Embedded Files
Overview
Overview
Structured lessons provide a clear sequence that helps students build understanding efficiently and effectively. When lessons are intentionally sequenced--from activitating prior knowledge to summarizing new learning--students are more engaged, confident, and successful.
🎯 Why It Matters
🎯 Why It Matters
Improves cognitive load management
Builds confidence and reduces confusion
Encourages connection between prior and new learning
Enhances flow and pacing across a class period or unit
Supports equity by making learning predictable and accessible
A well-structured lesson is like a great story--it hooks students, builds momentum, and ends with a powerful takeaway.
🧠 Strategy Checklist
🧠 Strategy Checklist
🔹 BEFORE THE LESSON
☐ Identify the learning goal and success criteria
☐ Plan a clear structure: Launch → Learn → Land
☐ Prepare any worked examples, models, or anchor charts
☐ Anticipate common misunderstandings and plan scaffolds
☐ Ensure materials and tech are ready for smooth flow
🔹 DURING THE LESSON
☐ Begin with the learning intention and success criteria
☐ Activate prior knowledge or link to previous learning
☐ Provide clear input/modeling before guided practice
☐ Use transitions to signal shifts in lesson phases
☐ Embed quick checks for understanding to guide pacing
🔹 END OF LESSON / REFLECTION
☐ Summarize key learning and revisit the goal
☐ Provide time for student reflection or self-assessment
☐ Preview where learning is headed next (build momentum)
☐ Adjust plans based on student understanding and feedback
👀 Look-Fors
👀 Look-Fors
Clear beginning, middle, and end to the lesson
Learning goals introduced and referenced throughout
Smooth transitions between phases of instruction
Students know what they are doing, why, and what’s next
Time allocated for guided, independent, and reflective work
📈Continuum of Practice
📈Continuum of Practice
FOUNDATIONAL
Teacher:
Lessons are delivered reactively with little structure or flow.
EMERGING
Teacher:
Lessons follow a general outline but lack cohesion across components.
PROFICIENT
Teacher:
Lessons include a consistent structure with transitions, success criteria, and reflection.
TRANSFORMING
Teacher:
Lessons are intentionally sequenced for mastery, include formative checkpoints, and adapt in real time.
Student:
Students are confused about expectations or goals.
Student:
Students understand parts of the lesson but struggle to see the connections.
Student:
Students are engaged, know the goal, and participate confidently.
Student:
Students articulate the purpose of each part of the lesson and monitor their own progress.
🗃️ Structures
🗃️ Structures
LESSON LAUNCH
Kick off the lesson with clarity and connection to get every student mentally “in the game.”
Learning Intention + Success Criteria: Clearly post and explain what students will learn and how they’ll know they’ve got it
Quick Retrieval Review: Revisit yesterday’s learning with a fast question, problem, or mini-discussion
Hook or Connection Prompt: Use a scenario, question, visual, or real-world link to spark curiosity
Student Goal Alignment: Let students identify how today’s lesson connects to their personal goals
EXPLICIT INPUT & MODELING
Deliver content clearly, with strategic examples and teacher-led thinking.
Think-Alouds: Model not just the steps, but the thought process behind them
Step-by-Step Demonstrations: Break tasks into digestible parts with clear transitions
Anchor Charts: Build visual guides live with students to capture key steps or strategies
Worked Examples: Show “what success looks like” and unpack it in real time
ACTIVE PROCESSING & PRACTICE
Let students apply and rehearse the learning with support, building toward independence.
Guided Practice with Feedback: Provide support while students apply the skill (e.g., “We do” and “You do together”)
Collaborative Tasks: Students work in pairs or groups using discussion prompts or checklists
Scaffolded Independent Practice: Gradually remove supports while students apply what they’ve learned
Checks for Understanding: Use thumbs, whiteboards, exit slips, or quick writes to assess comprehension in real time
CLOSURE & REFLECTION
Wrap up intentionally — reinforcing key concepts and preparing students for next steps.
Revisit the Success Criteria: Ask students to self-assess or explain how they met the goal
3-2-1 Exit Slip: 3 things learned, 2 questions, 1 strategy to try
Turn & Reflect: Students pair up to share what stuck and what’s still confusing
Bridge to Tomorrow: Preview how today’s learning connects to upcoming work
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