Domain 1: Planning and Preparation

The first of the so-called domains which Charlotte Danielson divided a teacher's responsibilities into in the famous Framework for Teaching is planning and preparation.  This consists of developing lessons specifically for one's own students, making the best use of available resources to ensure that students learn what they're meant to.

Domain 1a:  Demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy
My district requires exploration of the relationship between the U.S. and Latin America during the period of U.S. international expansion and imperialism at the turn of the 20th century.  To explore how the U.S. used its foreign policy in this era, I had students do a team station activity on the Panama Canal.  In a station activity, students form teams which move from one poster to another, searching for information and filling in their worksheets.  This activity allows in-depth exploration of the subject, since I can add more information and illustrations than are given in the textbook, and when one student is struggling to isolate necessary information, teammates can help.

Domain 1b:  Demonstrating knowledge of students

A simple TPT for debates.

One of the trickiest factors in teaching is getting a sense of what methods you need to use with different students to get them to learn, and how they'll react to methods that aren't suited for them.  I quickly found that nearly all the students in one of my three classes were very studious, but also reluctant to answer questions, let alone engage in classroom discussions.  Knowing that it would be tricky to get this group to respond out loud, I felt a total participation technique would be especially apt for them.  In a lesson delivered on October 31, 2023, I held a flash debate on whether the United States was justified in declaring war on Spain in 1898.  To facilitate student response, I gave each student a Yes and a No card and called on them to all hold up their decision at once.  This method allows students to share their opinions silently before easing into discussion.

Domain 1c:  Setting instructional outcomes and Domain 1e:  Designing coherent instruction
Teaching is a trip from point A to B — A being wherever each student is now, and B being where all your students have learned what you want them to for this lesson.  Regardless of exactly which route you choose to get students where they need to go, you always need to know what ground needs to be covered before starting each leg of the trip.

I begin planning lessons such as the one seen here by reading the curriculum and official textbook, locating the expected objectives, and breaking the lesson section down into a list of topics.  Then I decide what needs to be explored in-depth to suit the curriculum and give students a good understanding of the historical events they're studying.  Finally, I select a variety of activities which will cover each of the topics, and sequence them to keep students' attention (since different individuals are better at absorbing visual, audio or written information, I attempt to ensure that the message reaches then in every different way) and give them a chance to learn individually or together:  videos, readings with partners, station activities, and many more.  Beyond certain activities such as the lecture that begins each section, I avoid using set patterns so that students won't fall into a rut, and I try to vary the way each section is delivered so that, for instance, students aren't sitting quietly and doing one piece of writing after another or watching one video after another.

Another important consideration is to set priorities for what must be accomplished, and prepare shorter optional learning activities which will enrich students' understanding if we have time to get to them, but which won't leave a serious knowledge or skill deficit if they need to be skipped because the most important parts of each lesson run long.  Before going through with the lesson, I take a look back and make sure that all my bases are covered in the non-optional activities.

Domain 1d:  Demonstrating knowledge of resources
A well-furnished school of today is nothing like it was when I was in secondary school.  In my neck of the woods, a school is likely to have a full library, a computer for every student, its own local area network, office supplies and tools for creating posters, and more.  On the Internet, vast databases of learning activities and information for teachers are at one's fingertips.  In my situation, it's therefore up to a teacher's judgement to select the resources that meet the needs and skill level of the class; there's no excuse for coming up short.  For instance, when my students were getting ready for their chapter 12 final, I knew they needed to review topics like the Treaty of Paris and Wilson's Fourteen Points from as many different angles as I could provide them.  I discovered a review activity on Teachers Pay Teachers called Whodunnit? Fact Finders in which students use their knowledge about the end of World War I to assemble the solution to a crime.  I knew right away that it would be a great fit for my lesson.

 

Domain 1f:  Designing student assessments
A good teacher can get a sense of how well the class is comprehending the material by just asking them.  Over the weeks at my full-time student teaching placement, however, I've found that due to many of my students' reluctance to speak out loud, assessment is best carried out through written work.  When possible, I like to collect and photocopy non-graded assignments to look over later, returning the originals to students so they can use their work as study material.  For instance, this Panama Canal worksheet quickly illustrates what the student comprehended about the assignment and what they didn't.  Ensuring that the assessment is in line with the learning objective is simply a matter of designing an assessment which is the student doing what the learning objective expects of them.