Main Body
Aligned Resources
All learning materials being used in a lesson must be clearly identified. This includes the URLs of any online resources. It is vital that each of these lesson materials and resources align with the lesson’s objective.
Aligned Resources in the CPS Lesson Plan
Include a list of all the learning materials needed for the lesson, including any instructional resources and technologies. Be descriptive enough that a substitute teacher could easily pick up the plan and teach the lesson.
CEP Student Example:
| Clipboard with table for data collection
SmartBoard Poster paper Sharpies Label Icons Sentence Strips (Students draw randomly.) Exit Tickets Mini-label icons |
CPS’s Aligned LOFT Evaluation Criteria and Annotations
GSC’s Aligned
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Len Plan Rubric Criteri
SEL: Scial Emotional Learning –
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are vital for school, work, and life success. At the Center for Educator Preparation incorporating the teaching of social/emotional skills and the aligned expectations of our students into our lessons at all instructional levels is of high priority.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h973WVZ9eAw (preschool students)
Elementary students:
Systematic Introduction of Lesson
Lesson introductions clearly state the purpose of the lesson and describe the objective of the lesson in language students can understand. Students should be able to describe what they will know and/or do by the end of the lesson to demonstrate learning. This purpose and/or objective is often written in student-friendly language for students to reference throughout the lesson. Presenting the lesson objective both visually and orally is ideal (for students already reading). Having students repeat it for reinforcement is also ideal,
The lesson introduction is also a chance to ‘hook’ students by appealing to their interests and sparking their prior knowledge in an engaging way. This is a great opportunity to share your enthusiasm for the lesson topic with students.
When planning an effective introduction, be sure to:
- Determine your ‘hook’ by selecting an activity that will capture your students’ attention and spark their interest in the lesson topic.
- State AND post the lesson objective for learners.
- Consider posting and sharing a lesson agenda which might be used to inform students of the lesson activities.
The introduction of your lesson should take approximately 10% of the time allotted for your lesson. It is brief but motivating, ideally offering students a purpose for learning by connecting with their lives. Modeling or instruction is not part of the lesson introduction.
Example of CEP Student’s Lesson Introduction:
| ● Activate Prior Knowledge & hook
*Review nouns and verbs playing the paddle game
* “How should I structure my writing?” (prompt discussion, inviting examples)
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CPS’s Aligned LOFT Evaluation Criteria and Annotations
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Systematic Body of Lesson
The body of the lesson often includes the teaching or exploration of content. It is vital that educators know their learners well so that they may determine the best strategies for helping students navigate the lesson content.
If the body of a lesson includes teacher delivered, direct instruction, ensure that all explanations are clear and accurate. Consider modeling and providing examples for students to follow. If student learning can be amplified through the embedding of technology, by all means do so.
The body of a lesson provides an excellent opportunity for students to actively engage in learning activities and build understanding of the lesson objective, with the teacher serving as a facilitator. Plan to implement, facilitate and foster interaction among students as appropriate and refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy to select strategies that increase intellectual engagement.
Differentiation, ‘a teacher’s reacting responsively to a learner’s needs’ (Tomlinson and Demirsky Allen), , should be used in planning lesson activities. Differentiated structures to include in the body of your lesson might be:
- centers
- workshops
- flexible groups
- cooperative learning
- tiered instruction
The body of your lesson should take approximately 60% of the time allotted for your lesson.
Citation: “Leadership for Differentiating Schools and Classrooms,” Carol Ann Tomlinson and Susan Demirsky Allen, 2000
The Body of the Lesson in CPS’s Lesson Plan
In the body of your lesson you must describe the modeling, guided practice, questioning, independent practice, scaffolding, and/or differentiated instruction planned to occur within the lesson. Students’ higher order thinking and depth of knowledge should be considered.
Include detailed descriptions of lesson activities, describing how you intend to carry out each learning activity. For instance, rather than noting: “We will discuss fact & opinion”, describe how you plan to facilitate the discussion. For example: “Students will engage in a think/pair/share about facts and opinions then each pair will share their thoughts with the group”. Rather than noting “I will ask students questions about the story”, actually list the higher order questions you plan to ask your students to respond to, and describe how you will solicit their responses. Lesson activities must be directly aligned to the lesson objective and must build progressively upon one another in an effort to move students towards mastery.
The body of the lesson does not need to be scripted, but must be detailed enough that another teacher could deliver the lesson as planned.
Example of CEP Student’s Body of Lesson:
1. Direct Instruction
- Sentence on the board
- Ask students to help me read the sentence and determine if the sentence is missing any elements that make it a properly written sentence.
- Using a think-aloud strategy, I will model, identifying the need to start a sentence with a capital letter, end with a stop sign (punctuation), and that each sentence must contain a subject and verb (recent lessons). While doing this I will introduce the icon used to label each element creating a visual for the class.
2. Guided Practice
- One at a time, ask students to read a sentence on the worksheet. Using a think- aloud strategy, the student will help me lead the class in identifying the four elements and labeling them with the correct icons.
3. Practice with Peers
- Paired students given a sentence requiring editing, collaborating to complete the above process
- Pairs will switch activity sheets and correct peers’ responses
- Pairs will share out with class
(Support and Feedback: Positive praise will be used at all times. If students are having difficulty or demonstrating confusion, staff will prompt the student to use the example on the board as a guide to help them.)
CPS’s Aligned LOFT Evaluation Criteria and Annotations
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Systematic Closing of Lesson
The closing of a lesson should restate the lesson objective and offer opportunity for students to reflect on their own learning/progress toward meeting the objective. During this time students might be invited to share responses to higher-order thinking questions and to explain their thinking. This should provide an opportunity for students to have misunderstandings clarified and to have questions addressed. Students can confirm/contradict predictions and discuss reasons for outcomes.
It is important that lesson conclusions are utilized for the collection of formative assessment data so that individual students’ mastery of the lesson objective can be determined. This post lesson, formative assessment must directly align with both the pre-assessment given before the lesson was planned and the lesson objective.
The closing of your lesson should take approximately 30% of the time allotted for your lesson.
Example of CEP Student’s Lesson Closing:
Reflection & Formative Assessment
- Reflection on today’s objective prompted; question students’ learning (What questions do they have? What was challenging? Easy?; objective reviewed
- Students complete exit ticket activity; prompts:
*How many sentences are we going to label?
*Use your icon stickers to label all 4 elements in each sentence.
*Where is your visual resource if you need help remembering what each icon means?
*After you have finished, write your own sentence that we can use in tomorrow’s lesson.
*I can only use it if you label each of the 4 elements correctly.
*Additional questions?
CPS’s Aligned LOFT Evaluation Criteria and Annotations
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