Content Lesson Interview

Assessing Content Understanding

Questions

Directions: Candidate completes the interview questions prior to the formal interview.  Candidate submits the completed document and corresponding lesson plan to the interviewer. 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. What standards have you selected for this lesson?

 Why are these standards important?

            How do your standards relate to your lesson objective(s)?

2.  In what ways have you gathered information about students’ prior knowledge in this area?  What did you learn?

How has this information impacted on your planning?

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

3. Describe the teaching procedures that you selected.         

What knowledge/skills/dispositions are involved in the lesson?

How do your procedures relate to the selected standards and lesson objectives?

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

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

4.  What active learning strategies have you planned to deepen student understanding of the content or to engage students in critical thinking?

What higher level thinking questions do you plan to ask?

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

            Create?

5. How will you assess student learning?

How will you measure if students have met the lesson objective(s)?

6. What information will inform your planning for the next lesson?

What will you do if students have met the lesson objective(s)?

What will you do if students have not met the lesson objective(s)?

7. What modifications did you make in your plan?

Why did you choose these adaptations?

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

How is the physical environment arranged for this lesson?

What strategies/practices/routines are already in place? What strategies/practices/routines have you planned to implement specifically for this lesson?

How have you planned to manage student behavior during your lesson?

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