Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness Effective strategies for responding to student needs

Elements of Component 3E- Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness Lesson Adjustment Response to Student Needs Persistence Intervention and Enrichment

Lesson Adjustment DefinitionExample Teachers are able to make both minor and major adjustments to a lesson when needed. Such adjustments depend on a teacher’s store of alternate instructional strategies and the confidence to make a shift. A science teacher has passed out passages to students about a scientific issue with differing points of view. Students are asked to pick one point of view and develop a supporting argument for their point of view. The new science vocabulary is accompanied by definitions, but the teacher realizes that the students are unable to decipher many other unfamiliar, complex words in the passage, and are therefore having a difficult time developing an argument. The teacher stops the activity and does a quick mini-lesson, modeling how to use context clues to define unknown vocabulary, before students are asked to continue. Guiding Questions During a lesson, what indicates that I need to make an adjustment? How do I adjust the lesson when students indicate they need supports other than what I planned? Can I plan for this lesson adjustment in any way? How do I use student questions to inform the trajectory of the lesson?

Response to Student Needs DefinitionExample Occasionally during a lesson, an unexpected event will occur, which presents a true “teachable moment.” It is a mark of considerable teacher skill to be able to capitalize on such opportunities. Returning from lunch, a student notices that the beaker of water that was used earlier in the day for a science lesson looks less full than it was previously. The teacher takes hypotheses from students to explain the phenomenon, asks them to think of other places where they have seen this occur (e.g. puddles), and introduces students to the concept of evaporation. Guiding Questions How do I determine whether to follow up on a student’s interest during a lesson? What are some stock responses I can draw from if a student gives a response that is irrelevant to the topic at hand?

Persistence DefinitionExample Committed teachers don’t give up easily when students encounter difficulty in learning, which all students do at some point. These teachers seek alternate approaches to help their students be successful. In these efforts, teachers display a keen sense of efficacy. A student does not understand the concept of multiplication after 2-3 strategies have been tried. The teacher conducts a one-on-one interview with the student centered on the student’s work samples to determine student misconceptions. The teacher then modifies the approach to address the misconception. In addition, the teacher has the student work with peers on the modified approach. Guiding Questions When students are having unexpected difficulty with a task or discussion, how do I find other ways to reach the students? How do I support and guide students so that they want to stick with tasks and improve their performance?

Intervention and Enrichment DefinitionExample Teachers can use information gathered from other sources or formative assessments to gauge which students need additional support or increased rigor, and are able to meet their needs. A high school geometry teacher structures his math block to include daily intervention and extension activities after the lesson, providing the teacher with ample time to work intensively with students who need additional help reinforcing or learning embedded objectives, and time for students to increase the rigor of their work by performing extension activities. Guiding Questions How do I meet the needs of learners who show they need additional supports? Do I meet the needs of students who are advanced and need enrichment work beyond what other students are receiving? How? How do I vary my differentiation strategies to best support all students?

Proficient vs. Distinguished ProficientDistinguished Teacher regularly uses formative assessment during instruction to monitor student progress and to check for understanding of student learning. Teacher uses questions/prompts/ assessments for evidence of learning. Students can explain the criteria by which their work will be assessed; some of them engage in self-assessment. Teacher provides accurate and specific feedback to individual students that advance learning. Formative assessment is fully integrated into instruction, to monitor student progress, and to check for understanding of student learning. Teacher uses questions/prompts/assessments to evaluate evidence of learning. Students can explain, and there is some evidence that they have contributed to, the criteria by which their work will be assessed. Students self-assess and monitor their progress. Teacher and peers provide individual students a variety of feedback that is accurate, specific, and advances learning.

Flexibility and Responsiveness Abandoning the Lesson Plan Go with the Flow

Reflection: Teachable Moments? They are listening?-Youtube