3a: Deliver engaging and challenging lesson.
I believe engaging lesson help students for deeper knowledge and connections of content and material. My favorite thing to do for this is to allow students to come up and demonstrate how to do or solve a similar problem. We do a few together utilizing the ELMO and then I call students up to show (me and peers) how to solve a similar problem. I also am able to use this a formative assessment mid-lesson to re-hit points that were missed or that students may need extra practice with. This really engages students and gets them excited because they love being on "camera".
3b: Deepen and enrich students' understanding through content are literacy strategies, verbalization of thought, and application of the subject matter.
Here I have included different examples of note taking done by a student in our Benchmark workbook series. I have said it before, but I will say it again. I love the Benchmark Universe curriculum. It really has all the important skills and accommodations needed to be an effective teacher and create effective learners. Benchmark teaches students from early on that note taking is extremely important. This helps students retain information that they need. The left image is the "blueprint notes" that students create over each entire unit. The blueprint and note taking is also paired with collaboration from the entire class through discussions as well.
3c: Identify gaps in students' subject matter knowledge.
Since doing the assessment project, I have been sticking to pretests as well as post tests for lessons. This allows me to guide my instruction to better fit my students needs to close their learning gaps instead of wasting time reteaching content that they have mastered. I also pair this with a formative assessment that focuses on higher order thinking. I want students to explain why and how they decided on that answer. This also is interesting because you can see the thought processes of students.
3d: Modify instruction to respond to preconceptions or misconceptions.
3e: Relate and integrate the subject matter with other disciplines and life experiences.
I always like to address misconceptions during my lessons, but I feel it works best when I know what misconceptions there are. I tend to build KWL charts with my students to see what they know, what they want to know, and what we learned after the lesson. It helps see the misconceptions on different topics and to help students learn from these misconceptions around the specific topic.
Benchmark Universe is absolutely the best curriculum. They connect subject matter with other disciplines and life experiences. Benchmark uses things like spiral reviews and connecting knowledge by allowing students to turn and talk to make connections with the content and knowledge by having discussions about connections to real life experiences or experiences from past lessons we've done. Almost every unit in benchmark makes connections to past units and content within the curriculum. This is so important because it keeps that information and the connections fresh in students minds.
3f: Employ higher-order questioning techniques.
I love asking "why?". It allows me to get my students thinking deeper and higher than they usually would. How they come up with this answer? Why does this answer make sense to them? This allows myself and their peers to see their train of thought and how they came to their conclusion. It also teaches students how to "argue" their points for persuasive essays in the future by finding and utilizing 'proof' or an explanation of sorts.
Image from Vanderbilt University Website
3g: Apply varied instructional strategies and resources, including appropriate technology, to provide comprehensible instruction, and to teach for student understanding.
Here I have pictured some signs and posters we have around our classroom that help students by encouraging instructional strategies in their reading. It encourages instructional strategies to help students become more critical readers. Critical reading is extremely important as students need to learn how to read with a purpose.
3h: Differentiate instruction based on an assessment of student learning needs and recognition of individual differences in students.
I like to accommodate my lessons to fit the needs of all my students. This includes allowing students to work at their own paces, use manipulatives, and have orla directions. I also use alternative assignments to help students show their knowledge of the standard and objective in a different manner. For example, for written tasks for one of my students who can't write on her own yet, I have her tell me what she wants her journal to say and write it in yellow highlighter for her to trace. We are also doing III and T3 interventions with her.
3i: Support, encourage, and provide immediate and specific feedback to students to promote student achievements.
We do daily journals dring our reading rotations with a prompt that alligns with our benchmark curriculum. Students are given a prompt and must write at least 3 sentences and a picture to pair with it. We go over these during their rotations with me at my table. This allows me to give each student individual and meaningful support and specific feedback on how to improve their work.
3j: Utilize student feedback to monitor instructional needs and to adjust instruction.
Lately I have been introducing this "review/rate the lesson and activity" after the lesson with students. Students get to share their opinions because they do matter. I also pair this with their assessments to see a more accurate response. This helps me adjust my instruction to keep students engaged as well. I have not had a negative review yet. Students have really enjoyed lessons as I try to keep them as engaging as I possibly can.