Sherry LAE 4335

LIVE – Lesson Video Annotation

Purpose
To practice applying the process of gathering info about students,
planning, teaching, and reflecting
Planning Instruction
Learning
from your
Big Questions:
Teaching
Who + What + When/Where + Why + How = Good ELA teaching
Assessment
• How/why should we teach English Language Arts?

Rationale
Soon, you’ll graduate to a full-time teaching practicum. There, your task will be to
learn about the institution, the curriculum, and the students in order to plan,
teach, assess, and continue to improve your practice. By visiting a field placement
once a week this spring, and gradually moving from observing, to assisting, to co-
teaching, to leading a single lesson (and reflecting on it), you will be ready.

Assignment
You will be assigned to a host teacher/classroom with a partner from our class. As emissaries for our
class and our university, please make sure to carefully read the guidelines for mentors and interns on
the attached page. If you have concerns at any point, please contact Dr. Sherry.
1. (JANUARY) Your first task is to contact your mentor to set up a time to
meet and/or visit the school. At this meeting, discuss with your mentor
what your role in the classroom will be:
a. When, where, and how should you present yourself at the school?
(this includes dress code, security passes, classroom numbers, dates, times, etc.)
b. Which class will you participate in regularly (your “focus class”)? What, if anything, do
you need to do to prepare for that participation?
c. When will you begin observing? assisting? co-teaching? lead teaching?
(please see attached page for a suggested schedule for this progression)
2. (JANUARY-MARCH) You should plan to visit the same class once a week (this includes arriving in
advance and leaving later in order to confer with your mentor and your
partner before or after a visit). For each visit you should:

 Sherry LAE 4335
a. Before the lesson: Make sure you know what’s expected of you; get a copy of the book;
know the lesson plan; figure out where to sit and how you plan to work with students, if
necessary.
b. After the lesson: Follow up with your mentor (this may mean waiting till later to talk or
email) about how things went or about questions you had.
3. Use what you learn from your observation and journal/letters to inform your work with
students:
a. (FEBRUARY) As you begin to assist with individuals and small
groups, try to learn from the students how to teach them—what
are their interests? strengths/struggles?
b. (FEBRUARY-MARCH) As you begin to co-teach, planning and implementing a lesson with
your mentor, consider how your teaching fits with what precedes and follows.
c. (MARCH) When you lead teach, planning and implementing a lesson with your mentor’s
assistance and approval, examine student work from prior lessons to build on what
students have already done.
4. (MARCH) Compose your lead-teaching lesson, and annotate (add comments to) the lesson plan
explaining why you’ve made this plan. Using a class camera, record a video of your teaching (an
excerpt from the lesson is fine); I will post this video to the class Viddler account for you to
annotate. Your annotations of plan and video should use the criteria from
our course:
a. RELEVANCE (for students and the discipline of ELA)
b. ALIGNMENT (with standards, objectives)
c. SCAFFOLDING (toward assessments)
d. DIVERSITY (of materials, approaches)
e. CONVENTIONS (of lesson plan, activities, pacing, proximity, “presence”)
NOTE: you are not graded on how well the lesson goes, but on how thoughtfully you annotate it!
Evaluation
Criteria/Points 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0
Relevance
Alignment
Scaffolding
Diversity
Conventions

 Sherry LAE 4335

English teachers,

As a former middle/high school English teacher, I know some of the challenges you will face. To help prepare our
teacher candidates, I hope you will agree to share your wisdom with a pair of teacher candidates who will
observe and assist at least once a week in your classroom, and eventually lead a lesson towards the end of the
15-week semester. Being a mentor teacher can be a rewarding experience. Here’s what you can expect:

Semester-at-a-glance
January – February – February-March – March –
Choosing a focus Observing & Assisting Co-planning & teaching Teaching a lesson
Student-teachers begin Student-teachers observe, get to know When mentor agrees, When mentor
visiting, discuss their students/school, student-teachers each agrees, student-
role in the classroom help to co-plan and teachers each lead
with mentor teacher After a lesson, student-teachers discuss implement a lesson: the planning/
with mentor (if possible) and with each before and after, they teaching of a lesson:
Student-teachers and other discuss plan and before and after,
mentor choose a
implementation with they discuss plan and
“focus class” for When mentor agrees, student-teachers
mentor implementation with
student-teachers to begin to assist in lessons (e.g., working
mentor
attend regularly with student-groups, leading activities)

What can student-teachers expect from mentors?

Though the specifics may differ from classroom to classroom, the mentor will:
1) Help the student-teacher(s) to get to know the school, the curriculum, and the students
2) Explain (at his/her convenience) decisions s/he made before, during, and after each lesson (how s/he
prepared, why s/he did certain things, and how s/he assessed student learning)
3) Direct student-teachers as they gradually take on the role of assistant-teacher in the classroom (Note: this is
not the same as an aide who does photocopying and grading)
4) Guide student-teachers in planning and implementing a lesson with mentor as co-teachers
5) Support student-teachers as they each take the lead in planning/implementing a lesson

What can mentors expect from student-teachers?

As guests in the classroom, student-teachers will:
1) Arrive early, in professional attire, fully prepared to participate, on a regular basis
2) Interact with students, mentors, and staff as intelligent, enthusiastic, curious professionals
3) Ask questions (politely and at the appropriate time) about all aspects of teaching, including institutional
expectations, planning, lesson activities, assessment, and of course…students!
4) Support the mentor-teacher’s decisions with regard to students, curriculum, instruction, and assessment

Your participation in this partnership could provide valuable experience for our teacher candidates. It could also
help establish on ongoing relationship between your schools and the university. If you have questions, please
contact me.

Sincerely,
Dr. Michael Sherry
302X EDU
Department of Teaching and Learning
University of South Florida
(734)255-3241|mbsherry@usf.edu