1. Planning Commentary
Laura Kroncke
October 26, 2012
EPS 513

2. 1.Content Focus and Standards
Summarize the central focusfor the content you will teach in this learning segment.
Describe the standards that relate to this content
The central focus for the content I will teach in this learning segment is how
to map time. The objectives for this lesson are to 1) define century, decade, and
millennium, 2) identify ways to date time, and 3) apply knowledge of mapping time
skills. Students will be learning about different ways of using time, vocabulary that
relates to time, and how labels of time are applied differently depending on the
situation. They will also be practicing finding the number of years between
centuries, labeling centuries on a timeline, and identifying what century a specific
year belongs in. The standard that this lesson aligns with is Illinois State Standard
16.A.1a Explain the difference between past, present and future time. In this lesson,
students will think like historians to identify dates and question if time really
matters.
2. Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching
For each of the categories listed below (a-d), describe what you know about your
students’prior learning and experiences with respect to the central focus of the
learning segment. What do they know, what can they do and what are they are
learning to do? Be very specific about how you have gained knowledge about your
students. What sources of data have informed you? What teaching experiences
have informed you?
a)Academic development (e.g., prior knowledge, prerequisite skills, ways of
thinking in the subject areas, developmental levels, special educational needs)
The first thing that I did prior to planning my first lesson for my classes was to
look at test scores of my students as well as IEPs of the students in my classes. For
the freshmen, I looked at their 8th grade NWEA (Map Test) scores and saw that I had
a wide range of reading abilities in my classes. I had several students who were very
low readers, but did not have an IEP so it was essential that I identified these
students to enable me to best help them. I made a copy of each of my classes’ data
that was provided by the school counselors and have kept it tucked away for
reference. Another useful source of data to learn about my students was to consult
their IEPs. I have several students who have identified learning disabilities as well
as one student who has a physical disability. It was important for me to look at their
IEPs so that I could learn about the type of support they need in the classroom as
well as academic strengths and weaknesses. IEPs hold a lot of information about
students aside from just their academic information so I found that I learned a lot
about my students from looking at the IEPs. There was information about student
interests, family life, and information that their parents wanted to share with the
teachers. I think it would be useful for all students to have some type of record with
that information because it has made it easier for me to build relationships with
those students based on that information.

3. Another source of data that I used to learn about my students’ academic
development was to talk to other teachers who have the same students that I do. I
have all freshmen and sophomores so I found it useful to speak to teachers who
have the same students or that had my students as freshmen last year. I discovered
that my students have different learning preferences in different classes. I also
learned that the strengths my students have in other teachers’ classes were things I
needed to consider in my classroom. For example, one of my students struggles with
reading, but I did not know that until I spoke to another teacher who offered
strategies to help that student such as modeling talking to the text and providing
graphic organizers. I knew that the student was doing poorly on tests and quizzes,
but I did not know the direct reason. Speaking with other teachers has been
beneficial to me so far this year because we can exchange useful information. I think
that collaboration is an important part of teaching, and a great way to collect
informal data through teacher observations.
For this learning segment, I knew that I needed to differentiate my instruction
for the students in my classroom. Because there is such a large gap in learning levels
in my classroom, I knew that I had to have different activities. In my planning, I
scaffolded the information in the lesson by giving whole group instruction and then
releasing the students who I predicted would understand the material while
working directly with the rest of the students. The students who understood the
material quickly would get practice worksheets to work on silently while the rest of
the students would get a more in-depth explanation and practice with the material.
b)Academic Languagedevelopment (e.g., students‟ abilities to understand
and produce the oral or written language associated with the central focus
and standards/objectives within the learning segment)
Through observations of my students, I was able to determine the levels of
vocabulary and content understanding that a majority of the students in my
classroom had. I knew that all of my students understood what time was, but that
many of my students would struggle to understand that time takes many forms such
as time in years and time in minutes, seconds, hours, etc. To gain a quick sense of
where my students were at with this, I planned for a quick write where student
would define time. I planned to walk around and observe what my students wrote
down so I would know who had a more concrete understanding of time, and who
needed more assistance. Another challenge that I foresaw students struggling with
was the difference between centuries, millenniums, and decades. I planned to
address the different prefixes so that students would understand why the words
mean what they do. In regards to the written aspect of my lesson, I planned to model
on the overhead projector the spelling of the main vocabulary. I planned to assist
with oral skills of this lesson by having the students repeat unfamiliar words as a
whole class.
c)Family/community/cultural assets (e.g., relevant lived experiences, cultural
expectations, and student interests)

4. The majority of the students at my school are Latino. One thing that I know
from working with Latino students before and discussing with them time is that in
Mexico, time is not as important as it is here. In Mexico, time is different because
everything is more laid back and they are not as focused on the rushing and being
on time as we are here in the United States. I also knew that many of my students
recently exited the ELL program and would have some confusion about time having
so many different meanings. I planned to explicitly explain time in the sense that we
were going to use it. Another thing I had to carefully plan was a discussion about
how historians label time. In my classroom there are students from many different
religious backgrounds as well as some students who do not believe in any type of
God. I learned about my students’ religious backgrounds by listening to
conversations about students discussing their churches as well as an
autobiographical essay students wrote in the beginning of the year in which some
expressed religion to either be a large part of their life, and some discussed that they
were atheist. When dating time, historians use Before Common Era and Common
Era (BCE, CE). People who believe in religion use Before Christ and Anno Domini
(After Death). Because my students’ religious backgrounds vary, I had to plan to
explain that in our classroom we would be dating time as historians because we are
a history class and we do not bring religion into school. When planning for this
lesson, I realized that all of my students have lived in two different millenniums,
three different decades, and two different centuries. I wanted to address this with
students to make the content relevant to them. I also planned to have students
create a timeline of their lives because I knew that it would help them understand
the content better and make it relevant to their lives.
d)Social and emotional development (e.g., ability to interact and express
themselves in constructive ways, ability to engage in collaborative learning,
nature of contributions to a positive literacy learning environment).
The classes that I planned to do this lesson in are freshman classes. Many of
my students came from different schools and did not know many other students in
the school. To fix this problem and create a positive classroom environment, we had
implemented many group activities as well as frequent think-pair-shares where
they switched partners. Through these activities I was able to identify which
students were likely to volunteer and share answers, which students worked well in
groups, and which students worked best alone. I also learned about my students’
social and emotional development just from observing lessons that my co-resident
or mentor teacher taught. It is easy to pick up on student behavior through
observation. I also learned about my students’ social and emotional development
through informal conversations with my students. Some of my students expressed
that they had a particular group of people or single student that they worked well
with, and some expressed that they are just quiet in general and do not like group
work or volunteering. One major strategy that is used in my classroom is cold
calling. This means that when I draw a popsicle stick from a cup, any student is as
equally responsible for the answer as another student. I also always implement the
no-opt-out strategy in which I always make a student answer whether they figure it

5. out on their own, I have to prompt them, or another student assists them. In my
classroom, students know the expectations from me and know that they are
responsible for their learning and contributing positively to our classroom. When
planning for this lesson, I included a think-pair-share to allow my students to work
in pairs as well as an opportunity for students to share and explain their work to
their classmates. I always plan for opportunities in which students share and
explain their thoughts and work so that all students are engaged in learning.
e) Learning strategies: what instructional and learning strategies have been
effective for your students? How do you know?
The instructional strategies and learning strategies that have been extremely
effective in my classroom have been think-pair-shares, modeling of tasks, and
explicit instruction. Think-pair-shares are always extremely effective because
students can share their thoughts with their partners and gain insight from what
each other says. When they think-pair-share, I always call students at random to
share what they discussed, and I have never had a student not share. I also get more
in-depth responses from students when I have them think-pair-share because they
are engaged in learning and explaining their thought process. The most effective
instructional strategy used in my classroom is modeling of tasks. Before I release
students to work on a task, I always model what they should be doing and how to do
it. Usually this takes the form of doing a question on a worksheet, or providing an
example of a finished product that they will be completing. Sometimes it is even as
simple as modeling what to do when they are done taking a test and need to turn it
in. By doing this, students have the opportunity to understand what is exactly
expected of them, and see how it is done. I have found that some of my most
struggling students have benefited extremely from modeling. Some students in my
class do not need the modeling portion and could be released right after I explain
the instructions, but I do it because I have observed that the majority of my students
benefit from it. The few times that I have forgotten to model the tasks chaos has
ensued in the form of hands in the air with questions. When this happens I have to
bring the class back and explain it again. I have learned that always modeling the
task works best for my students. Something that is related to modeling is explicit
instruction. I find that when I use explicit instruction, my students are focused and
processing the material. I always chunk and chew the material by breaking it up so
that students are not just listening to me talk, but instead processing what they have
learned. When we do this, students are actively engaged and paying attention to the
explicit instruction. In my lesson plan for this learning segment, there are many
opportunities for think-pair-shares, explicit instruction, and modeling the material.
3. Supporting Student Learning
Respond to prompts a-e below to explain how your plans support your students‟
learning related to the central focus of the learning segment. As needed, refer to the
instructional materials you have included to support your explanations. Cite
research and theory to support your explanations.

6. a)Explain how your understanding of your students’ prior learning,
experiences and development guided your choice or adaptation of learning
tasks and materials, to develop students' abilities to successfully meet lesson
segment outcomes.
I know the students in my class, their socioeconomic/cultural/religious
backgrounds, learning abilities, and learning preferences which helped me plan the
lesson. I implemented learning tasks and materials that I knew were favored by the
students in my class and proven to work. I created materials that could be easily
scaffolded through modeling and releasing. Using I do- We do- You do, students
would be learning new material and applying it on their worksheets. I also know
that I have many students in my class who are active students and find it difficult to
sit still for an extended amount of time so I planned for activities that would allow
students to move around. Think-Pair-Shares are used in almost every class session
and have been proven to help students so I planned for one in my lesson.
b)How are the plans for instruction sequenced in the learning segment to
build connections between students‟ prior learning and experiences and new
content skills and strategies?
Plans for instruction are sequenced in the learning segment to build
connections between students’ prior learning and experiences by starting with a do
now question that is based off the homework that students will be assigned the
night before. The do now connects to the homework by defining millennium,
century, and decade. Students will have researched those definitions for homework
and created vocabulary cards. In each segment of the lesson, students are recalling
and identifying information related to time, and then applying it to a new situation.
During the entire lesson, we will be examining time mainly in the form of centuries,
and at the end students will be learning how to identify which century a specific
year falls under as well as finding the years between two centuries. The lesson is
scaffolded in a way where previous information is identified first, and then new
material is taught. After learning the new material, students are given several
opportunities to practice.
c)Explain how, throughout the learning segment, you will help students make
connections between skills and strategies in ways that support their abilities
to deepen their content learning.
I open the learning segment with a discussion of time. This allows students to
argue whether or not time is important. From there, students will be working with
centuries, decades, and millenniums. Throughout the learning segment, I will ask
students to identify how the material connects to them. Because they were born in a
specific year and have had many events happen in their lives, they have an informal
timeline already created in their minds. I will help them identify these things by
asking them to draw out a timeline. I will also emphasize the timeline of Before

7. Common Era and Common Era because when we begin looking at history of Latin
America in a few weeks, they will need to be able to understand the time frame of
events that occurred there. They should be able to identify when things happened in
relation to where we are in time today. I would also like students to be able to figure
out how many years ago events took place. To do this, they need to master the
ability to add and subtract centuries on a timeline. I will emphasize this as they
complete the third activity where they practice adding and subtracting years.
d)Describe common developmental approximationsand misunderstandings
within your content focus and how you will address them.
Common misunderstandings within my content focus are things such as the
use of math to add and subtract time, identifying centuries, and creating timelines.
Students in high school should be able to do multiple-digit addition and subtraction
because that is a developmental approximation, but I do not think that all of my
students will be able to do it without the assistance of a calculator. In this lesson,
students will be working with years adding and subtracting them which can cause
confusion for many students. To address this, I will model a problem on the board
and allow students to use their calculators. Another misunderstanding during this
lesson is identifying which century a year belongs in. It is complicated because
students automatically assume that whatever the first number is identifies what the
century is. I have planned to draw out a timeline of centuries and have students add
on the last seven centuries. Through doing this, they will be able to identify patterns
that exist and create a rule that helps them as an individual identify a specific
century. The last misunderstanding I anticipate is drawing a timeline. We have
worked with timelines before, but some students still do not understand that they
go in chronological order. To help students identify this quality of a timeline, I will
create a sample one and have students think about characteristics of a timeline
before I release them to create their own.
d) Describe any instructional strategies planned to support students with
specific learning needs. This will vary based on what you know about your
students, but may include students with IEPs, English learners, or gifted
students needing greater support or challenge.
As previously mentioned, I planned to scaffold the material in my lesson.
Beginning with modeling the different skills will allow me to reach out to all
learners. Once I have modeled the material, I will release students to complete the
rest of the practice worksheet as I pull students into a small group who may still
need additional modeling or explanation. I have several students with IEPs who
learn best in small group situations so I will pull them and other students who I
predict may struggle into a small group for some of the activities. I also have
planned for activities where students are putting their material on the board and I
will call up the students who have finished the worksheet first to put up their
responses. These are typically the higher level students who may be bored with the

8. material and move quickly. By allowing them to demonstrate their knowledge on
the board, they will not just be waiting at their desks for their classmates to finish.
4.Supporting Student Understanding and Use of Academic Language
Respond to the prompts below to explain how your plans support your students’ academic
language development.
a)Identify the key academic language demandand explain why it is integral to the
central focus for the segment and appropriate to students’ academic language
development. Consider language functionsand language forms, essential vocabulary,
and/or phrases for the concepts and skills being taught, and instructional language
necessary for students to understand or produce oral and/or written language within
learning tasks and activities.
In my lesson, the key academic language demand students will be using is labeling,
sequencing, and organizing. These language demands are integral to the central focus for
this segment because students need to be able to put time in order and label start and end
points. These are language demands that they can transfer across content areas as well as
will need to use in the future on standardized tests. Vocabulary words that students need to
know for this lesson are timeline, century, decade, and millennium. These are words that
are applicable to real life because they classify time and identify where we are in the history
of the world. Students need to be aware of these things to have a greater understanding of
history and the current world in general. Instructional language I will use is words such as
label, identify, circle, underline, draw, create, and write. These are all action words that are
familiar to students and things that they will be physically doing.
b) Explain how planned instructional supports will assist students to understand
academic language related to the key language demand to express and develop their
content learning. Describe how planned supports vary for students at different levels
of academic language development.
The academic language used in this lesson is timeline, century, decade, and
millennium. To address these words we will define them at the beginning of the lesson and
throughout the lesson. For homework, students will have already written definitions of the
words, their own definition of the words, and drawn a picture to help them visually identify
the word. Students who still need help with these words will be giving additional support by
me. I will provide examples of each of the words and break down the words using their
prefixes. Students will be expected to know the words for the rest of the year and in history
classes beyond mine so it is essential that they have a deep understanding of the words and
are able to apply them in different settings.
5. Monitoring Student Learning
a)Explain how the informal and formal assessments you select and/or
designed will provide evidence you will use to monitor student progress
toward the standards/objectives. Consider how the assessments will provide
evidence of students’ use of content specific skills and strategies to promote
rigorous learning.

9. Informal assessments that I will use during class to monitor student progress
are checks for understanding, observations, do now, and exit tickets. I will have
students work on tasks by themselves and check for understanding by cold calling
students to see what their answers are. I will also do observations where I walk
around and check students’ work as they are working. I will assist any students who
appear to be struggling by giving them additional information and checking back in
later. The do now is an informal assessment at the start of class so I can see what my
students know about the material and vocabulary we are going to be covering
during class. If it appears they do not know it, we will spend time going over it prior
to beginning the lesson. Exit tickets will tell me the most information about the
students’ learning during the class because I will be able to see who understood the
information from the lesson and who needs more support. The exit tickets will
consist of all of the major content from class such as timelines, turning years into
centuries, adding and subtracting years, and identifying years within a century. If a
majority of the students do poorly on the exit ticket, I will know that we need to go
over the information in a different way during the next class session.
b) Describe any modifications or accommodations to the planned assessment
tools or procedures that allow students with specific needs to demonstrate
their learning.
Students with specific needs are required to complete the exit ticket, but they
can come in during office hours to verbally explain the content or use their materials
to elaborate on the information they wrote on the exit ticket. The format that
students with specific needs get to complete their exit ticket in depends on what is
written on their IEP as well as observations that are made in class. For example, one
of my students with an IEP struggles to write out their thoughts, but they are able to
verbally explain concepts in a concrete manner. All students are able to redo their
exit tickets if they do not meet standards, and when they redo them they are
required to write how they know the new answer is the right one. Support is
provided for all students during office hours regardless of if that student has specific
needs as identified through an IEP or not.