consultant specializing in student-centered learning. His 3-Bridges Design for Learning helps schools explore innovative practices within traditional settings. He enjoys helping educators embrace inquiry-based and personalized approaches to instruction. You can connect with him via Twitter @EdTechJeff

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Lesson Plans That Promote Student Engagement

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During my first year as a math coach, a first-year teacher, "Ms. Debbie," came to me for help. Her 4th graders were disengaged and acting out. They weren't learning the content. She was concerned that she couldn't "control the class," and wanted to work on classroom management.

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Structuring the Learning Journey

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Bloom's Taxonomy: Structuring the Learning Journey

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Bloom’s Taxonomy: Structuring The Learning Journey

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Hess's Cognitive Rigor & Depth of Knowledge Matrix

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Hess's Cognitive Rigor & Depth of Knowledge Matrix

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Cognitive Rigor & DOK Focus Area

The Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrices (CRMs)

and translated for use in many countries around the world!

See an excerpt from Rigor by Design, Not Chance (2023) - THE ACTIONABLE ASSESSMENT CYCLE

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Did you miss my September 2021 webinar, sponsored by Mentoring Minds? Watch now on demand: Looking for Rigor in All the 'Right' Places

Module 1 of my Local Assessment Toolkit provides an in-depth approach to introducing cognitive rigor and using the Hess CRMs to plan instruction and design assessments.

To Download the Hess CRMs, click onto each TOOL below

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- Tool #1: Close Reading & Listening CRM

- Tool #2: Math & Science CRM

-Tool # 5A: Fine Arts CRM

SPANISH versions of Hess CRMs: Tools #1-5D

7 Common Misconceptions about Rigor & DOK

Some of the resources referencing Karin's work or have chapters by Karin:

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Ainsworth, L. & Donovan, K. (2019). Rigorous Curriculum Design. (second edition). The International Center for Leadership in Education.

Ainsworth, L. (2015) Common Formative Assessment 2.0. Corwin.

Ainsworth, L. (2014). "Unwrapping" the Common Core (second edition).

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Bailey, K. & Jakicic, C. (2016). Simplifying Common Assessment. Solution Tree Press.

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Blackburn, B. (2022) Rigor in your Classroom: A Toolkit for Teachers - Second Edition. Routledge.

Brulles, D., Brown, K., & Winebrenner, S. (2016). Differentiated Lessons for Every Learner. Prufrock Press.

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Center for Collaborative Education. (2012). Quality Performance Assessment: A Guide for Schools and Districts . Boston, MA: Author.

Colby, R. (2017). Competency-Based Education: A New Architecture for K-12 Schooling. Harvard Education Press.

Francis, E. (2021). Deconstructing Depth of Knowledge: A Method & Model for Deeper Teaching and Learning. Solution Tree.

Francis, E. (2016). Now That's a Good Question! ASCD.

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Gibson, V., Cárdenas-Hagan, E., & Hess, K. (2019). Ready to Advance: A New Comprehensive Early Learning Curriculum. Benchmark Education Company.

Hogan, M. & Smart, S. (2020). Fundamentals of Literacy Instruction and Assessment, PreK-6, Second Edition. Paul Brookes Pub.

Love, S. & Strobaugh, R. (2019-2021). Critical Thinking in the Classroom: A Practitioner's Guide. Tyler, TX:Mentoring Minds.

Pijanowski, L. (2018). Architects of Deeper Learning Intentional Design for High Impact Instruction. The International Center for Leadership in Education.

Sousa, D. (2022). How the Brain Learns, 6th edition. Corwin

Stack, B. & Vander Els, J. (2017). Breaking with Tradition: The Shift to Competency-Based Learning in PLCs. Solution Tree.

Vander Els, J. & Stack, B. (2022). Unpacking the Competency-Based Classroom: Equitable, Individualized Learning in a PLC at Work. Solution Tree.

Walsh, J.A. & Sattes, B. D. (2017). Quality questioning: Research-based practices to engage every learner. (2nd Ed). A Joint Publication: McREL International & Corwin.

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Winebrenner, S. & Kiss, L. (2014). Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties in Today's Classrooms. Free Spirit Publishing.

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Cognitive Rigor and DoK | Karin Hess, PhD

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Cognitive Rigor & DOK Focus Area The Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrices (CRMs) and translated for use in many countries around the world! See an excerpt from Rigor by Design, Not Chance (2023) - THE ACTIONABLE ASSESSMENT CYCLE ​ Did you miss my September 2021 webinar, sponsored by Mentoring Minds?

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Depth of Knowledge & Bloom's Taxonomy Comparison

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Depth of Knowledge & Bloom's Taxonomy Comparison

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Example #1 - Money Management/Financial Literacy

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Example #1 - Money Management/Financial Literacy

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Helping College Students Manage Money Better: A Financial Behavior Change Program

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Getting College Students to Exercise More

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Example #1 - Training New Restaurant Servers

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Example #1 - Training New Restaurant Servers

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Training New Restaurant Servers: A Customer Service Skills Program

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Teaching Retail Employees New Technology

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Making Workplace Safety Training Actually Work

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Division of Elementary and Secondary Education - Offices - Learning Services - Curriculum Support - Arkansas Academic Standards

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Selecting Standards & Objectives (Slides)

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Selecting Standards & Objectives (Slides)

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Lesson Planning: Selecting standards and objectives 

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When You Design for Everyone, EVERYONE Benefits from the Design (Video)

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When You Design for Everyone, EVERYONE Benefits from the Design (Video)

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When You Design for Everyone, EVERYONE Benefits from the Design

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7 Smart, Fast Ways to Do Formative Assessment

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7 Smart, Fast Ways to Do Formative Assessment

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Formative assessment-discovering what students know while they're still in the process of learning it-can be tricky. Designing just the right assessment can feel high stakes-for teachers, not students-because we're using it to figure out what comes next. Are we ready to move on? Do our students need a different path into the concepts? Or, more likely, which students are ready to move on and which need a different path?

When it comes to figuring out what our students really know, we have to look at more than one kind of information. A single data point-no matter how well designed the quiz, presentation, or problem behind it-isn't enough information to help us plan the next step in our instruction.

Add to that the fact that different learning tasks are best measured in different ways, and we can see why we need a variety of formative assessment tools we can deploy quickly, seamlessly, and in a low-stakes way-all while not creating an unmanageable workload. That's why it's important to keep it simple: Formative assessments generally just need to be checked, not graded, as the point is to get a basic read on the progress of individuals, or the class as a whole.

7 Approaches to Formative Assessment

1. Entry and exit slips: Those marginal minutes at the beginning and end of class can provide some great opportunities to find out what kids remember. Start the class off with a quick question about the previous day's work while students are getting settled-you can ask differentiated questions written out on chart paper or projected on the board, for example.

A quick way to see the big picture if you use paper exit tickets is to sort the papers into three piles: Students got the point; they sort of got it; and they didn't get it. The size of the stacks is your clue about what to do next.

No matter the tool, the key to keeping students engaged in the process of just-walked-in or almost-out-the-door formative assessment is the questions. Ask students to write for one minute on the most meaningful thing they learned. You can try prompts like:

What are three things you learned, two things you're still curious about, and one thing you don't understand?

How would you have done things differently today, if you had the choice?

What I found interesting about this work was...

Right now I'm feeling...

Today was hard because...

Or skip the words completely and have students draw or circle emojis to represent their assessment of their understanding.

2. Low-stakes quizzes and polls: If you want to find out whether your students really know as much as you think they know, polls and quizzes created with Socrative or Quizlet or in-class games and tools like Quizalize, Kahoot, FlipQuiz, Gimkit, Plickers, and Flippity can help you get a better sense of how much they really understand. (Grading quizzes but assigning low point values is a great way to make sure students really try: The quizzes matter, but an individual low score can't kill a student's grade.) Kids in many classes are always logged in to these tools, so formative assessments can be done very quickly. Teachers can see each kid's response, and determine both individually and in aggregate how students are doing.

Because you can design the questions yourself, you determine the level of complexity. Ask questions at the bottom of Bloom's taxonomy and you'll get insight into what facts, vocabulary terms, or processes kids remember. Ask more complicated questions ("What advice do you think Katniss Everdeen would offer Scout Finch if the two of them were talking at the end of chapter 3?"), and you'll get more sophisticated insights.

3. Dipsticks: So-called alternative formative assessments are meant to be as easy and quick as checking the oil in your car, so they're sometimes referred to as dipsticks. These can be things like asking students to:

write a letter explaining a key idea to a friend,

draw a sketch to visually represent new knowledge, or

do a think, pair, share exercise with a partner.

Your own observations of students at work in class can provide valuable data as well, but they can be tricky to keep track of. Taking quick notes on a tablet or smartphone, or using a copy of your roster, is one approach. A focused observation form is more formal and can help you narrow your note-taking focus as you watch students work.

4. Interview assessments: If you want to dig a little deeper into students' understanding of content, try discussion-based assessment methods. Casual chats with students in the classroom can help them feel at ease even as you get a sense of what they know, and you may find that five-minute interview assessments work really well. Five minutes per student would take quite a bit of time, but you don't have to talk to every student about every project or lesson.

You can also shift some of this work to students using a peer-feedback process called TAG feedback (Tell your peer something they did well, Ask a thoughtful question, Give a positive suggestion). When you have students share the feedback they have for a peer, you gain insight into both students' learning.

For more introverted students-or for more private assessments-use Flipgrid, Explain Everything, or Seesaw to have students record their answers to prompts and demonstrate what they can do.

5. Methods that incorporate art: Consider using visual art or photography or videography as an assessment tool. Whether students draw, create a collage, or sculpt, you may find that the assessment helps them synthesize their learning. Or think beyond the visual and have kids act out their understanding of the content. They can create a dance to model cell mitosis or act out stories like Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" to explore the subtext.

6. Misconceptions and errors: Sometimes it's helpful to see if students understand why something is incorrect or why a concept is hard. Ask students to explain the " muddiest point" in the lesson-the place where things got confusing or particularly difficult or where they still lack clarity. Or do a misconception check: Present students with a common misunderstanding and ask them to apply previous knowledge to correct the mistake, or ask them to decide if a statement contains any mistakes at all, and then discuss their answers.

You can use sticky notes to get a quick insight into what areas your kids think they need to work on. Ask them to pick their own trouble spot from three or four areas where you think the class as a whole needs work, and write those areas in separate columns on a whiteboard. Have you students answer on a sticky note and then put the note in the correct column-you can see the results at a glance.

Several self-assessments let the teacher see what every kid thinks very quickly. For example, you can use colored stacking cups that allow kids to flag that they're all set (green cup), working through some confusion (yellow), or really confused and in need of help (red).

Similar strategies involve using participation cards for discussions (each student has three cards-"I agree," "I disagree," and "I don't know how to respond") and thumbs-up responses (instead of raising a hand, students hold a fist at their belly and put their thumb up when they're ready to contribute). Students can instead use six hand gestures to silently signal that they agree, disagree, have something to add, and more. All of these strategies give teachers an unobtrusive way to see what students are thinking.

No matter which tools you select, make time to do your own reflection to ensure that you're only assessing the content and not getting lost in the assessment fog. If a tool is too complicated, is not reliable or accessible, or takes up a disproportionate amount of time, it's OK to put it aside and try something different.

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7 Smart, Fast Ways to Do Formative Assessment

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Within these methods you'll find close to 40 tools and tricks for finding out what your students know while they're still learning.

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27 Easy Formative Assessment Strategies for Gathering Evidence of Student Learning

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All 27 of these formative assessment strategies are simple to administer and free or inexpensive to use. They provide the teacher with the evidence of student learning needed to make lesson plan adjustments and keep learning on target and moving forward.

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What are Evaluation Methods? - Funding for Good

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Evaluation methods are the criteria for evaluating the success of a program. Learn what an evaluation is and how to create an effective plan.

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9 Strategies for Successful Program Evaluation

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9 Strategies for Successful Program Evaluation

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5 Essential Steps to Building Effective Employee Training Programs

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5 Essential Steps to Building Effective Employee Training Programs

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5 Steps to Building Effective Employee Training Programs | Explorance

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Learn how to build effective employee training programs with 5 key steps that align learning goals with business outcomes. Improve performance today.

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The Art of Designing for Behavior Change

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The Art of Designing for Behavior Change

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Maybe the change is as small as having people consider a new perspective after interacting with an exhibit about a historical event. Maybe it's a one-time action, like making an appointment for a colonoscopy the week after turning 50 years old after receiving an automated phone call from a health insurance plan. Or it could be an ongoing new behavior, like making a meatless dinner part of the family's weekly routine with the help of a meal-planning app.

Yet, over and over, designers get focused on more immediate success metrics. How many people are downloading this app? Visiting this website? Interacting with this exhibit? They reach for tools designed to "nudge" users into quick actions, and for some outcomes, those tools are enough.

However, many of the most significant problems designers hope to solve call for more than a one-time action on the part of the people who encounter the design. Take 401k enrollment as an example, where opt-out choice architecture can dramatically increase the percentage of people opening a retirement plan. People who are nudged into opening a plan are likely to invest only at the default level and ultimately save less than people who enroll with a more deliberate set of financial goals.

For the types of behavior change challenges that require people to opt in over and over, a more robust intervention approach is required. Enter motivational design.
Behind the Motivational Curtain
Motivational design leverages the psychology of motivation to craft experiences and products that people are intrinsically interested in using. Understanding the psychological reasons why people engage with some products and experiences and not others helps designers to go beyond thinking about features to consider what function they're fulfilling for their users, or not. A designer who understands motivation can make better product decisions that are aligned to what actually works for users.

So let's start with motivation. Motivation always has an object; it's wanting to do something. When we practice behavior change design, we're creating the context around that something. We want it to be appealing to people. Not only should our users want the results of engaging with our designs, but they should enjoy the experience of using the products, too. Otherwise, why would they continue long enough to see results?

Good motivational design starts from an understanding that not all motivation is created equally. Motivational quality refers to the source of a person's motivation. As a rule of thumb, the more autonomous, personal, andinternal the source of motivation is, the longer lasting and more resilient to obstacles that motivation will be. On the other side of the spectrum, more controlled forms of motivation, originating from outside of the person, are short-lived and unlikely to survive challenges.

The sources of motivation can be arranged in a continuum from most controlled to most autonomous. (1) The controlled forms of motivation include extrinsic motivations like rewards or punishments, which may take the forms of incentives or even scolding, and introjected motivations, which are when the self internalizes expectations from others. This contrasts with identified and integrated motivations, which occur when a behavior aligns with a person's goals, values, and self-perceptions. People with identified and integrated sources of motivation are interested in doing something because it supports something they already care about. That can be a powerful reason to stick with a behavior.

Intrinsic motivation, of course, is doing something simply for the pleasure of it. Creating experiences that are beautiful and fun helps tap into intrinsic sources of motivation. Psychologists have long known that the human brain is wired to engage with stories; (2) now the emerging field of neuroaesthetics indicates a similar human attraction to visual art. (3) Art's ability to capture people's attention is one reason why the science of behavior change relies heavily on it to be successful.

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The Art of Designing for Behavior Change - CoDesign Collaborative

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Maybe the change is as small as having people consider a new perspective after interacting with an exhibit about a historical event. Maybe it's a one-time action, like making an appointment for a colonoscopy the week after turning 50 years old after receiving an automated phone call from a health insurance plan.

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Designing Training Programs for Behavior Change

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Designing Training Programs for Behavior Change

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Technology for UDL - Building an Accessible Foundation for Learning

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Technology for UDL - Building an Accessible Foundation for Learning

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Technology for UDL series - Building an Accessible Foundation

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Page 1: Assistive Technology

Teachers who use only traditional classroom instruction and materials might discover that students with disabilities have difficulty accessing the general education curriculum. In response, teachers can provide accommodations-that is, adaptationsor changes to educational environments and practices designed to help students overcome the challenges presented by their disabilities.Among these accommodations is the subject of this module: assistive technology (AT). Put simply, AT is a tool that students can use to address barriers related to developmental, functional, or learning skills.

Accommodations

Before we explore assistive technology in depth, let's take a quick look at accommodations in general. An overall understanding of accommodations might make it easier to understand the importance of AT in helping students address disability-related challenges. Foremost, it is important to understand that accommodations do not change what students learn but rather how they access what they are supposed to learn. Second, though all AT devices are classified as accommodations, not all accommodations are categorized as AT. For further clarification, the table below overviews the four main types of accommodations as well as a few examples of each.

As you can see, accommodations come in a variety of forms and can be used to address a wide number of the issues experienced by students with disabilities. For more information about these important instructional and testing accommodations, visit the IRIS Module:

Assistive Technology

Just as accommodations come in many forms, so too does AT encompass a spectrum of tools and devices, as well as the services and supports used to ensure that those devices are used appropriately. The assistive technology in question might be something as complex as speech-to-text software (a presentation accommodation sometimes used by students who have difficulty writing with a pencil), or it might be something as simple as a specialized rubber pencil grip (a response accommodation often used by students who have difficulty holding a pencil).

To sum up, AT includes both:

Devices - Pieces of equipment or technology that facilitate work, communication, mobility, or other aspects of daily life (e.g., text-to-speech software, dictation software)

Services - The supports or services necessary to use those devices appropriately (e.g., training, repairs)

These two aspects of assistive technology-which we will discuss in greater detail on the following pages-go hand-in-hand. Student success depends on having access not only to a device but also to the support and services required to use it effectively.

Although many students with disabilities can benefit from the use of assistive technology, teachers are sometimes hesitant to provide these necessary tools. Often this reluctance is based on a few, quite common misunderstandings and misapprehensions. Let's take a moment to look at some of these. Click on each myth below to learn the facts.

Fact: In truth, the supports offered by accommodations allow students with disabilities to access the same instructional opportunities as students without disabilities, thereby leveling the playing field. When educators use accommodations appropriately, they provide equity-that is, they give each student what she needs to successfully complete a given learning task or assignment. By promoting equity, teachers can break down the barriers that interfere with students' opportunities to access learning. With the best of intentions, educators often strive to promote equality -giving every student precisely the same thing. When they do so, however, educators inadvertently limit the opportunities of students with disabilities to access learning. In other words, giving every student precisely the same thing does not ensure fairness or equal opportunity. To better understand the concepts of equality versus equity, view the illustration to the right.

Without the benefit of appropriate AT, many students continue to struggle academically, which is why AT services and devices are written into students' individualized education programs (IEPs). This helps to ensure that all students have access to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE).

Listen as Marci Kinas Jerome discusses why teachers should use assistive technology to support students with disabilities (time: 0:47).

Marci Kinas Jerome, PhD
Associate Professor, Special Education and Assistive Technology
George Mason University

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View Transcript
Transcript: Marci Kinas Jerome, PhD

I think that teachers should become familiar with assistive technology because it's one of the tools that we have in the toolbox to support kids with disabilities. And for some of our students it's really critical. It's a tool they really need to have. For other students, it's something that we know can help them, maybe can benefit them. And we want to be able to show teachers that this is something that they can add to the strategies that they're already using. For some teachers, assistive technology may be brand new, and they don't use it because they don't know about it. And so we really want to show them that how powerful it is. We know from all the anecdotal stories, if you start talking to people who use assistive technology, how it's changed their lives. But we also know from research that it's an evidence-based practice and that it's something that really can make a difference for our students.

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Teachers who use only traditional classroom instruction and materials might discover that students with disabilities have difficulty accessing the general education curriculum. In response, teachers can provide accommodations-that is, adaptationsor changes to educational environments and practices designed to help students overcome the challenges presented by their disabilities.Among these accommodations is the subject of this module: assistive technology (AT).

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Skylar Pearson - Lesson Plan Template for MSIT 4325