Task 1e - Planning Commentary

Elementary Mathematics for Washington
Planning Commentary
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Planning Commentary Directions: Respond to the prompts below (no more than 11 single-spaced
pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not
delete or alter the prompts; both the prompts and your responses are included in the total page count al-
lowed. Refer to the evidence chart in the handbook to ensure that this document complies with all format
specifications. Pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored.
1. Central Focus
a. Describe the central focus and purpose for the content you will teach in the learning
segment.
[My lesson segment is centered around place value and, more specifically, comparing and or-
dering two-digit numbers based on the groups of tens and ones. The purpose of these lessons
is to help students begin to grasp the concept that all numbers are represented in groups of tens
and ones and their values can easily be compared when we are able to quickly look first at the
digit in the tens place and then refer to the digit in the ones place. These are important skills for
students to have because they will encounter problems in ordering and comparing numbers
every day of their lives. As my students grow and need to buy groceries, for example, they will
need to be able to compare costs of different brands or types of an item to buy the cheapest
option. Because of these lessons and others that will build on these, my students will be able to
navigate these real-life problems.
Each lesson builds on the previous lesson to support what students learned the day be-
fore, as well as to deepen, expand and build into new knowledge. I build on each days lesson
by conducting a short review at the beginning of each lesson and asking students to recall what
we learned the previous day and how that lesson relates to the current days lesson.]
b. Given the central focus, describe how the standards and learning targets within your
learning segment address
conceptual understanding
procedural fluency
mathematical reasoning OR problem-solving skills
[The standards and learning targets I used in my lesson plans address conceptual understand-
ing as students think critically to develop real-life examples of the necessity to learn the mathe-
matical concepts. Students conceptual understanding also deepens as we use pictorial repre-
sentations of the concepts during the instruction and practice portions of the lesson and while
students discuss the learning targets with each other in partners and with the whole class.
The standards and learning targets within my learning segment address procedural flu-
ency as I emphasize practicing the procedures. For example, a variation of activity is repeated
multiple times to provide students many opportunities of practice. In Lesson 3, my students
have numeral cards and are tasked to order themselves from least to greatest numerals without
talking. As we switch students and numbers to repeat the activity, my students build fluency in
the procedure rather than memorizing specific numbers and their position in relation to other
specific numbers.
The learning targets in within my learning segment address mathematical reasoning as
multiple students are asked at multiple points in the lessons to describe why they are doing
what they are doing, or to explain to the class how they were able to solve the problem. As stu-
dents explain their thought process verbally to other students, they must work hard to clearly
articulate what otherwise would be done as a jumble in their minds. Students are given opportu-
nities to help other students with practice work, and this is also a fantastic strategy to increase
and evaluate conscious mathematical reasoning.]
Planning Commentary
c. Explain how your plans build on each other to help students make connections between
facts, concepts, computations/procedures, AND mathematical reasoning or problem
solving strategies to deepen their learning of mathematics.
[My plans build on each other by including and reviewing the same vocabulary terms so stu-
dents are able to see and use the terms in a larger and varied context. I help students make
connections between facts as we begin the lesson segment by learning the tens and ones place
values and how to represent these place values using unit cubes and pictures. Then students
take these representations and move into more conceptual practice rather than visual practice.
(Of course, my English language learner, low performing, and IEP students continue to use vis-
uals as a support to represent the more abstract concepts.)
The procedures gradually increase in difficulty as students begin by simply writing and
comparing two numbers, then move to writing, comparing, and ordering up to six numbers.
Once we began working with five to six numbers, students had already spent two days practic-
ing comparing two numbers. This demonstrates a gradual and developmentally appropriate
progression of difficulty.
The mathematical reasoning I required of my students in the beginning of my lesson
segment was much simpler than what I asked of them by the third lesson. In early lessons, I
simply asked my students to demonstrate how they knew what they knew by representing or
explaining it the best they could. By the third lesson, I was pushing students to use the re-
sources in the room and explain their reasoning in ways such as 15 comes before 20 on the
number line above the white board, so that means that 15 is less than 20 and thats how I knew
what to write in my student journal.]
d. How and when will you give students opportunities to express their understanding of the
learning targets and why they are important to learn?
[Students are given many opportunities throughout each lesson in the segment to express their
understanding of the learning targets and why they are important to learn. I ask students to ex-
press their understanding in a variety of ways, too. Sometimes students are asked individually in
a whole group setting, and sometimes I ask them to pair up with a friend and describe to their
friend what they are learning and why it is important. Sometimes I provided students with exam-
ples of why the learning target is important so that they could begin to think outside the box
while coming up with their own reasons. Sometimes I did not provide students with examples,
but asked them to think critically on their own to give me reasons why they need to understand
the learning segment. When I did not give students examples, I often had to elicit many re-
sponses from many students and then ask other students to build on the examples given.
I explicitly stated the learning target at the beginning of each lesson, and then asked
students right then to express their understanding to me in their own words. I asked students
again during the lesson to maintain a focus on the correct learning target, and then I asked stu-
dents again during the reflection portion of the lesson. As students explained to me what they
thought the learning targets were and the reasons why they are important to learn, I was able to
quickly gauge which students really understood and which students were not quite sure what
was happening. As I gauged these students, I was able to make necessary adjustments to the
next days lesson.]
2. Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching
For each of the prompts below (2ac), describe what you know about your students with re-
spect to the central focus of the learning segment.
Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/support
(e.g., students with IEPs, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming
students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students).
Planning Commentary
a. Prior academic learning and prerequisite skills related to the central focusWhat do
students know, what can they do, and what are they learning to do?
[My students had already had lessons introducing place value with activities that allowed them
to practice naming the digits in the tens and ones places. Because my students already knew
the basics and were able to locate tens and ones places with ease, they were ready to learn to
compare two digit numbers by first looking at the digit in the tens place, then to refer to the ones
place.
My students are also learning to speak in a mathematical context. My lessons included
vocabulary terms that some of my students already knew, but others had not heard before or
had heard but were not certain of the meaning. Learning these terms (digit, numeral, greater
than, less than, etc) as an entire class brought everyone to the same level and gave my stu-
dents the vocabulary needed to speak more descriptively about their mathematical reasoning
and the processes they used to solve problems.
My gifted students had no problems integrating the new information into their preexisting
schema. My English language learners, IEP, and underperforming students had some difficulty
with the new terms and required alternate explanations with smaller, higher frequency words
and examples. These students were also the group that had fewer prerequisite skills. While they
had prior academic exposure, my IEP and underperforming students had not yet mastered what
they were exposed to in previous lesson. For this reason, I was playing catch-up with these stu-
dents trying to solidify prior exposure while continuing to progress in new lessons.]
b. Personal/cultural/community assets related to the central focusWhat do you know
about your students everyday experiences, cultural backgrounds and practices,
and interests?
[My students are still at the age that they enjoy mathematics and have not yet had any negative
experiences. This is great because my students have very positive attitudes towards math.
Sports is a common interest and the majority of my students watch sports on TV. The examples
I use in my lessons to relate math to my students lives consist of sports and rather universal
tasks such as grocery shopping.
Most of my students are from very low socioeconomic families and communities and
their everyday experiences are quite limited and unvaried. Many of my students live in single
parent homes, have many siblings, or have parents with very limited academic skills. For these
reasons, the majority of my students live without any academic stimulation at home. Their par-
ents have good intentions, but are often unavailable or incapable of expanding on the classroom
learning environment. However, two of my most gifted students come from extremely supportive
home environments and their parents read to them and provide many opportunities at home to
advance the learning done in school. This is hugely beneficial to those students, but increases
the learning gap between the gifted students and the rest of the class.
Some of my students have very traumatic lives, and this greatly affects the learning they
are capable of in the classroom. For example, one of my students recently witnessed her puppy
be hit and killed by a bus on her way to school. Another student was removed from her parents
custody by Child Protective Services and moved to live with a foster family who made an obvi-
ous distinction between her and her 5 foster siblings. She was excluded from having hot choco-
late with her foster father and his daughter, and this was devastating to her and took up all her
attention for days. Finally this child was moved to live with other family members in another
town, and then her best friend (also in my class) was inconsolable for weeks and unable to fo-
cus on her schoolwork.
While the interests of my students vary, the definite majority of my students spend copi-
ous amounts of time playing video games and watching TV at home. Very few of my students
spend time reading at home outside of the small books required for them to read with their
Planning Commentary
parents each week. The constant stimulus they experience in video games and television are
hard to compete with, so I implemented technology in reasonable ways to provide a similar
stimulus but as part of a positive learning environment. I do this using an interactive Mimio
board that includes brightly colored, kid-friendly graphics. I also engage students by using a va-
riety of social interaction techniques sometimes students answer direct questions back to me,
sometimes I have them work in pairs and discuss the question, sometimes they will work in co-
operative desk groups, and sometimes they will work individually.
My knowledge of my students everyday experiences, cultural backgrounds and practic-
es, and interest helps me to understand my students needs and how to teach them more effec-
tively and individually. Using all this information, I have targeted the central focus of my lesson
plans to approach math in a very practical and real-life applicable manner. My students must
know that what we are learning right now today in this very math class is so important to their
lives in such a practical way that will positively effect their lives. This is the motivation that these
students need to approach mathematics with a positive, determined attitude. ]
c. Mathematical dispositions related to the central focusWhat do you know about the
extent to which your students
perceive mathematics as sensible, useful, and worthwhile
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persist in applying mathematics to solve problems
believe in their ability to learn mathematics
[My students are quite young to often state that they perceive mathematics as sensible, useful,
and worthwhile, but they demonstrate understanding of the usefulness of mathematics and its
contribution to their futures when they tell me reasons why each lesson is important. This is a
vital question to ask in each lesson, because it leads students in with the mindset that they are
working hard towards their future as they complete their math homework.
My students demonstrate their persistence in applying mathematics to solve problems
when they make subtle observations that show me they were working hard on a problem in their
minds. For example, I asked one of my gifted students to tell me which number was greater: 65
or 54. He quickly told me that 65 was greater. When I asked him how he knew this, he quickly
stood up and pointed to the number line on the wall. He proceeded to tell me that he looked at 6
and 5 first because they are in the tens place. Then he looked up on the number line and saw
that 5 came before 6 so that meant that 6 was greater, so that means that 65 is greater than 54.
This process was simple and instant in his mind, but his persistence in demonstrating his re-
sources and his understanding of mathematics to solve the problem I presented him was
demonstrated incredibly. Part of the problem with my ELLs, struggling readers, and underper-
forming students is that they are so conditioned to failure that they no longer persist to solve
problems. This is the group I have found most difficult for me to engage. I encourage these stu-
dents that they are able to do this work and assure them that I would not give them work that I
wasnt sure that they would be able to complete successfully. I make accommodations to these
students by checking in with them regularly to make sure they are on task, provide them with
assistance, and to give them a confidence boost with some encouraging words.
My students feel very confident in their mathematic abilities, regardless of whether or not
they truly are exceptional mathematicians. Every student regardless of his skill or specific learn-
ing needs (ELL, underperforming, struggling readers, IEP, gifted, or students with gaps in aca-
demic knowledge) is very confident in themselves and often when I ask them to explain to me
how they solved a problem, they tell me Because I am just really good at math! Or Because I

1
From the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics
Planning Commentary
am a smarty pants. These of course are not valid explanations of their logical reasoning, but it
does show me that my students believe in themselves, even when their reasoning is flawed or
their answer is incorrect. My cooperating teacher often praises our students by telling them how
smart they are! I love that my students feel so confident in their abilities because without that
initial confidence, I have seen many students simply give up because they thought they could
not ever learn.]
3. Supporting Students Mathematics Learning
Respond to prompts below (3ad). To support your explanations, refer to the instructional
materials and lesson plans you have included as part of Task 1. In addition, use principles
from research and/or theory to support your explanations.
a. Explain how your understanding of your students prior academic learning and person-
al/cultural/community assets (from prompts 2ab above) guided your choice or adapta-
tion of learning tasks and materials.
[Because of my understanding of my students personal assets and, specifically, the fact that
many to most of my students do not have the resources or parental guidance outside of the
classroom, my choices of learning tasks and materials were limited to only what could be com-
pleted within class time. My learning targets had to be simple enough to sufficiently explain,
model, and explore within 50 minutes of class. I relied heavily on Vygotskys theory of the Zone
of Proximal Development as I chose activities where some students as well as I myself could
assist lower performing students so as to involve all levels of learning abilities.
For example, in lesson 3 I will choose students who are showing me the signs of a great
learner: sitting on their bottoms, eyes on me, hands in their lap, and quiet mouths. These stu-
dents will be chosen and given a number and asked to make a line in the front of the classroom,
show the entire class their numbers, and then line themselves in order from least to greatest
without talking. Because all students want to be chosen, I anticipate that most of the class will
be on their best behavior and I will be able to choose groupings of students that include IEP,
ELL, and underperforming students together with average and above average students. My av-
erage and above average students will provide assistance to my lower performing students to
help them feel successful while still correctly modeling the number order.
My understanding of my active and eager students guided me to include Ashers re-
search on Total Physical Response (1965). I believe that my students will be more readily en-
gaged in the learning process when their whole body is involved in moving and acting out the
math problem.
In planning my lessons, I took into consideration my struggling readers, IEP and ELL
students, and planned instruction time to read aloud and explain to the whole class the prompts
from the student workbooks. This allowed all my students to be entirely clear what the directions
were, and then I planned for additional support by grouping ELL students and struggling readers
in desk groups with students who are competent readers. This provides support to my struggling
students as well as adding a challenge to my gifted students to teach and explain (and therefore
learning the material more completely). ]
b. Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are appro-
priate for the whole class, individuals, and/or groups of students with specific
learning needs.
Consider students with IEPs, English language learners, struggling readers, underper-
forming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students.
[My instructional strategies are appropriate for the whole class because I will use language that
is understandable for all students and explain all academic language. During instruction, I will
Planning Commentary
give directions orally while projecting the student journal pages so that students can follow along
and participate. This is appropriate for all students, but especially supports my IEP, English lan-
guage learners, struggling readers, and underperforming students.
I have carefully grouped my students into cooperative learning groups based on re-
search by Johnson and Johnson (1989) that showed that students who work in cooperative
learning groups do better on tests, and especially in areas of logical reasoning and critical think-
ing. For this reason, my students are grouped in clusters of four desks that include a combina-
tion of gifted students, struggling students (IEP, ELL, struggling readers, underperforming/gap in
knowledge) and average students. Having this combination of strengths and weaknesses in
each group provides students the opportunity to help each other. As my students help each oth-
er and explain their own reasoning, it strengthens the learning process of both the tutor and the
tutee. Research on cooperative learning by Lord (2001) also shows that cooperative learning
groups are more engaged, tend to be active participants in the lesson and are more likely to ask
questions of each other and the teacher.
In every lesson, I provide additional worksheets as supports for gifted students. When a
student finishes his own work he can choose to either help another student who needs help,
complete the extension worksheet/game, or do additional practice in the practice workbook.
Most often, my gifted students will help other students and do their practice workbook, so I ex-
pect that this will likely remain the same during my lesson segment.
Each of my lessons includes support for students with math IEPs and those who strug-
gle the most with math. These few students will work in a small group with the math aide and
use manipulatives to work together on the lesson. Some of the struggling math students are al-
so the students who are struggling readers and ELL students, so it will be a beneficial group in
many ways. Because it is such a small group, students will be able to spend more time clarifying
words they may not yet know, explaining directions in another way, and helping each other. The
manipulatives provide something concrete for these struggling students to connect with the
more abstract ideas presented in the lesson. Using the manipulatives, each student is given an
opportunity to construct the problem for themselves and (for example) compare two numbers by
looking at two actual groups of objects rather than just the numerals that represent the number
names.]
c. How will students identify resources to support their progress toward the learning tar-
gets?
[My students will orally identify the resources to support their progress toward the learning tar-
gets. My students already know that they should first ask their learning buddy for help if they do
not understand something. If their buddy cannot help them, they can raise their hands and get
help from myself, my cooperating teacher, or the aide. My students also know how to use the
resources in the room to help them: for example, there are many number lines around the room
that they can use to visualize number order, and many of my students reference these number
lines often to double-check their answers. Before the work time in each of my lessons, I ask
students what they can do to support their own progress towards the learning targets. They
should be able to remember all of these options, but I will remind them of anything they do not
remember. Throughout the work time, I will walk the classroom to provide support to any stu-
dent who needs help. This is the typical practice in my classroom, so my students know that
they can get my attention to ask me a question at any point as I am walking around, unless I am
already helping another student in which case they will have to wait until I am free again.]
d. Describe common mathematical preconceptions, errors, or misunderstandings within
your central focus and how you will address them.
[The central focus of my lesson segment is ordering two-digit numbers by analyzing the place
value. An easy error that students may make with place value is a confusion between the ones
Planning Commentary
and tens place. Some of my students are already very familiar with place value, but others have
not yet had enough practice differentiating between the ones and tens places. For this reason, I
will gauge my students prior academic knowledge before I begin the first lesson in the segment.
I will provide my students with a variety of two-digit numbers (one at a time) and then ask them
to tell me which numeral is in the ones place. We will repeat this quiz for a few minutes and I
will address any misunderstandings about the places by demonstrating to the students that in a
two-digit number, the tens place is always the numeral on the left and the ones place is always
the numeral on the right.
I expect that there will be some misunderstandings with the academic language, and I
will address these by being ready to provide students with multiple examples of the word or us-
age. I will also let the other students help me in explaining because sometimes students better
understand when learning from each other.]
4. Supporting Mathematics Development Through Language
a. Language Function. Choose one language function essential for student learning with-
in your central focus. Listed below are some sample language functions. You may
choose one of these or another language function more appropriate for your learning
segment:
Categorize Compare/contrast Describe Interpret Model

[Analyze.]
b. Identify a key learning task from your plans that provides students with opportunities to
practice using the language function identified above. Identify the lesson in which the
learning task occurs. (Give lesson day/number.)
[In Lesson 1 on day 1, my students are asked to compare quantities by analyzing the number
names. In the student journal, my students will analyze the number name then correctly color
blocks to match. This exercise gives students practice in reading a number name and deciding
how many groups of tens and ones are in it simply by analyzing the name. Students will learn
that twenty- means two groups of tens, thirty- means three groups of tens, and then what re-
mains in the number name correlates with the leftovers or the ones.]
c. Additional Language Demands. Given the language function and learning task identi-
fied above, describe the following associated language demands (written or oral) stu-
dents need to understand and/or use:
Vocabulary and/or symbols
Plus at least one of the following:
Syntax
Discourse
Consider the range of students understandings of the language function and other lan-
guage demandswhat do students already know, what are they struggling with, and/or
what is new to them?
Planning Commentary
[The language function and learning task identified above require students to understand the
vocabulary term comparing and the phrases is greater than and is less than. My students
have had some practice in greater than and less than usage, but I will review the meanings
with them before they begin their individual work. For my students who do not yet understanding
the meaning of greater and less, I will provide unit cubes so they can demonstrate the numbers
to themselves and actually visualize greater than and less than until the abstract concept be-
comes concrete in their minds.
My students must understand the syntax used in this lesson to correctly complete the
work. A sample problem says _____ is greater than _____. Many of my students already un-
derstand this syntax, but it will be new to some students and I will need to explain that the blank
line is where they will write the numeral written above as its number name.]
d. Language Supports. Refer to your lesson plans and instructional materials as needed
in your response to the prompt.
Describe the instructional supports (during and/or prior to the learning task) that help
students understand and successfully use the language function and additional lan-
guage demands identified in prompts 4ac.
[Prior to the learning task, I will help my students understand the language function and lan-
guage demands by spending time in whole class discussion. First I will ask my students what
greater than and less than mean. I will do this to activate their prior knowledge and assess
how well or not well they understand the concepts. Then I will describe that greater is a larger
number and less is a smaller number. After explaining this to my students, I will ask them
again what greater than and less than mean to assess whether they understand the idea well
enough to explain it in their own words. Then I will provide scaffolding assistance to my students
by giving examples of sets of numbers to show greater than and less than. For example I will
write 65 is greater than 50, and then write 50 is less than 65. Then I will give my students a
number and ask them to think of a number that is greater than my number, and then same pro-
cess again for less than.
To help my students understand the syntax used in the student journal practice, I will
project the pages on the Smart Board so my students can visualize the actual work they will be
doing as we talk about it. After reading the instructions, I will also read the problem sentences to
demonstrate the syntax. I will say: Blank is greater than blank and Blank is less than blank
while pointing to the words with my finger as I read. We will practice completing one problem as
a whole group so that all students understand that in this syntax, the blank is the spot where
they write the numeral.
During the learning task, I will have unit cubes available to all students to use if they
wish, but I will deliberately use these unit cubes with the low-performing, IEP, and ELL students
that are in my small learning group. My students will represent each pair of numbers in each
problem with the unit cubes so they can visualize the quantities as concrete objects rather than
abstract concepts. This provides scaffolding assistance that is proven to be especially effective
with low-performing, IEP, and ELL students. Within my small group and the rest of the class, the
aide and I will repeat the directions or read the problems for students as many times as neces-
sary to ensure they understand the directions. I will explain the syntax or vocabulary terms in
additional ways if a student is struggling to understand them.]
5. Monitoring Student Learning
In response to the prompts below, refer to the assessments you will submit as part of the
materials for Task 1.
Planning Commentary
a. Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments will provide direct evi-
dence for you and your students to monitor their conceptual understanding, computa-
tional/procedural fluency, and mathematical reasoning and/or problem solving skills
throughout the learning segment.
[My informal assessments will provide direct evidence as I elicit direct questioning during in-
struction to gauge whether or not my students understand the concepts (conceptual under-
standing), how correctly and easily they are able to actually complete sample problems (compu-
tational/procedural fluency), and whether or not my students can explain their logic to me during
and/or after they have solved a problem (mathematical reasoning/problem solving skills).
My formal assessments will allow me to monitor my students computational/procedural
fluency as I watch and gauge the level of difficulty my students have with their work. My stu-
dents are also beginning to develop skills to monitor their own learning, but because they are
only in first grade, right now those skills are very basic and limited. They are able to use the re-
sources around them first (learning buddy, other students, posters and number lines) and then
to ask for help from a teacher if they do not understand something. In the formal assessment for
Lesson 1, students demonstrate their understanding of less than and greater than in a variety of
ways. Students fill in blanks to make statements true, color blocks to match the number name,
and solve a critical thinking real life problem in the last problem. This last word problem is a
critical piece to evaluating my students problem solving skills. The problem shows students
three houses lining a street with the numbers 71, 73, and 75. Then, students are asked to draw
an arrow on the street to show which way house number 58 is. This is a great problem because
many students will realize that the houses just seem more complicated than what they have al-
ready been practicing, but it is essentially the same type of problem they have already mas-
tered. These students will effortlessly apply the concepts learned in the lesson to decide that 58
is a much smaller number than 71, 73, and 75, and will draw an arrow pointing to the left. As I
observe my students solving this problem, I will ask them to explain to me how they decide
which way is house number 58 and I will be able to address any flawed or incomplete reasoning
or to expand upon basic but developing reasoning.]
b. Explain how the design or adaptation of your planned assessments allows students with
specific needs to demonstrate their learning.
Consider all students, including students with IEPs, English language learners, strug-
gling mathematics students, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic
knowledge, and/or gifted students.
[My IEP, English language learners, struggling mathematics students, and underperforming or
those with gaps in academic knowledge will work in a similar fashion for this lesson segment.
My students that fall into these categories have very similar mathematics needs, so they will re-
ceive instruction together in a small group. Two of my IEP students have trouble writing and so I
have adapted their instruction so they are not required to write down all the problems. They will
work within their group and will verbalize the answers and their reasoning to me, and this will
take the place of a portion of their written assessments. The other struggling students will com-
plete the entirety of the written assessments, but can work together and use unit cubes at any
point to demonstrate the problems before solving them.
My gifted students will complete the entirety of the written assessments but will work in-
dependently. When these students have finished, they will have the extra challenge of explain-
ing the requisite skills and explaining their own mathematical reasoning. Having my gifted stu-
dents work with and explain their own reasoning to other students gives them the challenge of
strengthening their own reasoning and verbalizing skills. The gifted students must use the vo-
cabulary terms and lesson-specific syntax to help the other students to understand them.]
Planning Commentary
c. Describe when and where you will elicit student voice (oral or written) during instruction
to raise awareness in both you and the students of where students are relative to the
learning targets.
[I will elicit student voice at multiple points throughout each lesson to raise awareness in both
me and the students of where students are relative to the learning targets. At the beginning of
each lesson, I will explain to students what the lesson target is, then I will ask students to ex-
plain it to me in their own words. I will do this again after the instruction and again at the end of
the lesson. I have a couple different strategies I will use in this learning segment to elicit student
awareness of their own progress towards the learning target. In one lesson I will ask students to
either give me a thumbs up or thumbs down to describe how they felt about that days lesson.
This allows me to evaluate their feelings of their learning progress in a quick look around.
Another strategy I use is to ask students to think, pair, share. I ask students to first think
about what they learned in the lesson what was hard for them, what was easy for them, what
they would like to learn more about, and what they didnt understand. Then I ask the students to
turn to their partner and share what they thought about. The students are talking out loud and
sharing for these few minutes, and I can easily zone into a certain conversation or move around
the room to get a general feel for how the students feel about their own progress.
After either of these strategies, I will ask a couple students to share with the whole group
what they felt good about within the lesson and how they could get help to learn what they didnt
understand at first. This helps students to feel comfortable that they are not the only ones who
had a difficult time with a certain part of the lesson and that it is no problem, we will keep work-
ing on it until they understand.]
d. What tools and strategies will students use to monitor their own learning process during
the learning segment?
[Students will practice monitoring their own learning process beginning with the strategies of
tracking and participation. These strategies require students to pay close attention to whomever
is speaking, be it me or another student. When every student is paying their best attention, they
are more likely to understand the concepts being taught, recognize where they need assistance,
and be successful in their work.]

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Elementary Mathematics for Washington

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