- Houston Independent School District
- Effective Practices
- PL-3 Design Effective Lesson Plans, Units & Assessments
OLD-Professional Development
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Effective Practices
- PL Toolkit
- PL-1 Develops Student Learning Goals
- PL-2 Data-driven instruction
- PL-3 Design Effective Lesson Plans, Units & Assessments
- I-1 Objective Driven Lessons
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I-2 Check for Understanding
- Assess Mastery
- Begin with the End
- Checkpoints
- Chunking Text
- Closure
- Cold Call
- Exit Ticket
- Graphic Organizer
- Guided Practice
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Post It
- Randomizing Responses
- Right is Right
- Running Roster
- Stretch It
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student Conferences
- Student-Generated Questions
- Teach Back
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I-3 Differentiation
- Chunking Text
- Double Plan
- Exit Ticket
- Flexible Grouping
- Graphic Organizer
- Grappling
- HOT Question
- Independent Practice
- Leveled Text
- Multimedia
- Open-Ended Responses
- Post It
- Product Menus
- Right is Right
- Running Roster
- Stretch It
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student-Generated Questions
- Take a Stand
- Tiered Assignments
- Workstations
- I-4 Higher Level Thinking
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I-5 Maximizing Instructional Time
- 100 Percent
- Academic Posture
- Call and Response
- Cold Call
- Do Now
- Entry Routine
- Exit Routine
- Job Assignments
- Material Organization
- Non-Verbal Interventions
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Pacing Tools
- Right is Right
- Stretch It
- Strong Voice
- Student Conference
- Teach Back
- Tight Transitions
- Work the Clock
- Workstations
- I-6 Communicating Content/Concepts
- I-7 High Academic Expectations
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I-8 Student Engagement
- Academic Posture
- Call and Response
- Closure
- Cold Call
- Do Now
- Engage and Connect
- Graphic Organizer
- HOT Question
- Independent Practice
- J-Factor
- Job Assignments
- Leveled Text
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Product Menus
- Randomizing Responses
- Real-World Connections
- Reinforcers
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student-Generated Questions
- Workstations
- Work Hard, Get Smart
- I-9 Classroom Management
- I-10 Classroom Climate
- Literacy Routines
- Academics
- Swivl Pilot Program
- Professional Development
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PL-3 Designs effective lesson plans, units, and assessments
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The Planning Criteria
The Planning Criteria of the rubric encompasses a teacher’s capacity to develop annual student learning goals, track and use student data to drive instruction, and design effective unit and lesson plans with aligned assessments.
Within PL -3, you will find effective practices and videos supporting teacher-designed lesson plans, units, and assessments targeting measurable learning objectives that lead students toward mastery.
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PL Toolkit Resources
- Recommendations for Intervention Example
- Review and Reteach Plan
- Objective Template with Lesson Planner
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Rubric Indicators
The following best describes a teacher performing at Level 3 in this criterion:
- Teacher selects or develops student learning objectives that are tightly aligned to annual goals and are measurable using assessments or rubrics.
- Teacher plans backward-designed units by:
- selecting or developing assessments and/or rubrics that accurately measure student mastery of unit learning objectives, and
- designing a sequence of lessons that leads students towards mastery of unit learning objectives as determined by those assessments.
- Teacher writes lesson plans that describe: lesson objectives, learning activities that are sequenced to lead students towards mastery of those objectives, and how student mastery of objectives will be assessed.
- Teacher allocates adequate time within a unit for students to master each objective while maintaining fidelity to district curriculum requirements.
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Reflection Questions
Use the following reflection questions to guide thinking around the effective practices. They can be used individually or to facilitate conversation during PLCs, department meetings or as an entire faculty.
- How do goals inform the way you utilize assessment data to plan quality instruction?
- What is your assessment of your current planning practices and what area(s) do you view as opportunities for growth?
- How do you know at the end of the lesson that students have mastered the content?
- How does being an effective planner impact your ability to provide effective instruction?