Clinical Teacher Interview Planning How do you write a typical lesson plan?

What format/how much planning is required of you by the school? The school requires us to meet 3 times in a 6-day period. As a team, we have allotted 2 planning days to curriculum planning. The 3rd day is used for data discussions and meeting with the head of lower school for professional development or support. The math lesson plan is simple since we are using a scripted program like Investigations. They are more detailed when we use other resources. The use of Power Point Presentations has helped us summarize the scripts so it does not feel like we are reading from a book. What types of materials and resources do you use when you plan your lessons? In math, we use Pearsons Investigations series as our main program. We also use lessons from www.commoncore.org which was developed for New York State and activities from https://www.georgiastandards.org/Pages/default.aspx. We complement our instruction with math games taken from various websites and teacher-resource books. In what ways do you plan to accommodate for individual differences in the classroom? We accommodate students differences in various ways; by readiness, interest, product, intelligence. We differentiate assignments and ways we deliver lessons. What differences are being accounted for, and what differences should I take into account as I plan my lessons?

When differentiating by readiness, we look at student data to determine if a student needs remediation or extension. When accounting for interest, we give students choices in products to create or topics to choose from. What kinds of things do you do to accommodate for the differences we've just discussed? We make some changes in the assignments like lower numbers when multiplying or working on assignment in small group for support. Instruction What instructional challenges do you face as a teacher? That can either be a time when things just didn't go as planned, or a weakness that you're conscious of and actively working on, or have worked on in the past. At the beginning of my career, I struggled with classroom management. Students have personalities and do not react the same way to situations. Keeping students atten tion and engagement is crucial. What have been some of your instructional successes as a teacher? Tell me about a time when something worked out perfectly. Perhaps an ah-ha moment, something that made you smile, something that reminded you what you do what you do. I think Im always looking to perfect my craft when teaching math. I grew to like math which is quite the feat for me. I was not good at math when I was younger and I relate completely to students who may think of math as scary and stressful. After teaching math for a few years, and liking it, I made it my goal to make it make sense for students. When students have that moment when things finally make sense is worth all the work.

What do you consider to be the essential characteristics of teaching? If a teacher is nothing else, she should be... Flexible How often do your students receive social studies/science instruction? Every day Are you happy with the amount of time you currently allot for science/social studies instruction? Why or why not? Yes, students have it every day and we have the chance to work by unit so topics are not so scattered through the week. What topics will be covered in science during my second week? The human body. What particular topic would you like me to focus my science lesson plan on? Skin. Classroom Management What motivation tactics do you use to ensure a desire to learn? In math, I try to include a lot of hands-on activities, real-world experiences, and the use of white boards for student engagement. Doing projects by interest is always effective. Tell me about the classroom community. What are the class rules? Class rules are decided by the students at the beginning of the year. We choose 5 from a long list of proposed rules. We also abide by the MICS student expectations which are: I am proactive, I am a learner, I am a problem-solver, and I am respectful.

How is student behavior monitored? The use of a checklist which travels from teacher to teacher including exploratories. In what ways is positive behavior reinforced? In our classroom, we use points earned by tables. At the end of the week, students can earn a lunch buddy pass. In what ways are negative behaviors prevented? Some students are not seated together. We try to incorporate brain breaks between lessons. Morning meeting is used to discuss character education topics. Tell me about the consequences for negative behavior? 1st offense: warning 2nd offense: think sheet 3rd offense: call home 4th offense: office referral Tell me about a typical day in your classroom. What is the schedule like? How do your students react to splitting the day between two instructors? Our schedule is as follows: Morning Meeting Science/Social Studies Math Centers Exploratories Math Lunch

Recess Reading Writing Dismissal At the beginning of the year, I think the students and parents were unsure of how this would work but after the first week, they had no problem with it. We color coded the schedule so students would know when one of us would be there.