RATIONALE & REFLECTION
Throughout the semester we will ask you to provide a rationale for your instructional strategies (tasks) and the student activities (learning tasks) you are choosing for your lesson plans. In addition we will have you formally reflect on lessons you have taught.
To guide you through the process we have provided you a section called Rationale and Reflection.
The prompts in this rationale and reflection are designed to “train your brain” to think about all of the decisions that a teacher makes when planning, teaching, assessing and reflecting on a particular lesson or learning experience. The overarching goal is, of course, to make you a better teacher. The underlying goal is to help you develop the complex thinking patterns that occur in the teaching and learning process. Eventually, this complex thinking becomes second nature. Answer the prompts provided and turn in this rationale and reflection with the lesson and the class profile. Use the Secondary Differentiation Website for assistance.
Below is a summary of the prompts you will need to address for CalTPA.
You can download the CalTPA handbook with specific instructions for your content area.
Planning Commentary Prompts (see CalTPA handbook for content area specific prompts)
Assessment Commentary – Analysis of Student Work
1. Identify alignment of Objectives, Standard, & Assessment.
2. Provide a graphic or narrative that summarizes student learning.
3. Describe the patterns of learning for the whole class and specific students.
4. Describe the evidence for the 3 focus students.
5. Explain how feedback was provided to the 3 focus students.
6. How will you support students to apply feedback?
7. Explain student struggling with language to develop content understanding.
8. Based on student performance, what are your next steps of instruction for whole class and each of the 3 focus students?
9. Justify next steps with research or theory.
Instruction Commentary Prompts
For each prompts make reference to something demonstrated in the video clip.
You can download the CalTPA handbook with specific instructions for your content area.
Planning Commentary Prompts (see CalTPA handbook for content area specific prompts)
- Central Focus
- Describe the central focus and purpose of this content.
- Describe how the standards and objectives address conceptual understandings, knowledge, and skills.
- Explain how your plans build on each other to help students make connections between concepts, knowledge, and skills.
- Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching
- What students know, what they can do, and what they are still learning
- What do you know about your students’ everyday experiences, cultural and language backgrounds and practices and interests?
- Learning dispositions - What do you know about students content perceptions, persistence in learning content, belief in their ability to learn content?
- Supporting Students Content Learning
- Justify how the knowledge of your students informed your instruction-assessment.
- How will students identify and apply tools/strategies in content?
- Describe and justify instructional strategies/supports for whole class and 3 focus students.
- What are some of the common misconceptions/misunderstandings for this content and how will you address them?
- Supporting content through language
- Identify one essential Language Function for this content.
- Describe student activities to practice language function.
- Identify content vocabulary words & vocabulary development activities.
- How will you support students to develop and use language demands: function, vocabulary, symbols, discourse, and syntax.
- Monitoring Student Learning
- Describe how assessments will provide evidence of student under-standings, knowledge, and skills.
- Explain how you adapted/differentiated assessment.
- Describe the tools/strategies students will use to self-assess, to identify what they are doing well and what they need to improve.
Assessment Commentary – Analysis of Student Work
1. Identify alignment of Objectives, Standard, & Assessment.
2. Provide a graphic or narrative that summarizes student learning.
3. Describe the patterns of learning for the whole class and specific students.
4. Describe the evidence for the 3 focus students.
5. Explain how feedback was provided to the 3 focus students.
6. How will you support students to apply feedback?
7. Explain student struggling with language to develop content understanding.
8. Based on student performance, what are your next steps of instruction for whole class and each of the 3 focus students?
9. Justify next steps with research or theory.
Instruction Commentary Prompts
For each prompts make reference to something demonstrated in the video clip.
- Identify which lesson or lessons are shown in the video clips. Identify the lesson by the lesson plan number.
- How did you demonstrate and promote a positive learning environment for all students? Address whole class and focus students.
- Explain how your instruction was engaging students in learning skill, knowledge or understanding? And how did you link to students’ prior academic learning, personal identity, and community assets?
- Explain how you elicited and built on student responses? Describe and cite examples from clips of how you supported students.
- What changes would you make to your instruction for whole class and focus students? Why do you think these changes would improve learning? Support answer with educational research and theory.
The Rationale & Reflection was designed to help you prepare for the Cal TPA.