Station 5: Inclusive Practice Tool - What to Look For! Video Observations by Kiersten Sullivan

Kristen Greene

2022-02-08 19:01:24 UTC

The teacher explicitly made students aware of the expected student outcome/ learning standard they were working on and broke it down with them, making sure they understood it explicitly (aka “demonstrate means show”) to make sure that misunderstanding the learning outcome due to advanced vocabulary wasn’t a barrier to success. Then she connected the lesson to real life (what is one way you are dependable to other people?”) to help the students better understand the lesson’s task which was identifying examples from the text about how Mary Musgrove was dependable.

I also noticed she put students into groups for the task, which can be another great way to break down barriers to learning if the partner pairings are done in a methodological wayand not random pairings (ie if a student struggles with decoding, pair that student with someone who has great reading skills to take away the barrier from the first student, since the student learning outcome was not a reading task).

One suggestion I would possibly make depending on the needs of the students in this classroom would be to pair some visuals on the board to help comprehension.

Leosha Noel

2022-02-09 02:51:27 UTC

One strong approach that I observed in the lesson, is how the instructor took the focus of dependability, and had the students think about and share ways in which he or she are dependable in real life for their families. I strongly believe that this approach was particularly helpful when it comes to meeting students diverse needs, due to the fact that each student may come from a different upbringing, culture, etc. Depending on the cultural enviroments at home each student is able to identify how they are dependable in their families. This also leaves room for a sense of encouragement and home for students with disabilities, as it will help them to be able to see that despite his or her barriers, they are the same just as everyone else. It will also help those students who may not have a disability understand and realize that just because a peer may have a disability, does not mean that they are bound to it.

One suggestion that I would give in order to strengthen inclusive practice in this would be lesson would be to display pictures on the board for those learners who may be more visual than others.

Patrick Boor

pboor2 — 2022-02-12 17:22:08 UTC

There were a couple of strong instructional practices in the lesson that promoted an inclusive classroom environment. First, the teacher provided frequent and varied feedback and positive reinforcement to student responses. During the “Take a Stand” activity, the instructor called on each student by name and thanked students individually for sharing their thoughts on the respective question. In this classroom environment, students felt safe to express their thoughts without fear of judgment and ridicule. Additionally, during a breakdown of the bystander effect, students were asked to reflect on their own experiences. One could tell this increased engagement because students were eager to share what they would do in cases of cyberbullying, etc. Overall, the lesson was rich with real-world connections, which helped engage “hard to reach” students.

There was one particular statement that the instructor displayed that seemed to confuse students. The statement was, “Americans should be prepared to make great sacrifices to preserve their freedom and protect the freedom and rights of other countries.” To me, this statement is a little wordy, and students expressed vocally that they had trouble understanding its meaning. One suggestion I have for increasing comprehension is providing a visual along with each question to help students decipher meaning. Moreover, a simpler question like, “Americans should make sacrifices to spread democracy and freedom around the world” is more clear cut for students.

The above strategies align with the inclusive practice of presenting curriculum content through multiple means. However, the fact that the teacher allowed students to express their opinions by moving around the room is a great example of the inclusive practice of providing students with different ways to communicate and express themselves.

Renee Meade

2022-02-13 01:12:06 UTC

The teacher used many instructional approaches to teach her inclusion class.
She read the objective of the lesson off the board with the students. She stopped to review the meaning of the term dependable. Students made connections and shared prior knowledge to the group. Students were asked to share real life examples of how they dependable at home to better understand the meaning of the word. Students collaborated with classmates when they used "pair share" or "partner work" to discuss ideas and read text. Group work was a form of engagement when students acted out the jobs of Mary Musgrove as she worked at the trading post. Perhaps a graphic organizer could be used as a visual support when the students were reading the text with a peer.

Lori Hobson

2022-02-14 02:20:04 UTC

One strong instructional approach that I observed in this 2nd grade lesson is the way that the teacher connected that day's lesson and standard with their prior knowledge and also with real-world applications/connections. In order to build their academic vocabulary as it relates to a historical figure, she had the students think about a time when they were dependable. It helped the students gain more of an understanding of this very important vocabulary word, which this lesson was centered around in a historical context. Making these connections helped all students deepen their understanding of this word. They were able to talk with a peer and hear examples from other students, including all students in building these connections. If a student was still unsure about what it means to be dependable, they were provided with many opportunities to gain this understanding before they had to apply it to the academic task. This was also helpful as it built interest and engagement before students dove into the academic task.

One suggestion I would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson would be to present the content in multiple ways. There were multiple means of expression as the students were able to show their understanding in a few different ways (discussion, Freeze Frames). However, the teacher only presented the material in the form of the text they were using. She could have included visuals, a video, or some kind of audio support, if needed. This would have made the content accessible to all of the learners with the goal of having students explain how Mary Musgrove was dependable.

Jaffrie Perrotti

2022-02-14 22:00:28 UTC

Kim had a classroom of 23 5th graders seated in 3 groupings and she did an admirable job of increasing student participation in mini-checks for understanding. Towards the beginning of the observed lesson, only about half the class was engaging when the teacher asked for feedback like thumbs up / thumbs down, by the end nearly all students were engaging with the feedback exercise. This was accomplished by the teacher insisting that all students engage - at one point Kim said, ‘I only see 60%, I need another 40%’; on another occasion, Kims said, ‘you had a chance to turn and talk, I expect 100%.’ It was impressive that nearly all students were actively engaging in the expected feedback exercise.

On the other hand, while all students were certainly providing feedback to the teacher, I question the accuracy of the student self-reports. For example, towards the end of the video, Kim asks, “any questions?” Most of the class calls out ‘no’, but one student says ‘yes’; Kim then turns quickly to the student and she says, ‘I mean, no’. It seems like the expectations are so high in that classroom that all students engage fully and demonstrate understanding by the end of the lesson. I fear some students may just be giving positive feedback to appease the teacher or not be embarrassed by peers. It would be great if on occasion, Kim used some confidential check for understanding that accurately communicated in the moment what each individual student's level of understanding was. I know there are some great digital tools, like padlet, that could be helpful in this fashion.

Michaela Johnson

2022-02-15 19:44:40 UTC

One strong instructional approach that I observed in the lesson was the teachers classroom management style. From the video, it appears that this is a well structured and routine based classroom. Each student was attentive, engaged and knew what was expected of them. The teacher activated background knowledge and unpacked the learning standard for the lesson. This held students accountable for what is expected of them and what they should be focusing on during the lesson. When asked to turn and talk, students immediately were able to turn and talk to their peer, again enforcing that this is a familiar activity or routine in their classroom. Routine and structure is particularly helpful for meeting students' diverse needs because it is predictable to these students, they know what to expect. This can reduce any anxieties or behaviors a student may have if they feel comfortable and know what is expected/ going to happen.

One suggestion I would give to strengthen this inclusive practice would be the use of visuals or graphic organizer to connect to the text/ vocabulary that they were learning about. Having visuals may help student remember and associate the historical people, events, and vocabulary that were discussed in the lesson.

Michaela Johnson

10th-Grade ELA/Social Studies Reflection (Will Fowkes)

2022-02-16 23:44:04 UTC

I appreciated the little "stand for what you believe" analogy at the start, and I love these kinds of activities because it gets students on their feet and moving - this is one of the instructional approaches in itself; letting students move around, which helps keep students alert if they are not well rested, and gives them a physical act to keep them engaged if they have attention difficulties.

I also appreciated hearing her repeat each prompt, though I hope that there was also a big written prompt projected for students to refer back to when needed - I did not see one.

I also appreciated her offering up examples when she saw a lack of clarity amongst students, as well as reminding students of the previous class' subjects to prime them for the discussion on the reading.

I would suggest that she adjust her "stand" emphasis/analogy if she has students without the ability to physically stand. I would also suggest that

Bailey Hertweck

2022-02-17 00:30:08 UTC

1. What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson? Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?

Before having the students find what the historical figure did that was dependable, the teacher built in some background knowledge and vocabulary instruction. First, she had the students use the word “dependable” in a sentence, and this sentence was a student-created sentence that was relatable to situations in their own lives. I think this approach was helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs because oftentimes, historical figures are not relatable to students' lives. Therefore, it is difficult for them to be engaged with the material. By giving the students an opportunity to share their own experiences and use new vocabulary, she is ensuring they are comprehending the material and staying engaged.

2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?

The instruction in the beginning would be difficult for visual or tactile learners because it was mostly a lot of speaking on her part. Maybe instead of her moving the papers with names and other words, a tactile student could do that part in order to keep them engaged.

Victoria Marotta

2022-02-17 04:18:28 UTC

One strong instructional approach I observed was the framing on the standard and the expected outcome for students. In order to limit the barrier of reading the learning target on their own, or one student reading it aloud, the teacher asked students to repeat after her. Additionally, she broke down keep words such as "demonstrated" to ensure students understood what the standard meant. Following the introduction of the standard, she repeated and restated the objective students would have when completing the assignment. The teacher helped build background knowledge and deeper understanding before getting started by asking students to connect the world dependable to their own environment and understanding. This is particularly helpful as the strategy of connecting to the student's own world, grounds student in the work framing it in their own understanding. By explicitly teaching the standard, students had a clear outcome.

To strengthen the inclusive practice, the teacher could have provided an opportunity for students to share with other groups who had the same reading., before sharing out to the whole group This would benefit learners who had difficulty comprehending the story and finding why the person was dependable. It would also allow for students to practice their response and share out in a small setting. By providing this opportunity, all students would have received the opportunity to share out. This could help with confidence in sharing out and engagement.

Sahai Alexander

2022-02-17 16:35:58 UTC

There were a few strong instructional approaches I observed in the lesson. one was the teacher reading what was on the board and had the students repeat. She also checked for understanding and broke the information presented into chunks so that everyone understood and no student was left behind. She then connected the information the students were unpacking and made it relevant to real world connections. Engagement was present in the classroom when asked to turn and talk. These approaches are particularly helpful for meeting students with diverse needs because it makes them fell included/apart of the class and does not single them out.

One suggestion I would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson is provide more visuals. visuals are important because you can connect the visual into real world connections and students may be able to process quicker and address the needs and students comprehension.

Aaron White

2022-02-18 01:32:55 UTC

I believe the instructor did a great job with her approach to the inclusive environment. One thing the teacher did was making real world connections with the students. The word dependable can be a tricky word for a young student to learn. But by giving real world examples for each student helps others generalize what they can do to be dependable. The instructor also used multiple approaches to learn the word. She had the students break off into groups and discuss a story. As well as going over each part of the story with each student.

One suggestion I can make for the instructor would be to have different stations across the classroom. Each station could go over a specific situation and each student can describe what it means to be dependable. This would include more visuals for the students to see.

Chanteau Gilmore

2022-02-19 18:40:43 UTC

One strength that I noticed was in the teacher's ability to move from one teaching technique to another. During the discussion portion she allowed students to lean on their understanding of the word dependable to describe the actions of Mary Musgrove, however, when the student showed signs of needing help to hone in some of the details she would provide clarity to the point that the student could take back over and conclude the thought. I like this approach because it shows an understanding that sometimes the knowledge is there, but having the skills (language, ability, access, etc..) to gain access and express this knowledge may need help.

One suggestion to strengthen inclusion would be to add in visuals, especially with vocabulary. In this way students of varying learning styles receive the same information, but in a way that makes sense to them

Sergine Bertrand

2022-02-20 14:53:24 UTC

The teacher started off first by defining the word dependable in simple terms to ensure all the students knew its meaning. She gave the students the opportunity to make real-world connections by discussing amongst themselves ways they've been dependable. This approach is helpful for students with diverse needs because the personal connections (their examples) helped to solidify their understanding of the word. Once they fully understood it, they were able to successfully connect it to the passage. One suggestion I have is showing a short video of someone being dependable to accommodate for the visual learners in the room.

Silvia Cristina Rivera

2022-02-21 00:50:57 UTC

There were several instructional strengths in this lesson, including the activation of student background knowledge (e.g., prior lessons on Mary Musgrove, real life examples of how students are dependable), clear academic objectives, and student collaboration. In particular, I believe the lesson’s clear academic objectives were helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs because they allowed students to identify and focus their work on the lesson’s core purpose instead of being overwhelmed by the various components of the content. In the future, I would suggest that students be provided with more autonomy in the lesson, such as being able to choose the historical text that they will use for their research. I believe that this will result in a more inclusive lesson where students are more engaged in the texts they are reading by allowing diverse students to tailor the text they are reading to their individual needs and interests.

Roann Augustin

2022-03-05 15:47:16 UTC

Strong instructional approaches:
-activating background knowledge; allowing students to show and elaborate on what they already know
-setting clear academic expectations; students are aware of the agenda for the day, including how much time they have for each section; students thrive when there is a set routine
-private think time: for 5 minutes, students work INDEPENDENTLY
-students have opportunities to collaborate with peers

Suggestion to strengthen inclusive practice:
-annotate the important points the students where recalling; have this as a reference that students can come back to
-have multiple students explain what they know

Lenim Depina

2022-03-05 15:47:20 UTC

I. The teacher made clear to all students what the day was going to look like and a time frame for all activities. High expectations and clear goals are indicators of an effective inclusive classroom. The teacher also did a great job in activating previous knowledge with the class as a whole. At this point, all students are aware of what they are talking about and where they are going. The teacher examples are anchored on real and tangible examples; i.e. price of cabbage, CDs, music, etc.

Clear expectations and objectives create routines that are essential for an effective lesson. Independently of students' struggles and challenges, everyone knows what to expect and what is required of them to be successful.

II. I think this lesson can be improved by adding animation to the graph. For example, if students can actually see the lines of the graph that represents peas and cabbage going up can help them understand the relationship between pounds and price.

While the students were sharing their ideas of key features of a graph, I think the teacher or even better a student can go to the board to write down those ideas so everyone can see and have them for reference.

Sohanny Ozuna De Pérez

2022-04-02 13:01:30 UTC

After watching the video, I noticed that the educator had a great understanding of the material that she was presenting to her students. She helped the students build their academic vocabulary. She connected the learning to real life situations. Also, she allow students to make groups and share their opinions by asking each other questions.

The educator was making sure that she met students' diverse needs when she allowed them to work in groups. She had the material ready for each group to work on. Each group had a different assignment which allow them to be engaged.

on suggestion I would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson is to take more time to listen to other students that do not answer the questions fast enough. To make other questions to address those students with learning difficulties by giving extra time to process the information.

Angela Ortiz-grade 2 vocab

2022-04-02 14:52:16 UTC

I observed this teacher providing clear academic objectives and behavioral expectations. She broke down the objective in meaningful chunks and kept going back to the important vocabulary that was the focus of the lesson. The teacher also facilitated access to the reading content by pairing students (assumingly strategically) to work together as they read through text.

One suggestion I would make for the discussion/sharing portion of the lesson would be to have students share what their partner said during their "turn and talk" time. This can help with accountability for listening to partners. Also when repeating back what a student said, she could have asked another student to repeat answers some of the time rather than repeating and rephrasing herself each time a student responded.

Khyona McCrear

2022-04-02 22:40:19 UTC

Strong instructional approach- connecting it to real life by having the students use the word dependable. Also, the teacher gave the students a sentence stem I'm dependable because...
Diverse needs: Students illustrated a representation of what dependable looked like in a text. Students role played what dependable means.
One suggestion: A video as an example of dependable and a word wall. Having higher level skilled children find a synonym for dependable.

Katie Tunney- One strong instructional approach I observed was, providing multiple and varied options for student communication and expression. This method is helpful for students with diverse needs because there were opportunities to share in a large group or with a partner. There were opportunities to answer specific content questions and the opportunity to make a real world connection and share with the group. The students also role played the trading of goods which demonstrated their understanding and provided another opportunity for student communication and expression. One suggestion I have for the teacher would be to ask specific students to share what they heard a classmate share (repeat back) or for a student to share their partner's response (turn & Talk). This would allow the teacher to check for understanding and student engagement. She also had a sentence stem for the students to use when answering the question, but she didn't hold all students accountable for answering with the sentence starter.

2022-04-03 05:33:43 UTC

Madeline Smith

2022-04-03 21:11:18 UTC

What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson? Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?

One strong instructional approach that I observed in the lesson was the formative assessment at the end. The activity of freeze frames allowed students to witness what their peers had learned in a unique context and to show what they themselves had learned in a nontraditional way. The Inclusive Practice Observations supports this idea as well stating that the "student will be using a variety of tools and means to communicate knowledge" Additionally, because of the novelty of the activity, they could be more likely to be engaged in the lesson and further internalize the material.

What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson? Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?

One suggestion to strengthen the inclusive practice in this lesson would be to offer a myriad of seating options for the rug. I noticed that many students were compliant and sitting on the rug however, it seemed as though between cuts, they spent a lot of time on the rug for the introduction, activity and discussion. This approach would help in meeting students’ diverse learning needs because some students cannot feel engaged or focused if they are forced to sit still in the traditional “criss cross applesauce” kind of way. Providing students with a choice in their seating for the rug could increase engagement, participation and active listening during the lesson. This idea is supported by Inclusive Practice Tools which suggests that "the classroom will allow for smooth phyiscal movement of students and educators". The formation on the rug appeared tight and did not really allow for that.

Amalex Veiga

2022-04-04 13:35:30 UTC

The 9th grade Biology class I observed had an amazing teacher giving a lesson on endoderms. The strongest instructional approach she used in the classroom was her way of being interactive with the class. She had students pronounce the same words she would say, help them retain information by using rhymes and phrases, images. These approaches she used with the students were very helpful because she was able to help students tap into their background knowledge, and helping each student with their different ways of learning.
After observing the 9th grade Biology class, I believe the teacher did a great job supporting all of the students' needs by involving different ways to help with every student's learning needs. However, the teacher could have included a video of what endoderms are, or some video covering how endoderms look, or how to make one. If the teacher showed a video then I feel like it would have supported more students because each student learns differently and every student can benefit from the video, not only those who really need it.

2022-04-05 18:16:55 UTC

Maria Brito

What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson?

A 9th-grade teacher loves teaching her students. This teacher is very creative and she keeps all her students engaged throughout the lesson with a smile on their faces. There were free learning strategies in her classroom where none of her students were afraid to ask questions, answer, or make any mistakes.

The Teacher builds students’ background knowledge before the lesson, using critical thinking, visualization skill, body language, and a lot of repetition.

Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’

diverse needs?

It is helpful for meeting students' diverse needs:

background knowledge will help students to understand the lesson better and be engaged with the lesson.
Prompting students with questions during lessons will help them build their critical thinking skills.
Visualization skill will help students see and understand what teacher are talking about
Body language and repetition help students to understand and be engaged with the gesture and hear the same thing more than one time.

What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusion practice in this lesson?

I really love the way all the students were engaged and having fun during their biology class. There was a free learning environment where students were not afraid of making mistakes. I believe that any classroom should have a free learning style where students should not be afraid to make mistakes or to learn. Most of our students are lost in the classroom because our the classroom environment teachers create in the classroom.

Sarah Sawyers

2022-04-05 21:18:38 UTC

I. The teacher used questioning to help students make sense of the data in the table and ultimately identify the unit rate on their own. During the Bellringer, the teacher also reviewed key vocabulary and concepts related to the upcoming lesson by asking students to define words and provide examples. This review gave students who may have missed the lesson(s) the first time or those who may have forgotten some of the terms and concepts a chance to hear them again, this time from their peers.
The teacher also engaged students in the task by projecting some popular music artists on the board, asking students about times and places they've heard music in their lives, and asked about whether they've purchased CDs in the past. It was something students were familiar with, making the task more meaningful to them.

II. During the Bellringer, the teacher could have provided students with a copy of the question and graph so they could add notes that would help them make sense of the graph (i.e. add numbers to the x and y axes, label the axes). The teacher had to explain unit rate to several students. To make that part of the task more inclusive, perhaps the teacher should have modeled finding a unit rate for a different situation before sending students to work on parts A-D independently.

Emily Farrell

2022-04-06 18:06:34 UTC

Emily Farrell
I like the "stand on either side for what you believe in activity" and think it can be a great way to get students engaged and moving, but could be modified for students who are unable to stand or struggle to move around easily. The teacher read the prompt out loud and projected it which is a good inclusive practice. Telling students they could not go in the middle could create a barrier. I'm also wondering if students could have had an option to write their responses. I'm also wondering if the scenarios could have been better explained or teacher could have asked for clarifying questions. I wonder if students had a framework for this activity, what was the intended outcome? What is the teacher trying to accomplish? This could be a strong instructional approach to engage students with a new topic as a do now activity but students should have framing around why and what the learning objectives are which I did not see initially. Teacher talks a lot at students which could be very challenging for some. I didn't see anything handed out.

Carlene Benoit

2022-04-06 20:59:40 UTC

The teacher uses multiple approaches to support the lesson, such as repetition and active participation, by prompting the children to read with her, and asking questions that promote their recall skills. She also allows/encourages the children to relate personal stories in accordance to the lesson she is teaching them. She also pairs the children into small groups for tasks, which is effective, as it encourages the children who have stronger skills to help the ones who may be struggling, also allows the children to develop good social skills.
One thing that i would add to this lesson is providing the students with more visual prompts for those students who are visual learners, such as pictures or videos.

Marily Gonzalez

2022-04-07 00:04:25 UTC

Kim used several strong instructional approaches in the lesson. She provided several check for understandings. She did this to increase student engagement. She had students show understanding by giving a thumbs up or down. This was a good opportunity to gauge engagement and student understanding in the moment. This also helped her know whether her pacing was appropriate, especially as she was giving chunked directions for group work. She also had kids showing their numerical answer with their fingers which provided a different option for communication. Kim also gave students the opportunity to engage in the multiplication problem using one of the two strategies they had learned in class.

One suggestion I would give to strengthen inclusive practice is to provide roles during group work. Students were working together to solve the problems on one piece of paper. It would be good to have three roles where students could pick a role that highlights their strengths to ensure that there is equal participation among the three of them. For example, there could be a person who asks questions, a recorder, and a time keeper. This will hopefully make all students feel included in the process and not just the student copying down the answers.

Cleusa Varela

2022-04-07 01:30:20 UTC

While watching the video I noticed that the teacher was very knowledgable of the material she was teaching. She did an amazing job unpacking that standards and making real world connections which helped the students engagement. While she was teaching she also help the students build more academic vocabulary.
Suggestions: have some type of visuals , or videos for those who are visual learners.

Kate DeMazza

kdemazza — 2022-04-07 14:21:43 UTC

This teacher connected the objective of the day to the students' prior learning before moving into the specific objective of the day. She also provided multiple opportunities for students to develop their oral language skills and connect to prior knowledge through turn and talks and group work. She also developed student understanding of the vocabulary by allowing them to first engage with the term on a personal/real world level, and then by finding examples in the text.
Student understanding would be deepened by adding multiple modes of connection to the terms, including graphic organizers, visuals, and a personal glossary.

Stacey Mayers

2022-04-07 16:11:27 UTC

1. Student Engagement was extremely high; students were very responsive. Teacher modeled the layers of the worm that she created. Students were able to access prior learning and call on a friend when help was needed. Teacher also asked a lot of questions during the lesson and repeated the vocabulary word Platyhelminthes throughout the lesson.

2 Suggestion:
To strengthen memory recall of the vocab words, a suggestion would be to break down the long vocabulary words into smaller words.
Also, i think the teacher could have

Tricia Golding

2022-04-07 23:38:00 UTC

What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson? Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?

Throughout the short video, there were many strong instructional approaches demonstrated by the teacher. One approach in that I found particularly strong was the teacher offered more than one strategy for students to use and find a solution. (Presenting curriculum content through multiple means and providing scaffolds and support for metacognitive processing) This approach is helpful for meeting the diverse needs of students in classroom because it allows for students to have more access to the work. It also allows for students to find a solution in what best, as she mentioned in the video, "works for your brain."

What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?

One suggestion I would give to strength inclusive practice in this lesson is to not only offer different strategies for students to use but to also demonstrate the multiple strategies that can be used. I would also suggest providing more feedback/positive reenforcement while the students are working independently.

Melanie Allen

2022-04-08 04:47:04 UTC

1. What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson? Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?
--> She previewed the agenda for all parts of the activity first. This is particularly helpful for students with anxiety or on the spectrum who need the safety of knowing what's ahead.

2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?
T: "Everybody understand that?" (brief pause) "Okay."
I would suggest that if she genuinely wanted to know if they understood, she'd give another question that is comparable and then see how many get it right.

Jonna Rodenberg

2022-04-09 01:41:42 UTC

From the beginning, the teacher offered options for how to solve the math problem. I liked that she did not hold one method above the other, but simply said "whichever works better for your brain." She had frequent checks for understanding even as a student was solving a problem on the board. It was helpful to have students whisper the answer to their partner.

Although the teacher frequently checked in, I do wonder whether the students were accurately self-assessing. I also think it would strengthen her lesson to not only offer multiple options for strategies to solve the problem, but to also have both strategies shown on the board. If I'm a student who solved the original problem using the standard algorithm, I would not see my strategy used. I would of course know if my answer was the same then I was correct, but if I had gotten it wrong I wouldn't know why.

Jonathan Chapman (MOD 83)

2022-04-12 13:18:15 UTC

1. What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson? Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?

The 9th grade biology teacher did an excellent job of connecting different concepts with movement and music. She started the lesson by having students review information from a previous lesson by singing the information and waving their hands in the air. She followed this by having students join hands to show the length of some types of worms and also gave students materials they could use to model the worms they were studying. The use of physical movements to help with memory, or to help students visualize something from her lesson is an excellent way to increase engagement. Students who may struggle to remember material from simply reading a text may be able to remember information that is connected to a physical movement or a familiar song, or that they were able to create a model of in class.

2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?

The teacher seems to be doing an excellent job of engaging her students and allowing them to experience the information in a number of different ways other than simply reading a text or listening to her discuss the topic as often happens in a more typical lecture format. One suggestion I might make is to spend some time with students discussing the structure of the more challenging Tier 3 words she covers in her lesson. She does help the students with their pronunciation of different terms by saying them aloud, but it might also be helpful for many of her students to spend some time looking at the Greek and Latin roots involved in many of the scientific terms they are using. Something as simple as a list of common prefixes and suffixes found in science terminology that students could keep in their science notebooks could help students be able to break down large words into their component parts and in that way help them gain a clearer understanding of the terms and their meanings.

Christina McNicol

2022-05-17 14:48:44 UTC

The teacher was presenting the information through multiple means and with supports. She used sentence starts such as "As pound is increasing,... and as the cost of this is higher...," and she also gave students think time and writing time prior to share outs. Additionally, she gave a verbal framing of the activity then had students read the information. She also had students use their bodies to demonstrate lines which can be a helpful support for students who may be struggling to recognize it on paper.

One suggestion is to give more precise feedback. She gave a lot of positive reinforcement by saying 'very good...' or just 'very good.' While this does keep some students persevering through a difficult task and may also let students know they are on the right track, giving more precise feedback would help students to monitor and reflect upon their own progress because they would have a better sense of precisely what they are doing well on and/or what they might be struggling with. She did this later in the lesson individually mostly with the students who made corrections so I'd just suggest doing this for students who are on the right track as well.

Jose Correia Jr

2022-05-19 03:44:52 UTC

One strong instructional approach is selecting a vocabulary word that can be connected in real life daily function. The set up of social interactions between the studnets on coming up with examples of "Dependable at home" that they display at home, can provide each student the importance of that word. The studnet will most likely remember that example and continue to build on that trait. Providing such universial vocabulary that will always be around is so crucial to the childs life.

One suggestion I would give to make this lesson plan better is to ask the class what does the vocabulary word dependable not look like so they know the difference and appreciate when the word is displayed truthfully.

Jacquelyn Ballard (Mod 84)

2022-05-19 12:20:21 UTC

The teacher starting out by connecting the vocabulary word dependability from the lesson to real life experiences of the students. This is a very strong instructional approach. It increases the students level of engagement with the lesson and helps them to connect the new information with something that they already know or have had experienced with. Something else that could be done in this lesson is to have the students briefly talk about how they depend on others and what they might depend on them for. This will help them practice talking about their own needs and how their needs are being met through an exchange of trust.

Daphne Francois

2022-05-19 13:52:31 UTC

1. Kim consistently and frequently checked for understanding, focus and clarifications about the directions.

2. She made sure that the students were all on the same page and used low stakes approaches for responses and risk-taking. The students anonymously provided their answers on whiteboards, used appropriate hand gestures like thumbs up and thumbs down or clapped. Also she used the think pair-share technique to decrease tension and/or nerves when a student responds. Think pair-share also increases students' confidence to volunteer an answer.

3. I would liked to have seen her provide more time for asking questions. The students could benefit from practicing how to ask clarifying questions in order to strengthen articulation skills.

Kenneth Rosenthal

2022-05-19 16:13:20 UTC

Teacher made a personal connection. She asked students to give examples of when they are dependable. In their responses, the students had an opportunity to use the target vocabulary. Not only this, but the students engaged in a turn and talk, allowing them to work collaboratively and to solidify the target language in their oral language.

She also chunked the learning target for students. This is excellent for students who need smaller units of texts to process effectively.

After she led the choral reading of the learning target, she gave a visual access point by adding the "historical figure" and "dependable" cards directly under the learning target.

Something I'd do to strengthen this teacher's practice would be to add some visuals of the target language. This could be a drawing of the historical figure, a visual representation of the vocabulary word, as well as a written sentence highlighting the word in use. I'd also provide a sentence frame for students who need some support in starting their thinking.

Arianna Ortiz

2022-05-19 17:56:54 UTC

Teacher utilized UDL and made sure the lesson plan was approachable to all of her students in the classroom. The lesson plan was culturally relevant and students were able to refer back to their lived experiences to enhance the lesson plan objectives. The teacher also provided plenty of visuals and utilized a lot of repetition to help cement student understanding.

The question prompts helped ignite critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The visual learners in the classroom were appreciative of all of the visuals provided, and it eliminated a barrier to learning / retaining the information.

However, a video would have been a useful classroom tool so that students could better understand how endoderms work. Crash Course on Youtube is a really helpful free site that teaches difficult science topics in a really culturally-relevant way.

Luereta Sealey

lsealey2 — 2022-05-19 21:35:22 UTC

Lisa Brathwaite

2022-05-19 23:30:18 UTC

The teacher was very strong in keeping the students engaged. She use several instructional approaches for students to meet the objective of the lesson. Build on background knowledge by having the students make real life connections. Accountable talk using academic language. Students also use the turn and talk strategy so that all students can share their thinking or understanding.
One thing that I suggest would be more visuals and videos to support english language learners and visual learners.

Allison Rigney MOD84

2022-05-19 23:46:43 UTC

I think this teacher had a lot of strong instructional practices. She clearly had good rapport with the students and called each student by name, thanking them for their contributions. There is a strong classroom community and students felt comfortable sharing their thoughts. She also activated students' prior knowledge by connecting back to the previous days' content and lesson. Also giving students the space and time to think about these big questions, both during the agree/disagree activity and during the bystander discussion, helps make content more meaningful for all students.

A suggestion I would give to this teacher to make a more inclusive lesson would be to slow down her instruction at the beginning. I think making the directions clear and having them on the board would have made the agree/disagree activity more accessible. Also allow students time to think and write down their answers prior to the activity could have reduced anxiety and allowed students to know what was coming next. I know for my class, I need to give them time to process questions before asking them to share out responses. Including an option for students who may have difficulty moving or standing is also a key piece of making this more inclusive.

Cara McGonagle

2022-05-20 00:28:15 UTC

One strong instructional approach I noticed is how the teacher helped students define and unpack the meaning of the word Dependable. From the beginning by having the students repeat words back and pausing to define vocabulary she was involving the students and having them participate in the instruction and definition. In this way she kept the instruction interactive and engaging. I especially appreciated how the teacher asked the students to come up with real life connections for how they define and understand the word dependable. Using turn and talk to prompt discussion between the students before then coming back to the group for discussion further engages students and keeps them active in the lesson. These different ways of making connections and encouraging engagement make the material more accessible to all students.

One suggestion I might offer is to slow down some parts of the lesson to allow students to process the information that they are being given. If possible, it also would have been nice to offer an option that didn’t rely so heavily on reading comprehension alone and instead there were another way for students to build on their vocabulary.

Nelleke Dennis

2022-05-20 02:42:22 UTC

The teacher had the student role play transactions at a trading post. She provided the students with realistic objects/ realia authentic to the times. For example, some of the students were trading blankets for a pan. This method supports students' vocabulary development; English Language Learners would benefit significantly from this teaching method.

One suggestion I have for the teacher is to have assigned turn and talk buddies. Then, the students would be able to get up and move a little to find their partner. Perhaps one option would be for the students to stand up to talk, as some students benefit from an opportunity to move.

Valerie Ramos

2022-05-20 09:57:28 UTC

What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson?

The instructor conducted frequent checks for student understanding. She has all of the students repeat the question after her and reviews the vocabulary words that they may struggle to understand.

Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs? She does not assume that they all remember the vocabulary. She has the question written on the board and the class reads the question out loud. Students who learn visually and through reading have this option to refer to while completing the assignment. Students who aren’t as strong with learning through reading have been read the question out loud and the vocabulary was reviewed.

What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson? She has the class raise their hand to answer her questions in a group setting and she called on students who raised their hand the quickest. Students who take longer to process the question may feel left behind as the question has been answered and the class has moved on.

Corinne Grant

2022-05-20 11:32:44 UTC

1. What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson?
The instructor uses a variety of ways to check students for understanding. She uses turn and talks but then asks a few students to share out. The first task is using a character trait that is easily defined. Then the task difficulty increases because the students have to look at a text for evidence.

Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs? I think it is because it allows for students to ease into a more challenging task. They are also given support by working with another student.

2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?
It was difficult to see, but I'm not sure if the teacher was using some type of graphic organizer when she was writing down student ideas, but it would be helpful to model this with the entire group.

Corinne Grant

2022-05-20 11:45:04 UTC

1. What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson?
The teacher starts out by allowing students to solve the equation the way it "best fits their brain" This takes a lot of stress away for students. Then using the rest of the discussion to allow for students to share their solutions. This exposes students to new ways of solving and can allow for them to learn more efficient ways of solving equations.

Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?
I might have students rehearse sharing their ideas with a partner first before calling students to share in front of the entire class.

2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?

I was surprised that I didn't see any students or groups with reference sheets. Some students might benefit by having a step by step reminder of how to solve a multi-step equation. Some students might need a hundreds chart or multiplication chart. Or some might benefit from a different method for multiplication.

Corinne Grant

2022-05-20 11:55:34 UTC

1. What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson?
The teacher reviewed the previous lesson before jumping into the current one.

I also like that before jumping into groups, the teacher has students work during their "private think time".

Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?

I think this approach allows for all students to work on a problem and prevents students from checking out of the work if they were to just go right into groups. Holding everyone accountable. This time also gives the teacher the opportunity to check in with a few students that might need some additional support.

2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?
I would have student not just share orally, but have a way for them to show their thinking in front of the class for students.

Corinne Grant

2022-05-20 12:05:27 UTC

1. What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson?
The teacher kept the class energy high by using call and response, rhymes, acting out vocabulary, hands on materials and images. This class looks like a fun place to learn!

Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?
The teacher has her entire lesson adapted to support all learners and this allows for high engagement.

2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?
Towards the end, students are still having a bit of trouble remembering vocabulary terms. I might suggest having all vocabulary for the lesson posted on the wall where student can refer to them.

Corinne Grant

2022-05-20 12:16:33 UTC

1. What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson?

I enjoyed how she started the lesson. I think this is a strong instructional approach because everyone had to participate by moving or not moving.
Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?
This movement can be helpful to maintain focus for some students.

2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?
I would have two suggestions. One, I think the teacher was calling on students very quickly. I'd say she could have given a little more wait time. Another, when students were asked to recall details from the text from the previous day, maybe allow for them to have the text or give them a few minutes to write down their responses before sharing out.

Kristen Greene

2022-05-20 13:44:09 UTC

Teacher created a learning environment where students were reminded of the expectations/outcome of the lesson.
She used the vocabulary to connect with real life examples to tap in to students' prior knowledge and experiences.
She used pairing of students according to student's strategic learning styles. (eg; student unable to decode withh one who can)

Thank You kamini

inclusive practices

2022-05-20 13:46:13 UTC

I would include more writing to cover the four domains Reading Writing listening and speaking.
kamini

Israel Madrigal

2022-05-20 14:15:07 UTC

1. I liked how the teacher offered multiple option for her students to solve the problems on the board. She was not stuck on one way of doing but cared more on how the students were able to do the work in the best manner that she could. I also think she did a good job hovering around the students to observe the student's thought process and use that to improve the way she can teach the lesson in the future. I believed her using a student to demonstrate her method of solving the problem was also strong.

2. One thing she can work on is working in small groups. I believe she should have pulled aside the kids she knows are struggling a little bit more then the other kids and taking a bit more time to help them solve the problem.

Natasha Pena

2022-05-20 15:45:41 UTC

1. She used a students answer to help build vocabulary. "What do you mean slope?"
She also uses prior knowledge to help engage students to the task. She also adds independent think time before allowing students to join in their group work.These are both helpful in aiding students learn because both allow students to recall prior information and synthesize independently to then work in groups. This allows for collaboration in class which promotes learning for students with diverse needs.
2. A suggestion I would like to add is adding a rubric for the classwork so students are clearer. She can also incorporate an exit ticket that would allow her to also receive feedback.

Daiane Antonio

2022-05-20 22:47:35 UTC

_{1. What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson? Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?}

_{This approach is particularly helpful for meeting students' diverse needs because the teacher uses the five elements of Formative Assessment. I found it very interesting how the instructor took the focus on dependability and had the students think about and share ways in which they are dependable in real life for their families. Also, peer discussion was a great tool. In my opinion, this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs as during peer discussions students bring up their diverse backgrounds to the discussions. Students will have different contributions to the topic as they may bring their cultural backgrounds and how they are dependable in their culture.}

_{2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?}

_{My suggestion for this specific educator would be to have more visuals (pictures, webs, bigger word cards, etc.), mainly with young learners.}

Heather Kissel

2022-05-21 03:28:46 UTC

I. The teacher uses a topic that's relevant and of interest to the students, music and CDs. This is helpful because it increases student engagement because it's authentic and has value for the students. She also has the students work collaboratively and this is beneficial because sharing ideas with other students and hearing their ideas can further their understanding of the content.

II. The teacher could have activated students' prior knowledge a bit more and she also could have had students more kinesthetically active in the lesson.

James Cordero

2022-05-21 15:53:31 UTC

What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson? Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?

I find the teachers use of multiple groups and multiple displays of information (visual, auditory, etc) allowed students to be stimulated in different manners. The teacher regularly reminded students that they were expected to participate and engage, and students responded to the teacher's whole-group and individual prompts for engagement. This student engagement is key to a successful lesson.

What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?

I would recommend a more objective formative assessment than the student self-assessments. Perhaps an exit ticket or even a journal where the teacher looks at students' work and marks whether they are appropriately ready for the next phase of the lesson, to ensure students are able to cover the content.

Justin Putland

2022-05-22 18:24:39 UTC

One strong instructional approach from the 5th Grade Math teacher is that she was able to provide frequent and varied feedback and positive reinforcements to student responses. Throughout the class, the teacher checked for understanding from the students. They are able to demonstrate their understanding through simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down, and where able to show their work on whiteboards.
I believe that providing frequent and varied feedback and positive reinforcements to student response is helpful in meeting students diverse needs. In the video clip, the teacher frequently pauses the class and checks for understanding. This results in the teacher being able to provide those who are still unclear the opportunity to gather a better understanding. Using this strategy results in the class working at the same pace.
One suggestion I would give to strengthen inclusive practice would be to have more scaffolding and support provided to students with disabilities. This could be in the form of manipulatives and/or a separate sheet of paper with various strategies on how to solve the problems available to those students who need it.

Priscilla Lau

2022-05-23 02:32:00 UTC

1. What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson?

The teacher had the students do physical movements while explaining/recalling certain scientific facts or processes. They teacher also had the students make a worm with clay.

Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?
It helps students access the information through multiple modalities and would especially help students who are more kinesthetic learners.

2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?
Rather than asking all the students to share out their answers in unison, the teacher could call on individual students to gather more information about whether students understood/remembered since asking the entire class at once makes it hard to evaluate whether they're hearing the same voices again and again and may not be representative of what each individual knows.

One strong instructional practice observed in this video was giving the students a choice. By asking them to move to agree or disagree with statements, she's including all students, moving them around and most importantly letting them listen and learn from their classmates. Answers were given based on each students reflection and experiences making a real world connection to the content. One suggestion I may have make this a more inclusive practice first introduce the topic, supply basic vocabulary words and definitions and added more visuals.

2022-05-24 16:32:16 UTC

Kristin O'Brien MOD 84

Marta Fernandes

2022-05-25 18:31:05 UTC

Strength:
Clear expectations: she clearly set up the task and students knew what was to be expected
engagement: relevant topic and provided for multiple modes of engaging (answer questions out loud, create a poster, work on your own first)

recommendation:
It seemed like she answered the same question a bunch of times, she could've brought the group together to clarify before sending them to work in groups.

Torrence Nelson

2022-06-01 04:56:05 UTC

1. What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson?

I liked how the teacher allows them to solve the equation using a way that best fit them. It encourages the student to be confident in making decisions about their learning. It appears this was recorded towards the middle or end of the school year since there were a lot of anchor charts and vocabulary posted in the classroom. Which tells me that she has taught multiple ways to approach math.

Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?

It encourages the student to be confident in making decisions about their learning. We use scientist circles and I sometimes allow the students pre-write answers to the questions we would cover in the circle. During the circle they would be able to elaborate on their written response.

2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?

The teacher could've provided a bit more support to students that were struggling with the math problem. She could've also created a small group as well.

David Green

2023-01-03 18:47:29 UTC

What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson? Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?

---> The teacher used a variety of methods to present the information to the students, including using sentence starters, providing think and writing time, and using verbal and physical demonstrations. She asks a lot of guiding questions to keep the students engaged and on-task, while also asking students to explain their own thinking.
She connects the lesson to high-interest topics such as music, and this clearly stimulates student interest. She also circulates around the class, offering feedback during independent work.

2. What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?
----> The teacher could give students more specific answers about ways they could improve. The presentation also could have included more visual representation of some items, like peas and carrots. An assumption was made that all students know what those are, but some level 1 ELs might not be familiar with that vocabulary.

Shannon Cronin

2023-01-06 22:23:21 UTC

I like how the teacher began with the students reciting the objective. The students actively knowing the objective is really important, because when it comes to showing what they know, they know exactly what the teacher's expectations are even before the lesson begins.

She then connected the lesson to real life experiences. This is something is especially important for students because we make sense of things based off our schemas and our prior knowledge. If the student can make a connection to something that has happened to them, they are more likely to make sense of the overall lesson. Real world connections are the "why?" to teaching.. why do we care? Why is this important or valuable to me as a student?

After the lesson, the teacher then circles back to the objective. This is good for both the students and the teacher, as the teacher is checking comprehension of the lesson and the students are reinforcing what they've learned.

2nd GRADE Vocabulary

2023-01-10 23:53:13 UTC

Jacqueline Moore
The strong instruction approach I observed in the 2nd grade vocabulary lesson encourages student collaboration.

In the video, the teacher creates a more inclusive classroom environment by encouraging student collaboration as it helps to accommodate diverse learners.
When children have an opportunity to collaborate with their peers, they easily engage with content and concepts of others, thus they can understands the perspective of other students.
This apporach helps meet students' diverse needs and offers a supportative environment. Additionally, students can develop effective commuincation and problem solving skills when they engage in joint activities. Encouraging students collaboration helps students to share ideas and experiences, which can increase understanding and knowledge of concepts and content.
The teacher should use more individualized instruction assists students in gaining control over their learning.

Win Some Joy

2023-02-01 18:01:23 UTC

Active thinking is an awesome skill that is displayed in this class. The students are also learning to self-advocate. It is important to teach our students how to express their ideas clearly and effectively. Its also great to hear the ideas and reasoning of others, especially if you don't agree with them. Engaging students with ideas that effect their personal lives is a great starter to a meaningful lesson.

Elizabeth Stenson

2023-02-03 21:16:22 UTC

I observed a few strong instructional approaches in this lesson. One being that she had all the students chat amongst themselves about how they are dependable at home. This makes the kids engaged and all very comfortable to answer the question she asked rather than calling randomly on one child in the group to answer on spot. I think this is important because it takes away the scary feeling kids have of being called on and not knowing what to say. You hear a lot of kids calling out answers confidently when it’s time to answer. It shows many of the students were more comfortable and engaged in this lesson.

One suggestion I would give would be to provide more visuals. The lesson on the board looked very dry and boring for such young kids. I think if it were more vibrant and had more pictures on it, students would be more engaged!

Dexter George

2023-03-16 06:53:18 UTC

She worked with the kids as a group. the children worked together and shared their thoughts on certain topics. The teacher also used visual aids such as the paper on the board and projector. At the same time the teacher went over vocabulary words and allowed other children come up with their own definition of words. For example one child stated that dependable is also had the same meaning as trustworthy. Teacher did not seem to have to use any special devices fro kids speech or hearing. Overall she did a good job and also allowed the children to review their work to see if they understood the material.

Diana Fortes

2023-03-19 15:22:52 UTC

One strong instructional approach is the teacher gives the students the option to use the box method or the standard algorithm to solve the multi-digit multiplication problem. She encourages the students to use the best strategy that works for them, she says, “which ever works best for your brain”. Teaching the students multiple strategies promotes confidence in that the students use the strategy that resonates with them while exploring other strategies. It is also clear that students have been introduced to test taking strategies particularly process of elimination. As students work out the problem they are able to eliminate the answers they know are incorrect based on their work, increasing the chance of selecting the correct answer.

One suggestion I would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this classroom is to allow the students to check in with an elbow partner or with their group before opening it up to the whole class. In this way students that were not able to complete the problems independently can work with their partner or group to complete the problem.

Lisabel Asuncion Mod '94

2023-07-17 02:57:46 UTC

What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson? Why do you think this approach is particularly helpful for meeting students’ diverse needs?

Biology is filled with vocabulary and scientific terms, and students will come across unfamiliar and difficult vocabulary. The teacher did an excellent job emphasizing prefixes and suffixes, so students are able to recognize patterns in the words' meanings. Recognizing meanings of suffixes and prefixes helps students strengthen their literacy, especially for students who are English language learners or students who struggle with learning vocabulary.
Overall, the teacher was very engaging! She would ask students to repeat key terms out loud, she would provide feedback in the moment, and she would encourage students to pronounce difficult vocabularies.

What’s one suggestion you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?

I don’t have much to suggest to the teacher, I know this lesson was probably from years ago. The technology nowadays has advanced where I can show more visuals of a worms’ coelom (videos, microscope images).

P.S. I watched this video years ago and it really influenced my teaching style!

Carolina Londono

2023-12-07 05:14:24 UTC

The teacher used many instructional approaches, she went over the meaning of the word. There were connections made about how students are dependable at home for a better understanding. This meets students diverse needs for those who need additional supports to understand s concept or idea better. Students were in groups of 2 for peer sharing to share how Mary Musgrove was dependable according to the text she had selected for them. The acting out activity was great for student engagement. One suggestion I would give would be to use more visuals for the students who are more of visual learners.

Evelyne Day 2nd grade

2023-12-26 22:41:01 UTC

In this lesson, the teacher use many strategies to build students understanding. she unpacked the standard, reading the learning objectives with her students to check for understanding while building academic vocabulary. Students were able to make real world to text connection.There was real involvement engagement with peers. Students had the opportunity to practice building social studies concepts.

One suggestion, I would include more visuals, a video of the story, vocabulary cards with pictures to make the content more accessible to all learners.

Suzanne Mathews One strong instructional approach that I saw was unpacking the standard to make it more accessible for the students. The teacher also encouraged students to connect the concept with their own lives. There were clear behavioral expectations in place and routines already established.

2024-01-14 19:40:38 UTC

Suggestions for improvement would be to spend some time with the vocabulary. I did not hear her discuss the meaning of dependable or how dependable is one form of the characteristic of dependability. I also did not observe her offering tiered interventions or supports for students who might have needed them.

I was glad that there was a more interactive and engaging part of the lesson with the freeze frame activity, but sorry that we didn't get to see it introduced and carried out.

Jenna Snow

2024-01-16 18:20:34 UTC

The teacher provided clear expectation/example of what intended learning outcomes where for the whole class prior to beginning instruction. Teacher broke down some of the more complex vocabulary and concepts down into smaller component skills as well as pointing out student knowledge in other areas. The teacher also wrote vocabulary words on bright strips of paper introducing the vocabulary word in written and verbal format. She also said the word and allowed all students to repeat it before moving on in the lesson.

Suggestion: Although this teacher did a good job of breaking down a complex task and maintaining whole class attention, there was still an awful lot of language being used. For example, the statement she read aloud to the class about the learning goal was rather long. The teacher also spoke very quickly. I think it would be helpful to incorporate some visual supports into this lesson as well as provide more pauses to allow for processing time.

Duwayne Anderson

2024-01-20 00:20:59 UTC

The teacher did a whole class review on the standard that they were learning. She then included defining vocabulary to make sure each student knew what "demonstrate' meant. She also made sure they understood the word dependable. The turn and talk is a great way to have dialogue for students to share with their peers.

One suggestion i would make is instead of having student read and then present verbally in whole group, i would have the student read the sections and write their views independently, share in peers, and each group create their own response to the question.

Kristine Isaac

2024-01-20 00:30:23 UTC

Some strong instructional approach that I observed in the lesson was the teacher presented the curriculum content through multiple means and provided scaffolds and support for metacognitive processing. Also, providing frequent and varied feedback and positive reinforcements to student responses, and providing multiple and varied options for student communication and expression. This is very crucial for meeting all students’ diverse needs because students learn in different ways, and having information presented in a variety of ways will allow students the ability to access the curriculum. Some students are visual learners, some are auditory learners, and some are kinesthetic learners. The instructional approach met all of those learning needs.

One suggestion I would give to strengthen the inclusive practice in this lesson would be to allow students to share their responses in different ways. Some students might not be able to express their thoughts verbally but are amazing at writing out their thoughts. Some students might benefit from drawing out the responses. Some students might benefit from having fill in the blank sentences, sentence frames, and/or word sorts they can use to create enriched sentences.

Jordyn Arnel

2024-01-21 14:27:00 UTC

What is one strong instructional approach that you observed in the lesson?

This teacher use multiple means of engagement so that every student was able to participate in the lesson in some way. Engagement did not end after students finished solving the problem independently. The teacher maintained student attention through demonstrating understanding with a thumbs up/down, asking them to agree/disagree, explain the work of the student demonstrating the problem.

What's one suggestions you would give to strengthen inclusive practice in this lesson?

My main suggestion to strengthen inclusive practice is provide more think time. This lesson was very fast-paced, and many students' brains do not process that quickly. Additionally, using a timer to indicate how much time students had to solve the initial problem may have alleviated some of the stress students felt when time was up and they had not finished the problem.

Michaela Burke MOD 99

2024-02-27 21:04:44 UTC

Strong instructional approach:

use of turn and talk to get all students thinking and sharing before calling on some students to share ideas aloud.
Connecting lesson/learning objective to real life - having students think about the key vocabulary word in relation to themselves to prepare them for the lesson which helps students better understand the word's meaning as well as remember their job throughout the lesson.

Suggestions:

More checks for understanding, such as after telling them and having them repeat back the learning objective - could have helped kids internalize their job by having them say their job in their own words and get multiple kids to say that aloud before continuing lesson.
Turn and talk partners pre-planned or immediate teacher direction to avoid stragglers who can't/don't get a partner right away.

Zachary Maloof

2024-02-28 17:54:52 UTC

One approach that this teacher used that I thought was deliberate in addressing the diverse learning needs of her students was that she allowed the students to solve the problem using two different methods. She used the phrase "Whatever works best for your brain." Not only does this empower the student to make their own choice based on how they learn, but it also normalizes the idea verbally that all students' brains are different. This is important for students to hear from an early age. Difference is a good thing, and just because somebody learns differently than somebody else or finds that one method of solving a problem is easier than another does not mean that they are not as smart as somebody else.

One suggestion that I would give is to model the second method that she mentioned on the board. I think she did a great job of allowing a student to model their work on the board using the box method, but she should have also given a student who used standard arithmetic to show how they got their final answer as well. This would further highlight that both methods are valid.

Megan Pagan

2024-02-29 22:42:54 UTC

The teacher used a lot of repetition to make sure the students understood what they were learning. She gave them a goal of examples to look for so that they could focus on the text easier. The children were able to work together in groups to better understand the work.

To strengthen the lesson I would suggest more visuals on the board for the students.

Katharyn Burke MOD 102

kburke2_20 — 2024-03-12 17:39:26 UTC

One thing I noticed about the teacher's approach to the lesson was her continuous reference to the standard and how it related to what students were looking for. I feel it made the goal more accessible for all students because they knew what to expect with every step, and had multiple ways and opportunities to express their understanding. The teacher also made that standard/expectation/goal more accessible at the start of her class by breaking it down, reviewing the meaning of "demonstrate," and identifying which aspects of the lesson related to the standard (who the historical figure was, Mary Musgrove, and the positive citizenship traits they would specifically look for: dependability).

I think this is effective in meeting students' needs because her consistent reference gives students the opportunity to connect with the goal multiple times and in multiple ways. Part of the activity worked with partners or small groups, and included reading, responding, discussions, and kinesthetic as they did the freeze frame activity.

One suggestion I would have would be to help activate background knowledge by showing a short recap video on Mary Musgrove. For students who are more visual or auditory learners, it can give them an opportunity to better understand the situation they are going to read about.

Ashley Guerrero

2024-03-14 13:24:47 UTC

Kim is a 5th grade math teacher and she has 23 students, she puts them in different groups and gives them tools to show their learning by using different algorithms to get a answer to a certain problem. She walked around the room and was able to see how many students used methods that supported their learning.

8th Grade Math

2024-05-05 23:15:31 UTC

Strong instructional approaches:

The teacher got all the students to use what they had learned the day before by asking questions, and using background knowledge. She provided different options for students by working alone and then discussing their answers with the group they were in. I believe this scaffolding helps lower level students see how higher level students are thinking, and check to see if they got similar answers. One way to strengthen this inclusive lesson would be to allow students to use chrome books or laptops to answer questions. For example, thee students could graph 2 points and show what the slope and unit rate are with these 2 other forms. (points and graphs)

Tyrone Calloway

2024-05-05 23:17:28 UTC

8th grade Math

Sorry the last post was made by me

2026-03-29 11:47:13 UTC

Examples in the classroom was how the teacher practices inclusivity was in the ways she connected information about the subject of the book to prior knowledge and how it connected to the children themselves. In asking the students how they are dependable at home with their families it made a solid connection to the text about Mary Muskgrove. Having the students turn and talk to each other solicited ideas that they could share. Also, the use of thumbs up instead of raising hands helped the teacher see who was ready to share without drawing attention to those that weren't ready yet. I like this practice. Reading out the standard word for word also was a great way to teach and be sure that the students were understanding the assignment. The teacher made so many connections to the lesson and content that it was easy to follow along and know what was expected of them for the students.

I'm not sure the video provided enough insight into whether the teacher was checking in with certain groups that could be struggling. I would suggest using a visual graphic organizer on the board for students that needed that visual support instead of just the word dependable.

2026-05-14 14:52:45 UTC

I thought the classroom teacher did a good job of giving student options as to how the could solve the multiplication problem. Allowing the student to choose between the box method or standard algorithm gave students options to express their knowledge in a way that makes sense to them. As the class went over the problem afterwards, and one student who used box method solved the problem at the board in front of the class, I thought it may have been helpful for another student to solve the same problem using standard algorithm. This way, students could see why one method might work better than another depending on the equation.

I also thought the use of groups to solve problems was a good idea. This way, students can work together to solve problems, and students who need extra help can turn to their peers, rather than the teacher

Maegan Maloney Mod 118

2026-05-14 15:45:16 UTC

One thing I liked in the second grade lesson was how the teacher connected the topic to the students’ own lives before starting the reading. Having students talk about ways they are dependable made the lesson feel more meaningful and helped students understand the idea better. I think this also helped different learners participate because everyone could relate to the discussion in their own way.

Maegan Maloney MOD118

2026-05-14 15:46:32 UTC

One thing I liked in the fifth grade lesson was how the teacher showed different ways to solve the math problems instead of only using one method. The teacher also stopped to reteach when students seemed confused and had students explain their thinking to partners. I think this helped support different learners because students could use the strategy that made the most sense to them.

Maegan Maloney MOD 118

2026-05-14 15:47:29 UTC

One thing I liked in the eighth grade lesson was how the teacher gave students time to think on their own before moving into group discussion. The teacher also kept asking students to explain how they got their answers instead of just saying whether they were right or wrong. I think this helped support different learners because students had multiple chances to process the information and hear different ways of thinking from their classmates.

Maegan Maloney MOD 118

2026-05-14 16:09:48 UTC

One thing I liked in this lesson was how hands-on and interactive it was. The teacher had students use movement, repetition, and clay models to help explain difficult science vocabulary and concepts. I think this was really helpful for different learners because students were not just listening to a lecture — they were physically building and seeing the concepts as they learned them.

Maegan Maloney MOD 118

2026-05-14 16:11:41 UTC

One thing I liked in the tenth grade lesson was how the teacher used discussion, movement, and real-world connections to get students involved in the topic before starting the lesson. Students were able to share opinions, move to different sides of the room, and connect the material to current issues and personal experiences. I think this helped support different learners because students had multiple ways to participate and engage with the content instead of only listening to a lecture.