Classroom Videos 

In this 8:46 minute video, we see the 9th grade students engaging in close reading to help them determine a theme for a whole class novel.  The teachers reads aloud the text to model fluency and then allows the students opportunity for multiple readings of the text. The students read the text independently, annotate, and determine a theme that is supported by sections of the text.  As the students work, the teacher circulates and use the observation as formative assessment in order to redirect/refocus the lesson.  A tangible word sort activity helps the students build characterization vocabulary they will later use in their writing.  Sentence stems are supplied to help students write about the theme.

In this 5:17 minute video, five experts share their thoughts about reading and writing. They emphasize making meaning and communicating that meaning as well as teaching discourse structure to increase comprehension. The experts talk about teaching language structure, text structure and complex vocabulary and making students explicitly aware of these things.  Teaching students to write to a variety of audiences with a real purpose, creating writing activities situated in their lives is and moving beyond the artificial line between classroom and the real world is highlight. They conclude with how the responsibility for literacy now rests on all the content areas and needs to be a collaborative effort.

Dan Guerrero challenges his  11th grade AP students to construct arguments using academic language and terms in this 8:32 minute video.  Students were placed in a low risk, high engagement situation that taught them how to think on their feet.  Everyone has a vice.  Students were placed in small groups to brainstorm and then used a Toulman Argument graphic organizer to record their thinking.   A first draft could then be written almost verbatim from the organizer.  Dan was teaching them that the organizer was the hard part, the writing was easy.  This low stakes writing helped students to take risk and be confident writers.  

Kelly Johnson discusses strategies she uses to get her 9th grade students to read, discuss, and write about the emerging theme as it relates to the characters in the novel Breath, Eyes, Memory in this 5:26 minute video. Kelly uses small group instruction to make sure student voices are heard and to adjust her lesson based on what she saw in the small groups.  She uses close reading to create independent readers who use strategies on their own. Kelly is striving to help students love to read, write, think and talk.

Sports writer Ken Shulman explains how reading, writing, speaking, and listening are required for the successful creation of his radio sports scripts. In this 7:44 min clip, he explains how sports writers read, analyze, and express themselves both verbally and through their writing by being concise, direct, and convincing.  The use of digital tools is demonstrated in the research and presentation of his story about Native American Skateboarders.  

The one-on-one conference is modeled in this 7:57 minute video.  The teacher asks the student what her challenge is and then gives her a little bit of struggle time before supporting and scaffolding the learning.  Strategies/tools to figure out the challenge are shared and they discuss what helped the student.  Standards are available and discussed as well.  A goal for the student is set and signed.  The video concludes with the student sharing their conference as a narrative with the class--a story of the challenge and how they solved it.

Building independence in students is evident as the teacher individually meets with students as they use a graphic organizer (T-Chart).  This 8:34 minute video demonstrates the skills of deconstructing a text, selecting evidence to support comparative thinking and the crafting of  a comparative paragraph.

The process of revision through conferring is demonstrated in the 5:28 minute video.  The focus of this 12th grade creative writing session is how feedback (teacher to student and student to student) can help writers navigate the writing process. 

This 4:58 minute video shows how a school created a Real World Lit class to engage students in contemporary and relevant reading and writing. Students make connections to their own lives and do a lot of reflective writing. It is about empowering readers and writers in a free and open classroom.  They also highlight their collaboration as teachers and how that empowers their instruction.

Analyzing theme using a sequence frame organizer is the focus of this 8:52 minute video.  The teacher of the 7th grade ELA teacher uses the organizer to help students recap the plot and analyze the theme of a whole class novel, create a sequence frame for their own story, and review their own stories to make sure their theme is clear.  The purpose of the lesson is to help the students understand how writers develop and organize their writing. 

In this 9:07 minute video, a 12 grade ELA class contemplates and connects to various published poems about names.  The students discuss their relationship to their name or nickname as a way to wonder and reveal their thinking about names, lifting lines from a poem to extend their thinking. They are then asked to emulate a poem that they read, while given choice on how they write in the spirit of name poetry.  The purpose of the lesson is to understand how poets approach writing poetry and the use of imagery. 

This 4:36 minute video establishes ways that teachers can get their students to talk to each other about math. In group settings, teachers can build students' confidence when discussing math. In addition, by encouraging concise note-taking, teachers provide students with a resource that they can use beyond class. 

This 7:00 minute video reinforces the importance of math literacy by exploring ways that disciplinary literacy can help students interpret math in the world around us (data). How do we read data and know how to ask the right questions? How can we help students do the same?

By creating a collaborative space with constant opportunities for student discussion around solving difficult tasks, teachers can help students develop important 21st century skills. In this 8:00 minute video, teachers will observe the value of incorporating relevant complex text that connects to content discussions.

This 7:00 minute video introduces the BUCK Strategy for word problems: Box the main question, Underline important information needed to solve, Circle the most important vocabulary, and Knock out any information you do not need.

In this 6:12 minute video, students first work individually and then in groups to construct viable mathematical arguments by critiquing each other’s reasoning as they write and communicate about and with math for different authentic purposes and audiences.

Teachers can give students an opportunity to explain their thinking, or a line of learning, about mathematical word problems as a type of formative assessment. This short 3:28 minute video showcases the value of individualized instruction.

This five minute video shows students problem solving in collaboration with peers by asking one another questions. Students are engaged in discussion and are doing the heavy lifting. Because of this, the lesson is student-centered instead of teacher-centered.

The teacher in this 8:00 minute video is intentional about the use of language, writing to explain thinking, and speaking and listening to peers about mathematics. Through the students' written and oral responses, the teacher is able to formatively assess their understanding of key concepts.

In this 5:42 minute video, the teacher engages students by offering choice in learning; this individualized approach provides an opportunity for the teacher to also attend to the social emotional needs of students.

This 4:00 minute video explains the importance of attending to precision. By requiring and encouraging students to use precise academic language in mathematics, they are better able to understand and retain content.

By encouraging collaboration, the teacher in this 7:00 minute video increases student understanding through student discourse. Using reading, writing and vocabulary in math, teachers can increase students' mastery of the concepts.

Throughout this 8:00 minute video, the teacher provides instruction in and opportunities for the use of technology tools to problem solve and communicate in mathematics. This further promotes the idea of making math thinking public.

Problem-based instruction engages students in asking mathematical questions and establishes compelling reasons for writing and communicating about math. This seven-minute video illustrates the importance of providing regular time for students to write both formally and informally. Students are able to make sense of problems, construct viable arguments, critique the reasoning of others, model with math, and persevere.

In this 8:00 minute video, three educational experts explore the following questions: How do students read and explain math? How can they explain why their response makes sense? Through increased focus on disciplinary literacy instructional practices, students concentrate on meaning; furthermore, they learn how to write mathematically by speaking mathematically. 

Two educational experts explore disciplinary literacy in the history/social studies classroom in this seven minute video. By using discipline-specific skills for reading, writing, and communicating (i.e., reading like a historian), students will gain a better understanding of historical events and situations and form their own text-supported conclusions. In effective history/social studies classrooms, the textbook can be a strong reference source as a secondary source of information--not a primary source and certainly not the only source students rely on.  Multiple texts must be analyzed using historical thinking skills to develop evidence-based reasoning.Historical thinking skills are introduced to students as “tools to use” when analyzing documents; the goal is for students to internalize their use to the point where the skillsets become a habit.As students interact with multiple texts utilizing historical thinking skills, they simultaneously will strengthen their skills in writing and speaking.

In this 6:00 minute video, co-teachers engage students in mini-lessons about crafting the right kinds of questions with multiple responses that can be supported with evidence from the text. These questions can generate productive classroom discussions. Students are taught that good questions are those that can be answered and supported by the text through citation of evidence. Both interpretive and analytical questioning is essential; graphic organizers can help students develop both types of questions.Students are assisted in developing Interpretive questions by the phrase, “It says” where they must interpret the text or multiple texts and then refer to an idea or direct citation that helps explain their interpretation. Students are assisted in developing analytical questions by the phrase, “I say,” where they must analyze the text or multiple texts and make a claim and support that claim with evidence from a source or the sources.

This nine minute video illustrates ways that teachers can use strategic grouping techniques, peer revision, self-revision, and teacher feedback to address the skills needed to write a document-based essay. The perspective gained through document analysis is the heart of the document-based essay. Document-based essay writing requires the interpretation of documents and the development of perspective along with the ability to develop a hypothesis, gather and interpret evidence, synthesize and analyze multiple pieces of data.The process of self-reflection is important because as students self-reflect on their work they individually determine their next steps with regard to what they need to work on.  Ms. Westenberg then groups students by the students’ shared goals.  Students then engage in peer collaboration as they each work on polishing their essays.DBQ work is one of the strongest practices for developing social studies literate thinkers.

This eight minute video shows how teachers can prepare students for a Socratic seminar by using multiple sources, student-generated questions, students’ personal goals, and contextual evidence. Synthesis of knowledge through discussion is seen by students as one of the most powerful benefits of the Socratic Seminar. Students set personal goals prior to the start of the Socratic Seminar and self-assess afterward by determining whether they have met their goals. Students synthesize multiple sources to generate questions during the seminar. Reading and annotating plays a significant role in the seminar. Citing evidence is paramount and comes into play during peer assessments and peer shout-outs.

In this 8:26 minute video, students are shown the value of using primary and secondary sources to interpret various historical perspectives. They then use this evidence to support and defend their positions. It is important for students of social studies to interpret primary and secondary sources in order to identify various perspectives across time and place.The building of concept knowledge extends beyond the “knowing of vocabulary” and is important in the analysis of multiple perspectives.The nature of document analysis lends itself to group work.Analysis of visuals as well as text helps students develop their claims. As students discuss their evidence-based perceptions, the opportunity for discussion about complexity in forming opinions and analyzing data is prime. 

In teaching disciplinary writing strategies, Steve Lazar has his social studies students use a personal experience to practice using cause and effect language and then applies the language to content. This video is 8:00 minutes long. Building vocabulary related to cause and effect is paramount. Using a personal event along with cause and effect transitions (sentence prompts) helps students practice the skill of being able to write explicitly about the causes that yielded an effect of a historic event. Helping students understand the ways that events can become complicated and relating the concept to a personal experience helps students solidify their thinking and their writing. Frequent formative assessment helps the teacher gauge student effectiveness with the writing scaffolds.

This five-minute video explains that by investigating both primary and secondary sources, students can expand their understanding of complex historical texts and events. It is important to sequence writing opportunities with both primary and secondary source documents so students can understand that the audience is different for each type of source. Corroborating evidence is important prior to class discussion. It is important to structure discussions to help students develop voice.

Students can use researched facts to debate historical events. By teaching students about the components of an argument, such as counterargument, this 8:35 minute video explains how students can logically support their claims. The debate setting is great for helping students present not only facts to support their opinions, but also to practice refuting claims by the opposite side. Practicing counter-arguments in debate format helps students “play the process through” to determine the strongest evidence to use when writing.