A1: Becoming familiar with
relevant aspects of students’ background knowledge and experiences
The personal timeline on the right is a good example of how I work to become familiar with students' background
and experiences while adhering to the overarching curriculum goals. In my METS U.S. History class, one of the mastery
objectives is for students to be able to read a timeline. By having students create their own personal timelines, the
social studies skill of timeline reading becomes real and useful to them. At the same time, students are able
to share part of their lives with their classmates and me. I learned a lot about my students from this activity.
MCPS: Providing prompt and specific feedback
to students on their work and progress toward goals
On the right is a handwritten note from the ESOL resource teacher at Julius West. She mentioned several points
in her note including how promptly I give my students feedback. After a test or quiz, I work hard to give students their
results quickly, usually the next day. When I give verbal feedback or when I write comments on my students' work, I
am as specific as possible in my choice of words.
MCPS:
Planning instruction that is consistently reflective of overarching curriculum goals and state and local student learning
objectives
In my ESOL 1 class, students created posters to describe themselves using the verb "to be." The "I am..." poster
on the right is one student's work for this assignment. This activity was beneficial for several reasons. First,
students were able to successfully achieve one of the objectives of the unit by using the first person form of "to be."
Second, students were able to use the language in an interesting and personally relevant manner. Third, students
were able to learn appropriate ways to introduce themselves--a useful skill when speaking any language. For this task,
students worked in pairs to check and correct each other's sentences, providing yet more practice with the language.
Not only did students have to speak with their partners in English, but they had to speak about the quality of the writing.
Finally, students had to present their posters to their classmates. The posters themselves helped students to introduce
themselves to their peers. This activity provided me another window into the lives of my students. I was able
to learn about some of their likes and hobbies while adhering to overarching MCPS goals for students at this level.
C5: Using instructional time effectively
The picture below is the job listing for two classes in my room. There are various jobs in the classroom (passing
out books, collecting homework, sharpening pencils, etc), and this job listing shows the students' weekly job assignments.
The job listing saves time and discussion of who is doing what job. By delegating responsibiltiies to the students,
I am able to make class time more efficient by focusing more on my lesson and less on administrative duties like passing out
papers.
