edTPA Instruction Commentary

(MADISON DOTSON) FROM THE INSTRUCTION COMMENTARY Instruction Commentary Directions: Respond to the prompts below (no more than 6 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts; both the prompts and your responses are included in the total page count allowed. Pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored.

1. Which lesson or lessons are shown in the video clips? Identify the lesson(s) by lesson plan number.

[Since this lesson is a sample video and not my own, I am not certain of the lesson in relation to the unit.

However, if I were to guess, I think this might be in the middle of a short unit on narrative construction focusing on sequence and transition. The student’s prior knowledge includes writing elements like capitalization, punctuation, nouns, verbs, and adjectives. The teacher has clearly been working with students on their sentence construction. In this lesson, the teacher is building on prior knowledge of transition or “time key” words and their function in sequencing a narrative. For this lesson, the teacher is using the book Going on a Bear Hunt to model constructing narrative sequence based on a re-telling on the story.]

2. Promoting a Positive Learning Environment In response to the prompt, refer to scenes in the video clips where you provided a positive learning environment.

 How did you demonstrate mutual respect for, rapport with, and responsiveness to students with varied needs and backgrounds, and challenge students to engage in learning?

[There numerous instances in the video that show a teacher who demonstrates respect for her students and works to develop a positive rapport. From the start of the video the teacher was getting down on the student’s eye level and listening intently to their “turn and talk” or think-pair-shares, showing interest in the student’s thoughts and engagement while they work. When capturing their attention, she uses the same predictable phrase, open body language, as well as a kind confident voice. When engaging the students with prompting questions, the teacher addresses the students directly using their name. For example, at when the video picks-up, the teacher’s first question goes to a student named Mallory, whom she calls by name, then acknowledges the work she heard the student doing during the “turn and talk” (00:15). This recognition encourages students by showing them that the teacher is not only asking for their active participation and engagement, but that she is also paying close attention to their efforts and taking time to acknowledge them. At 00:40, the teacher accidentally calls a student by the wrong name then immediately apologizes and corrects herself, in this small moment the teacher does not brush off her mistake, rather owns it and makes it write which helps to maintain a student’s sense of belonging as well as demonstrating an attitude that it’s okay to make mistakes. At 02:55, when a student names Star gives an incorrect answer, she helps the class find the correct answer as a group while still encouraging the student who’d given the incorrect answer by reminding Star that the answer she gave was coming up in the narrative soon. The teacher demonstrates responsiveness and encourages deeper participation by listening closely to the student’s callouts then enthusiastically echoing a student’s words as they elaborated on the narrative (03:55). On several occasions the teacher challenges her students by asking prompting questions to elicit elaboration on a sentence or phrase. At 04:11, the teacher challenges the students to determine best time-key or transition word to use next in their sequence, when the students give a wavering response as a group, the teacher encourages their confidence by reminding them “You are smart.” She reminds them that they are smart throughout the lesson and when they are struggling to home in on the correct response, she reminds them to slow down and “think” reinforcing her confidence in them, their knowledge, and their brain power.]

3. Engaging Students in Learning Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts.

a. Explain how your instruction engaged students in developing an essential literacy strategy and requisite skills.

[In this lesson, the teacher is focusing on the use and function of transition words in the sequencing of a narrative. Simultaneously, the teacher is activating and deepening the student’s prior knowledge of basic sentence construction, grammatical function of words in structure, and organization of narrative. The teacher is using strategies such as modeling narrative construction by collaborating with the students to retell the story Going on a Bear Hunt. Additionally, the teacher is using the “turn-and-talk" strategy, synonymous with think-pair-share to help students engage peer-to-peer as they recall the sequence of events in the story (01:55). Further, the teacher is using prompting questions and visual aids in the form of anchor charts or a mini “word wall” for transition words (04:12). On several occasions when the teacher is writing, she asks the students to read along as she writes (07:55). This simple strategy keeps students engaged and by encouraging them to read-along students’ can monitor their collaborative writing and feel a sense of ownership over the group work.] b. Describe how your instruction linked students’ prior academic learning and personal, cultural, and community assets with new learning.

[In modeling how to construct a written story-telling sequence, the teacher pauses when constructing individual sentences to activate student’s prior knowledge about sentence structure like capitalization and punctuation, but also the function of words in a sentence (I.e. adverbs). We see two examples of this prior knowledge activation at the 01:05 and 01:55 marks. Using the anchor chart of transition words as an idea menu for sequencing the narrative, the teacher can refer to it as a guide as they move through the retelling of the story. Leveraging the whole class setting of the this teaching segment, the teacher encourages the students to lean on one another as collaborators in reconstructing the series of events by asking prompting questions to them as a group. We see several examples of this, like at the 03:05 mark, when the teacher slows down the students and asks for a consensus by show of thumbs up in order to find the correct next event in the sequence. Around 07:15, there is a moment where the teacher has confused the narrative, but allows the students to correct the course then the teacher recognizes how the students had activated their own prior knowledge and reflects back to them their own thinking when she remarks, “Oh, I know you remember that, because something happened in that forest.” Then the teacher leans into the learning moment to deepen their detailed recollection of a memorable and humorous moment in the story when the characters were tripping through the dark forest. This is a great example of how the teacher is linking the student’s personal interests and enjoyment of the story to help them understand that connects to recollection and retelling of the narrative.]

4. Deepening Student Learning during Instruction Refer to examples from the video clips in your explanations. a. Explain how you elicited and built on student responses to promote thinking and apply the literacy strategy using requisite skills to comprehend or compose text.

[As the teacher modeled reconstructing a narrative sequence, she frequently paused to ask prompting questions that often served to deepen or elaborate on the information the students were recalling. In this pause she would ask questions like, “...and what do we call these words?” referring to the transition words that were the focus of the lesson or activating prior knowledge of grammatical functions like adjectives. The teacher also encouraged them to use adjectives in their re-telling of the Going on a Bear Hunt narrative by asking qualifying questions about the scene such as, “what kind of grass did they walk through?” to which the students enthusiastically reply, “Tall!” (01:19). This instance demonstrates how the teacher elicited and further built upon student thinking. Toward the end of the lesson, the narrative sequence needed a closing, and having used all the transition words on their anchor chart, the teacher asked the students to turn and talk, then come back with suggestions for a word that could conclude their re-telling. When they agreed on a word to use, the teacher once again pointed out how the students had gone beyond what she had taught them to understand and apply the idea of transition words in creating a sequenced narrative (14:28). In asking them to move beyond the tools she has provided them thus far, the teacher is promoting creative thinking and application of concepts in such a way that demonstrates comprehension.]

b. Explain how you modeled the literacy strategy and supported students as they practiced and applied the literacy strategy in a meaning-based context.

[In this video, the teacher explicitly models word-by-word how to construct a sequential narrative by utilizing transition words. Using her writing chart teacher demonstrates what this narrative sequence looks and sounds like. Using the anchor chart or menu of transition words, the teacher models how to choose an appropriate transition word to propel the narrative. The teacher facilitates collaboration and discussion when using the turn and talk strategy (02:02) to help students recall and reconstruct narrative order in a story of a family traveling across a sequence of terrains in search of a bear. By encouraging the learners to work together, ask questions and share ideas, the students can learn from each other and assess one another’s thinking. The teacher further guides the students in how that narrative is sequenced relying on transition words, but also utilizing other grammatical elements like proper sentence structure and elaborative language. The teacher models this literacy strategy by incorporating for student input, asking prompting questions (04:18), having the students read along as she writes (11:50), making corrections as the students catch them (11:55), and reviewing by reading aloud what they’ve written as they progress (06:03). All of these strategies serve to support students as they further develop the narrative sequence until finally using their own creative thinking to demonstrate concept acquisition and closing the narrative (14:30). ] 5. Analyzing Teaching Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts. a. What changes would you make to your instruction—for the whole class and/or for students who need greater support or challenge—to better support student learning of the central focus (e.g., missed opportunities)?

[I think the teacher should engage the students kinesthetically to create opportunity for multiple learning modalities and whole brain learning, especially considering Going on a Bear Hunt is a story full of action words and texture descriptions – even in how they describe transition words, student could using a hand signal to represent the bridge to the next part of the sequence. Additionally, while the teacher did a good job of calling on many different students, I suspect she might not have been able to check for understanding with every student. A few students seemed to recall the prior knowledge without any problems as well as grasp the new concepts, for those students this lesson might have felt slow and unengaging toward the end. While a few others did not recall prior knowledge or struggled to reconstruct the story. For both of these groups there was an opportunity to reengage in a different learning modality that, on the one hand could challenge students who were at or beyond the pace of the lesson and on the other hand, create another way for struggling students to grasp the concept of transition words and narrative sequence.]

Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students). b. Why do you think these changes would improve student learning? Support your explanation with evidence of student learning and principles from theory and/or research.

[Researchers Reiff, Eisler, and Barbe studying in the field of learning modalities have concluded that classrooms generally represent a diversity of learning pathways. Therefore, in order to appropriately teach a classroom of diverse learners, teachers must engage with a diverse set of strategies. In the video, we primarily see modeling and questioning. In this lesson there are opportunities for students to reenact the action verbs, sound effects of the terrain, and even touch some tactile representation of a story element from Going on a Bear Hunt in order to improve students recall of the narrative sequence and ground students conceptual understanding of verbs and adverbs used in the detailed narrative. In approaching the story from various pathways, not only will logical students be engaged, but also students who are primarily visual, auditory, tactile, or kinesthetic learners.]