Deborah Schaffer

What strategies will you use to accomplish your objectives?

7. 
   What are the roles and responsibilities of the collaborating teachers?
   

8. 
   What led up to this lesson and what will follow the lesson?
   

We’ve been studying severe weather, floods, etc. We will continue talking about weather focusing on using comparative and superlatives when comparing forecasts for different cities.

9. 
   Do you have any concerns?
   

10. 
    10. Is there any other information you would like me to know, such as what to look for?
    

RUNNING RECORD OF THE CLASS OBSERVED

Observations	Comments
Children all said “Hello” to me as they entered the class.	S are prepared to be respectful and polite to visitors.
T- Talked about why they weren’t in school on Monday and why she wasn’t here yesterday. She talked about her relationship with the substitute. Their children have known each other for a long time. If my son Jessie is 16, and he’s known Jessie since he was 3, how long have they been friends? Today we are going to be talking about weather. Before we were talking about natural disasters. Every day the weather changes a little. It changes by location. What does location mean? S –no response T- gave many examples, So what do you think location means? S place We’re going to talk about how weather affects people, places and plants. We’re going to talk about how it affects you. How does it affect you? S gave many responses about how weather would affect them. Several used complete sentences to answer. T prompted one student to answer the question with a complete sentence. He did so Reviewed going to + verb I am going to help you learn about weather. You are going to be learning about weather Compare Er and est Today is going to be warmer than ….. ? S yesterday Reviewed critical vocabulary with visuals Blizzard Tell me about a tornado Students gave complete sentence answers: When they didn’t T prompted them to do so. T What else is in a blizzard besides a lot of snow? S It has wind. Tornado S It grabs things. T How does it grabs things? S It’s a strong wind that grabs things and then throws them out. S I’m moving to Texas. T Later we will talk about that. T Is earthquake a kind of weather? S No, it’s a natural disaster, but today we are going to talk about weather.	Hadn’t met for while, so T recognized need to reconnect and catch up. Incorporated oral math. One of the main areas on the ACCESS test for WIDA standards that is problematic for students is oral math. Many students do not have much practice with oral math. SIOP components: Preparation and building background. Teacher introduced both content and language objectives and the big idea reflecting integration of both SIOP and UBD Reflected explicit instruction of vocabulary and scaffolding with prior knowledge. The teacher used research-based voc. instruction. She did not give a definition of the word, rather an explanation and multiple examples that were familiar to the students. The students inferred it meant place. That was then discussed and the word defined. It was evident that the students have been taught to express their ideas in complete sentences. This practice makes it so much easier for them to write complete sentences. It is uncommon to observe this practice in many classes, particularly with such young students! Grammar is taught in a meaningful context. The language objective was introduced at this point. They are comfortable, and the classroom reflects an environment where it is easy to take risks. The vocabulary was supported by visuals. The words were review, but would also be occurring in the next reading. SIOP component Practice and Review The t. demonstrates higher-order questions or questions that may not just be obvious. The teacher responded and emphasized the students fascinating explanation of a tornado. Off-topic answer was not ignored but didn’t take the class in a different direction. T gave both examples and non-examples which is an effective clarification strategy.
T put up weather pictures Snow Chart on the wall had pictures of weather Rainy windy partly sunny, cloudy, snowy, sunny What do your parents tell you about weather? Lots of answers from students. They discussed various things. One student used the word partly sunny, S The teacher helped clarify what partly meant.	T uses visuals effectively to support the instruction. The chart on the wall reinforced less familiar words, and the students were referring to the chart and using them. Parental involvement.
How can we find out what the weather is? S Go outside Watch TV T introduces weather forecast If a person who teaches is a teacher. Someone who drives a bus is a bus driver. S Forecast Several students wanted to answer. One student was not involved, the teacher continued to give examples. She used his interest in roller skating to say. ______ skates. He is a skater. The student had a difficult time. The teacher continued and finally that student was able to say Forecaster.	Contributions of students were recorded on the chart. T activated prior word knowledge to promote transfer and understanding of the new word. SIOP Building Background Many students wanted to answer, but the teacher persisted to have M --- involved. It took the student quite a long time, and the teacher gave him the time needed.
The teacher introduced the term predict by reviewing what they already knew about that word and discussed how predict and weather prediction were related.	Building background and activating prior knowledge.
Students moved to a table, and the students discussed when and why they would use a weather forecast?	Change of seating and task is very important when working with young students.
Think-pair-share What kind of information do they tell you in a weather forecast? Look at each other, don’t look at me. I’ll give you a hint, there should be four things. Try to think of at least two. 2 pairs were talking. One pair didn’t speak much. T asked the girls if they had said anything. Because on pair was less talkative, T asked one of them to share. T Recorded information on a chart Talking about weather Cold- hot What is the big word? S Weather T That’s the really big word for everything, but what is the big word for cold and hot? S couldn’t answer. The teacher got a book that showed pictures of hot and cold with a thermometer. S Temperature T What do we use to measure temperature S thermometer T adds to chart. T asks students to think about how the weather changes during the day S snow, rain, What is the big scientific word we used for that. S Evaporation T Reviewed the water cycle T If you don’t see the weather report, you could freeze S Started talking about the consequences of not watching the weather forecast. One of them used the word windy, T What did you say? Windy T wrote windy. S continued to talk about the clothes needed. T supported and long and short sleeves S knew that short for height but didn’t realize it was the same word for short sleeves, Long and short sleeves Tall and short people T What else do we need? S Clouds S Sunny S Foggy T If there’s a lot of dust, you have to stay home. T If you live somewhere where there is a lot of dust, then yes, you could have dust storms. S Talked about his trip to the beach, and how sand can blow on a windy day.	SIOP component interaction T modeled expected expected behaviors, and the interaction immediately became more authentic. Most of the students were more engaged. The teacher was aware of the two students who had not talked as much and called on them to share first. Rather than record everything on the chart, the teacher recorded the critical vocabulary in a way that promoted comprehension Hot, cold, temperature Snowy rainy, precipitation SIOP component Comprehensible input through- out the lesson using visuals and familiar examples. T used a more familiar context for the student to get the word “short” when trying to help the student describe “long and short sleeves”. Survival language is being taught within the context of grade level content. T demonstrates responsiveness to a student’s idea that hadn’t occurred to her.
T showed a real newspaper with the weather forecast. She explained Metro. T Discussed that the radio or the internet can give you a more current forecast. She showed a copy of a forecast from the internet. A forecaster is a person who tells the weather what’s going to be the weather. Etc. If you look at the paper, how many days is it going to tell you about? S 5 days, T checked with each student to see if they could find. S How do they know the weather? T What is the weather going to be tomorrow? S Flurries. T Discussed the symbol in the newspaper and asked the students to predict what they thought flurries meant. She reinforced their answers by demonstrating flurries with her hands. T Tomorrow, we are going to be looking at this forecast. I need you to go home, talk to your Mama Grandma, .. used to live in. Ask what city they used to live in. __ would need the city in Ethiopia, etc Do you know what we are going to do tomorrow? S What do you mean of your country? T Clarified city in the country.	T uses authentic resources to make the lesson more interesting and relevant. The students are transferring their oral skills to a real-world context. The first “reading” is supported by visuals. Students found the information in both the newspaper and on the printed copy from the internet. Later the students will read Reader’s Theater about a weather forecast. On-the-scene reporters from around the country are reporting in on a TV weather forecast.Moving from a simpler reading to a more complex reading is highly effective for Comprehensible Input, Building Background, vocabulary development, fluency and comprehension. Making predictions with a visual. Teacher explained what they would do the next day which helped connect today’s learning with the next day. She involved the parents in meaningful ways where all parents, even those without English or literacy skills, could be successful in supporting the learning of their children. She reviewed to make sure students understood what they were supposed to ask the parent.