THOUGHTS ON DANIELSON'S FIRST DOMAIN - PLANNING AND PREPARATION

One piece of evidence that can show success for each component is:
1a - In the domain 1a, if students complete the assignment as directed, that will be
evidence of the indicator, "Clear and accurate classroom explanations." This week, I
focused on giving clear instructions for math lessons.
1b - If I learn about students' needs including whether English is their first language
and whether the students have special needs, and if I learn about students'
interests, I will be able to show evidence of understanding the indicator, "Student
interests and needs learned by teacher for use in planning." I have learned about
students with special needs in the class that I am student teaching in, and I
continually learn about the interests of the students through working with them.
1c - If students learn the concepts I am teaching, that will show evidence of the
indicator, "Outcomes of a challenging cognitive level." Before I begin the math
lesson each day, I engage the students in an activity where they activate their prior
knowledge of information they have recently learned in the previous lesson. If
students learn the concepts I have taught, they will show evidence of learning
during this activity.
1d - If I follow the indicator of using, "Materials provided by district," I will show
evidence of 1d, which is "Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources." Right now, the
materials I am using for math correspond with the Go Math program, and the
materials for language arts correspond with the Reading Street program.
1e - In the area of "Designing Coherent Instruction," I will show evidence of this area
by using the indicator of, "using varied resources." In the language class I am
student teaching in, there is a title one teacher who runs a writing group, I use a
variety of resources including games; SMART Board technology with games, graphic
organizers and worksheets; art projects with cutting, pasting and drawing; reading
text books; flash cards; and music.
1f - Success in designing student assessments would be conveyed through the
indicator, "lesson plans indicating correspondence between assessments and
instructional outcomes." Right now, as I plan the math lessons, I go through each
section of the unit, to cover every topic the students will be tested on. Then, I plan
review lessons with games and/or written materials for the students which review
the same topics they have recently learned for several days before the students
have their unit test. For this reason, lesson planning will show the correspondence
between assessments and instructional outcomes.
(Danielson, 2013)