Chapter 13: Teaching in Practice
Sandra Kelish
This chapter will differ from the others in that it will provide a window into a teacher’s thinking for various lessons and units. Rather than begin with a brief scenario, we offer several longer scenarios in a variety of content areas and grade levels. For each lesson, you will see three columns: the first is the actions that the teacher or students take, the second column is the purpose or reason for why that event is occurring, and the third column will describe all of the considerations that a teacher must make for the given action or situation.
Example One: Excerpt for A Unit of Study for American Indians
This is the first day of a unit of study for American Indians, developed to address Virginia SOL 2.3a. This lesson sequence represents about 45 minutes of instruction. During the process of lesson planning, this teacher considered the class and school context. This class of second graders in a Title I school has 20 students, including four English learners. Two English learners are from Honduras and speak Spanish at home, one is from Egypt and speaks Arabic, one is a newcomer from Ukraine who speaks Ukrainian. The class has eight students who are African American, one who is African, five who are White, three who are Latino/a/x, and three who are Asian. Some of their interests include soccer (about half of the class), graphic novels, and outdoor activities like scavenger hunts. The students have experience working in pairs and taking an interdisciplinary approach to learning, and now they will work on developing some observation and writing skills. The students love sharing personal experiences, and now the teacher is planning to help them listen to each other and honor others’ experiences as well–keep an eye out for a strategy that will help them with this skill.
| Action | Purpose | Considerations |
| Mrs. Kelish projects a slide and says, “I see a lot of trees and bushes and a stream or a river. I see some of the bushes with berries on the branches. I see a lot of fish in the stream.” | Modeling “I see/I wonder” strategy
Hooking/activating students’ prior knowledge |
The teacher’s intention is first to pique the students’ interest through engagement and provide an exploration to describe what the students see in the photos and then generate questions about what they see. |
| Mrs. Kelish: Who wants to share an “I See”? I will choose two students. | Encouraging student engagement
Providing time for students to gather their thoughts |
The “I See, and I Wonder” strategy is supported by research (Ritchhart, Church, Morrison, 2011). |
| Nala: I see some trees on the ground and one rock. I see an animal and a squirrel. | ||
| Mrs. Kelish: Thank you for sharing your “I See” observation. Remember, as student scientists, we write what we see. However, today, you will take on the role of student archeologist. That means you will learn about and study from people that lived long ago.
Now, I’ll look at the photos again, but this time I will think about an “I Wonder.” “I wonder if I am looking at a forest.” “I wonder what type of fish live in the river.” “I wonder who eats the berries: animals or people.” Now, “Turn and Talk” to an elbow partner about what you wonder about the pictures. |
Modeling the process of generating observations about an image | |
| Mrs. Kelish: Who wants to share what their partner wonders? I will call on three pairs to share their “wonders.”
Students: I wonder how many trees grow in the forest. I wonder if anyone can eat the berries. I wonder if it was hard to catch fish long ago. I wonder if squirrels, bunnies, and deer live in the forest. I wonder if bears eat the other animals. |
Encouraging active listening and sharing feedback beyond one’s own experience | |
| Mrs. Kelish: I will write your observations and wonders on our “I see, I wonder” chart. Throughout our study, we will collect and record our wonders, questions, and discoveries. Today, we will take a carousel walk, looking at pictures and writing what we see and wonder in your History and Social Science journal. Please write today’s date on the top of the page and divide it from one page to the center. Write “I see” and draw eyes and “I Wonder” with a question mark symbol.
Before we begin the carousel, I am starting a Word Bank. Who needs a word? She guides the students to write down words that may appear in their notes. |
Generating a word bank for student support (a student-generated reference tool and spelling word list)
Modeling spelling and phonics skills Guiding students to observe |
For ESOL students and those students who do not yet have a rich personal working vocabulary, this support system can provide resources for student speech and writing.
The teacher writes the word but asks the students questions or instructs phonics, syllables, etc. This instructional strategy is cross-curricular. Teachers can model orthographic features and phonics skills as they spell each word. Later in the unit, the teacher will introduce specific vocabulary such as region, occupation, transportation, and shelter. She also plans to post the teacher- and student-generated word bank. |
| Mrs. Kelish places photos of (SOL 2.3a) Powhatan’s region, ways of living, shelters, and transportation on the table groups throughout the room. Each table has images of one feature: flora and fauna, geographic features, types of shelters, ways of hunting and gathering food, and pictures of the Powhatan Indians.
The students work in pairs and examine the photos at each table and write their observations in their notebooks as soft music plays. The teacher walks around to identify specific observations and wonders to emphasize during the whole group discussion. After 15 minutes, she gathers everyone to the front of the room. |
Encouraging observation and inquiry skills | This instructional protocol, the Carousel Walk, provides an entry point for all learners and enables learners to see and consider multiple solutions and possibilities. Later, the teacher plans to create a learning wall to post the “I See, I Wonder” class charts. Eventually, Mrs. Kelish will add a third column bridging the “wonders” with what the students learn.
Teachers should incorporate writing in their lessons. Students must have opportunities to write about what they learn or wonder about for every subject. This strategy is essential for students’ metacognition. |
| Mrs. Kelish: Please share your “I see.” She writes the students’ observations in categories and does not ask questions yet. | Guiding a whole group discussion
Modeling effective brainstorming |
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Students list several observations; Mrs. Kelish lists in various groups:
The students had a lively discussion about the worm because they want proof that the worm is visible. Mrs. Kelish: This observation may need to stay outside the lists until we see the evidence. |
Demonstrating categorizing ideas
Providing a chance for student input Collecting data about what students already know about this topic |
The task is student-centered because the students talk, observe, wonder, write, and share. This launch task (activator) provides the teacher with much information about the learners. |
| Mrs. Kelish tells the students to talk to an elbow partner about what they wonder. After approximately two to three minutes, she asks which group wants to share what their partner wonders. Three pairs share their “wonders.” | Restating partner’s words to practice active listening skills | In later lessons, Mrs. Kelish will collect several levels of data, such as observational skills, students’ lexicon or personal vocabulary, cooperative group work, and backgrounds of the big concepts for the standard. She will also work to incorporate materials that match students’ interests, such as graphic novels that tell the story of this and other groups of indigenous peoples. |
Figure 13.1: Example from Mali Unit
Example Two: Excerpt of Unit of Study on Mathematics
This lesson introduces Virginia SOL 5.7: The student will evaluate whole number numerical expressions using the order of operations limited to parentheses, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This lesson sequence represents about 30 minutes of instruction.
During the process of lesson planning, this teacher considered the class and school context. This class of fifth graders in a rural school has 25 students, including two English learners. The English learners are twins from Mexico who speak Spanish at home. The class has six students who are African American, eight who are White, three who are Latino/a/x, five who are Asian, and three who are biracial (African American and White). One student has autism and one has ADHD; both have IEPs and benefit from the use of a visual timer during working periods. Some of their interests include video games (about half of the class), solving puzzles, and popular dance/music (about a third of the class.) Most of the students are confident when learning math, and today the teacher is planning to introduce some complexity and develop their knowledge of math-specific vocabulary.
| Action | Purpose | Considerations |
| Prior to this unit, the PLC met to unpack and reframe the standards so that everyone could work to connect literacy and math skills in the unit. | Developing instruction based on student prior knowledge, needs, and standards | Some questions to consider before the lesson begins: Do students know the difference between a phrase and an expression? How can we ensure the students understand the vocabulary? Does this concept engage them? |
| To start the lesson, Mrs. Kelish posts the math words: operations, multiply, divide, add, subtract, sum, difference, product, quotient, parentheses, expression, and left to right.
She asks the students to read the words silently and then asks for volunteers to read aloud. Mrs. Kelish: You will work in teams to create visual representations of these words. Remember, everyone must agree on its meaning and not worry if you do not know the meanings of all of the words. |
Hooking or activating students’ prior knowledge | Starting with key vocabulary is one option, but teachers can choose one or two strategies depending on the unit of study.
Some options include: Number Talk Math Chat Data Talk Spiral review |
| The students work together to write the words and draw their representation.
Mrs. Kelish: You will now walk around the room to read everyone’s poster and look for common trends. |
Processing in groups | |
| The students agree that they knew the meanings of the following words: operations, multiply, add, subtract, and left to right. | Confirming/checking prior knowledge | |
| Mrs. Kelish and the students discuss gaps in their knowledge and decide together that they need more time learning the following words: parentheses, product, expression, divide, difference, and quotient.
Several students talked about the words parentheses, divide, and product because they have other meanings. Mrs. Kelish: Can you explain further? Jared: An operation happens in the hospital, but I don’t think that is the right definition here. |
Before this lesson, the teacher weighed whether the students knew the commutative properties of addition and multiplication. She knew they were unsure, so she decided to start at that point. Teachers must shift their learning path so the student understands the next concept. Ask yourself, and what the purpose of the order of operation is. Why do we simplify expressions? | |
| Mrs. Kelish: That’s a great observation! Some words have two or more meanings. In the math world, some words have different meanings. Today, we will explore and explain them by looking at mathematical expressions with two operations symbols, like multiply and subtract. But first, let’s solve equations we know how to figure out.
Mrs. Kelish presents three equations: 4 + 2, 2 x 6, and 4 + 12. She asks the students to read each number sentence and share what they notice. |
Introducing foundational concepts for the topic | An essential understanding from the state framework is that “All students should understand that the order of operations describes the order to simplify expressions containing more than one operation.” Essential knowledge and skills include that “The student will use problem-solving and mathematical communication, mathematical reasoning, connections, and representations to make sense of the content.” |
| Mariah: There is a two in each equation.
Darius: I see a plus sign in two problems. Sylvie: None of them have an equal sign. And they all have a six in them. |
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| Mrs. Kelish writes “4 + 2 x 6” on the board.
Mrs. Kelish: Without an equal symbol, it’s called an expression. Whenever we see this type of sentence, mathematicians will simplify it. Now I’d like you to solve the expression independently or with a partner. We will share our solutions in four minutes and discuss how to solve them. |
Providing choice | |
| As the students work, Mrs. Kelish sets up a visual timer on the board and circulates, watches the students, and listens to their conversations or questions. She highlights common comments, questions, and answers during the class discussion. | Giving students a visual cue to remind them how long they have to complete the task and checking to see when they need support will increase their chances for success. | |
| Mrs. Kelish: What could the answer be?
Milla: 36! Cyrus: No, it’s 16! Mrs. Kelish lists these on the board. Mrs. Kelish: Is it okay to have two different solutions? Students: no! Mrs. Kelish: Why not? Let’s keep this in mind for tomorrow, when we’ll dive further into this idea of two different answers when solving expressions. In your math journal, please write a reflection using our graphic organizer, Two Stars and a Wish.
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Soliciting student input
Previewing future lessons |
Connecting lessons to one another helps students understand how concepts are linked and develop over time. |
Figure 13.2: Examples of Math Unit
Example Three: Excerpt of an Interdisciplinary Unit of Study on Elizabethan England
This unit will occur in a tenth grade English/History block course, where the same students are in both courses. The unit will address VA SOLS for both English and History, including (but not limited to)
- WHII.3 The student will apply social science skills to understand the Reformation in terms of its impact on Western civilization.
- English 10.2 The student will examine, analyze, and produce media messages.
- English 10.4 The student will read, comprehend, and analyze literary texts of different cultures and eras.
During the process of lesson planning, this teacher considered the class and school context. This class of tenth graders in a suburban school has 22 students, including four English learners. Two English learners are from Mexico and one is from Venezuela; these three students speak Spanish at home. One English learner is from Afghanistan and speaks Dari. The class has three students who are African American, nine who are White, four who are Latino/a/x, three who are Asian, two who are biracial (one is African American and White and one is Asian and White), and one who is Pashtun. One student has ADHD and a 504 that calls for visual timers and reduced distraction settings when appropriate. Some of their interests include school sports (about a third are on a team), spending time with friends, and social media. Five of the students have after school jobs, and one is planning to finish high school in three years. Most plan to attend college, although about a quarter of them plan to take time off to work, volunteer, or travel. These students were in 7th grade during the pandemic, so some of them need support with writing and research skills, and they often want to turn to artificial intelligence to write portions of their papers. The class struggles with being distracted by their phones during class time; they enjoy working together but need clear guidelines in order to be successful.
| Action | Purpose | Considerations |
| Before the unit begins, Mr. Coleman meets with Ms. Nguyen, the History teacher, to discuss student skills and needs. They teach the only block English and History courses at the school, so they sometimes meet as a small PLC with teachers at another local high school who teach the same courses. This time, they decide to develop a unit for their particular students, so together they decide that based on their prior performance, students need more practice with locating and citing images and ideas and working cooperatively as well as content knowledge of the Reformation and Henry VIII before they will develop research essays about the time period. | Developing instruction based on student prior knowledge, needs, and standards | Not all–or even many–secondary courses are set up this way, where the English and History teacher teach the same students in two back-to-back blocks. But when teachers plan together across disciplines, they can work together to address content and skills. |
| Mr. Coleman shows a brief video clip of a theatre troupe performing Shakespeare’s Henry VIII in a reproduction of the Globe Theatre. He also shows several images of artwork from the early to mid-1500’s. Following class norms, several students offer input about what they see in the video and the images. | Hooking/activating student interest | There are millions of engaging video clips and images–especially artwork–that exist to bring various historical time periods to life. Sharing these helps students envision long-ago time periods and all of the complicated details of life for historical figures. |
| Mr. Coleman: We are going to do another jigsaw lesson today! I’ve added some topics (clothing, entertainment, social customs, and politics) to your shared Google slides. Please work in your assigned expert groups to add ideas and images to your assigned slides. You can use your notes from the class presentation yesterday, your observations from the video, and research on the suggested websites to create your group’s slide with details about this time period. Remember to use the citation system that we practiced last week for any ideas and images that you did not create. After 20 minutes, you will switch groups and each person in your group will present in your new learning group. Keep in mind that the play is a work of historical fiction, so there will be details about it that are not historically accurate. Does anyone have any questions? | Processing in groups
Conducting research Checking for understanding |
Using varied models like jigsaw enables students to gain experience with “soft skills” like working together toward a common goal.
There are elements of choice here in terms of process (what kind of information sources the students can use) as well as some management strategies such as a clearly defined amount of time to work. |
| Porter: Can we Google to find other information if we want? | This is a common first choice for students. It is not a bad way to start, but students should also know where to find other kinds of sources. | |
| Mr. Coleman: If you are able to follow the process we discussed last week to verify that the source is trustworthy, then yes. | Evaluating sources | Teachers can help students be successful in finding useful sources, or they may opt to provide a curated list of sources in advance if time is limited or students are not yet prepared to find credible sources. |
| The students work for 20 minutes while a visual timer counts down on the screen. Mr. Coleman circulates to check on student progress, asking questions and commenting on the students’ work as he moves throughout the room. | Managing student work time
Formatively assessing student progress and understanding |
Being present and available during work time helps avoid problems with distractions like cell phones. |
| The timer dings.
Mr. Coleman: OK, now we will move into our learning groups. Each member of these new groups will present their findings while the other members take notes on our notetaking matrix. |
Identifying student roles and responsibilities
Providing opportunities for collaborative learning |
Synthesis
The above examples demonstrate just a brief view into the many decisions that a teacher must make while planning and delivering lessons. These teachers are ready to pivot as needed–if students are confused, distracted, or bored or if an area of interest emerges–even if it deviates from their initial lesson plan. In these examples we saw the ways that teachers think about their students and content, and the ways that students speak to each other and the teacher. There are still many interactions that we don’t see, including the actual materials in use, the Learning Management System (LMS), and any interactions involving families–the latter is a skill that many new teachers need practice and support to develop.
Communicating with Families
A critical component of a teacher’s daily work involves sharing details about what students are learning and doing in schools. There are several options for how to make this kind of communication sustainable; the simplest is a regular email, a text message system like Remind that parents can opt into, announcements through the LMS, or emailed or paper newsletters sent home with students. It is important to avoid making assumptions about family structures in your communication–for example, students may live with a single parent or grandparent, have two mothers or two fathers, live in foster care, speak another language at home, or experience other situations that may differ from your own experiences.
The following is an example of communication from teachers to families.
Good Evening 4th Grade Families,
This is just a reminder that we will have a short quiz on fractions on Thursday. Students have a study guide to use for practice at home and as class work. I told students that they should work on it a little bit each day/night. I will collect it on Thursday and answer any questions before we start the quiz.
Also, we began our in-class research for the local communities project. You can view students’ work within their planning packet, which was sent home in their folders last Friday. Students have found interesting information using books in the classroom. Tomorrow, we will search for electronic sources. We are practicing keeping track of our sources of information, and how to give credit to our sources when we share ideas from them. Some good questions for discussion might be, “what kind of sources have been most useful for your project?” or “Tell me what you have learned about the community through your research.”
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions! [this message was also translated into Spanish and Dari through the school district translators]
References
Ritchhart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011). Making thinking visible: How to promote engagement, understanding, and independence for all learners. John Wiley & Sons.
