Classroom-Focused Improvement Process Reflection Guide

USE TO GUIDE RE-TEACHING AND TO IDENTIFY FUTURE INSTRUCTIONAL CHANGES³⁴
(This is not intended as a checklist of characteristics that should be included in all lessons. Rather, it should be used as a reflection tool to identify possible upgrades to be made in future instruction.)

AS WE PLANNED INSTRUCTION, HOW WELL DID WE:

1. Consult the State Curriculum and/or system curriculum or pacing guides for lesson objectives and their sequence?
2. Understand the prerequisite knowledge and skills that students needed to master to be successful?
3. Understand the level of cognitive demand (rigor) that students needed to demonstrate to show proficiency?
4. Assemble needed resources for the unit?
5. Administer a pre-assessment and use the results to help determine class and individual student needs?
6. Anticipate common student misconceptions?
7. Plan for differentiation in content, process (instructional strategies), and product (ways students will show what they know and can do)
8. (Add instructional strategies that are important for planning in your grade, school, or subject area)

AT THE BEGINNING OF INSTRUCTION, HOW WELL DID WE:

1. Share the unit and daily objectives with students in terms that they understand?
2. Involve students in setting their own learning goals for the unit and tracking their progress?
3. (Add instructional strategies important at the beginning of instruction in your grade, school, or subject area)

DURING INSTRUCTION, HOW WELL DID WE:

1. Make connections to prior learning or related content to engage students and promote synthesis of information?
2. Model the concept or skill and provide students exemplars to work toward?
3. Correct misconceptions students may have or that may occur during the unit?
4. Assign work that is mostly "on grade level," with appropriate scaffolding where needed?
5. Base assignments on real-world tasks to engage students?
6. Vary instructional activities to meet individual student needs?
7. Use graphic organizers and other nonlinguistic representations to show content in symbolic form?
8. Use cooperative learning activities?
9. Provide multiple opportunities for student writing?
10. Assign purposeful homework and vary the approaches to providing feedback on the homework?
11. Provide students specific, timely, and varied feedback on their assignments?
12. Ask students to respond to higher-level questions in which they must analyze, synthesize, and evaluate?
13. Provide multiple opportunities for students to practice, review, and apply their new knowledge and skills?
14. Include strategies that involve students in monitoring their own progress toward learning goals?
15. Check for student understanding frequently and modify instruction based on the data obtained?
16. Reinforce student effort and provide recognition of student success?
17. (Add additional instructional strategies important during instruction in your grade, school, or subject area)
18. _____

AT THE END OF EACH PART OF INSTRUCTION, HOW WELL DID WE:

1. Use the most appropriate type of assessment for the knowledge and skills being assessed?
2. Use a variety of assessment formats, including those that mirror the MSA/HSA in content and format?
3. Mirror the level of rigor used in scoring external assessments when scoring classroom assessments?
4. Involve students in helping to identify the next steps in their learning?
5. (Add additional strategies important at the end of instruction in your grade, school, or subject area)