Content Lesson Interview

Assessing Content Understanding

Questions

Directions:  Candidate presents interviewer with lesson plan or content area being taught to students.  Candidate completes the interview questions prior to the formal interview.  Candidate submits the completed document electronically and brings a copy to the interview.  Interviewer will read the lesson plan(s) and use the plan(s) to personalize the interview as needed.  Interviewer will ask the main questions and as many of the supporting questions as are appropriate to the lesson.  Candidate should familiarize him/herself with the rubric for this assignment before completing the interview questions.  In assessing the interview, the interviewer will refer to the rubric and write the scores in the appropriate boxes.

1.  Have you identified the content standards in your planning?

            Are these aligned with the National and State Standards from the professional organizations?

            Can you identify the standards in your lesson plans?

2.   Why are these standards important?

            Explain in terms of structure of the discipline, organization (scope and sequence) of the curriculum, developmentally appropriate experiences, or student needs.

3.  In what ways have you assessed students’ prior knowledge in this area?  What were the   results?

            Are these students’ conceptions or misconceptions that you are addressing in your planning?

     How has this information impacted on your planning?

4.  Describe the activity(ies) that you selected.  What ideas are important?

            What skills are being practiced?

            What dispositions are being fostered?

            Are there any distortions or content knowledge or misconceptions that need your attention as the activity progresses?

5.  What activities did you find or consider, but dismissed because you believed that they did not lead to adequate content understanding?

6.  What higher-level questions have you planned to deepen student understanding of the content or to engage students in critical thinking?

            Where in the lesson do you plan to ask students to elaborate?  Summarize?  Evaluate?

7.  What content questions or connections would you like to hear from the students?

8.  What will you base your next plan upon?

            Student responses?  Student sustained interest?  Developing conceptions or misconceptions?    Evaluation results?  New content?

9.  How is the classroom environment going to support student learning?

10. What resources have proven most helpful in your planning?  What resources will you need for future lesson development?