Alla Chelukhova

July 14, 2011

Instructional Observation and Evaluation Guide

This guide should be filled out thoroughly and sent to your Director along with your lesson plan via email the night BEFORE a scheduled observation.

1. What is the relationship between this lesson and the broader unit plan, specifically the unit’s essential questions and understandings? In other words, what is your purpose for teaching this lesson?

• The main content focus for Lesson 9 will be colonialism. Students’ writing skills will be addressed in the form of a writing rubric, and their vocabulary skills will be expanded when “colonialism,” “race,” and “hierarchy” are introduced and defined.
• There are two tight links between Lesson 9 and the unit’s essential questions and understandings: unit’s essential question 1 (“Do we all have the same rights?”) is the common theme for the lesson, implicit in all of its components; unit’s essential understandings 7 and 8 (“The idea that race is a social construct” and “The definition of a hierarchy”) are explicitly addressed during the lesson.

2. How will you help students understand and articulate the purpose of this lesson? How will you engage them and build buy-in for the lesson?

• Objectives will be posted at the beginning of the class, addressed in the course of the lesson, and evaluated at the end of the class.
• Personal connections will be made between the lesson’s theme, students’ past experience with colonialism game, and their current thoughts and feelings. Questions like “Imagine yourself living in colonial Congo, not wanting to mine for diamonds, and pressured to do so where you are most vulnerable – through your family” will be posed to make personal connections.
• A positive classroom culture has been emphasized in all past classes and will be reinforced throughout the lesson.

3. What evidence of student learning will you collect to determine whether or not your students met the lesson’s objectives?

• Journal entries, responses to primary sources’ analyses, and definitions written in students’ notebooks will be collected at the end of the class.

4. For each objective, what is the criteria and evidence for success? How will you know if students meet each objective?

• 1. Analyze various primary sources. – Students will answer specific questions in the handout. When the analysis is done, students will write a newspaper article about their observations, connections, and conclusions.
• 2. Create definitions of “hierarchy,” “colonialism,” “race,” “ethnicity,” and “second-class citizen.” – Students will write down definitions of these terms in their notebooks.
• 3. Examine and implement the writing rubric. – Students will discuss the rubric and sample texts that score different grades. Students will put rubric to use when they write their newspaper article. The rubric will be used when assessing students’ written work.

5. How are you differentiating your lesson based on the pattern and/or trends you see in students’ interests, readiness, and/or learning profile? What might be challenging or difficult for students about this lesson?

• There will be visual, textual, and tactile primary sources.
• Content will be addressed through a Power Point presentation, writing on the black board, activities, and discussion.
• I foresee addressing the writing rubric as a challenge. It’s too dry and formal, and its value may not be immediately apparent.

6. What BPBS do you plan to exhibit mastery of during this lesson? How? Why?

• Standard Five: Assessment and Standard Seven: Engagement with Subject Matter.
• I do not claim any mastery of Standard Five, and this is why I would like to address it in my lesson. I am continuing to learn how to evaluate students’ performance in multiple ways, and I hope to be able to do so as I employ different means of presentation tomorrow.
• I am very enthusiastic about the subject and I hope to share my enthusiasm with the students in discussions, activities, and during the DTP.