This is the video observation rubric that will be used for the study.
Thirteen PLATO Elements
Accommodations for Language Learning (ALL)
Connections to Personal and Cultural Experiences (CPE)
Connections to Prior Academic Knowledge (CPK)
Modeling and Use of Models (MOD)
Representation of Content (RoC)
Strategy Use and Instruction (SUI)
The element of Accommodations for Language Learning (ALL) focuses on the range of strategies and supports that a teacher might use to make a lesson accessible to non-native English speakers or native speakers struggling to develop ELA skills. These accommodations take into account individual students’ levels of language proficiency and can include a strategic use of primary language, differentiated materials (pictures, other visuals, or hands-on materials), as well as graphic organizers and visual displays to make texts and instruction accessible to all students. At the high end, teachers effectively modify assignments and assessments so that all students successfully meet the ELA goals for the lesson, despite their level of language proficiency.
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1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
Supportive Materials for Language Learning |
Teacher does not provide accessible, supportive materials in the room (charts, sentence starters) that students can use as referents/prompts. |
Teacher provides a few accessible, supportive materials that are relevant to the purpose of the lesson in the room to assist students, but neither the teacher nor the students use them. |
Teacher provides accessible, supportive materials that are relevant to the purpose of the lesson to assist students and prompts or refers students to use them. |
Teacher provides accessible, supportive materials that are relevant to the purpose of the lesson to assist students. Teacher prompts students to use the supports as they complete the activity and there is evidence that students use them. |
Use of Academic Language |
Teacher does not introduce, define, or prompt use of academic and disciplinary terms. |
Teacher rarely introduces, defines, or prompts the use of key academic and disciplinary terms, but the teacher and students do not use them in classroom conversation. Alternatively, the teacher may use academic terms, but not explain their meaning to students. |
Teacher introduces, defines, prompts, incorporates, and repeatedly highlights key academic and disciplinary language into instruction. |
Teacher consistently introduces, defines, prompts, incorporates, and repeatedly highlights key academic and disciplinary language and terms. Teacher provides multiple opportunities for students to use these terms. |
The element of Behavior Management (BM) focuses on the degree to which behavior management facilitates academic work and is concerned with behavioral norms and consequences. This component does not presume that an ideal classroom is a quiet and controlled one. The key question is whether student behavior is appropriate for the task at hand; an “orderly” classroom will look different during a lecture than it would during small group work. Teachers who take a more active role in behavior management or have different standards in terms of noise level in the classroom should not be penalized if students respond quickly and appropriately to teacher comments (e.g., “Lower your voices.” “Eyes up here.”), and the classroom is orderly and students are generally on task. However, repeated disciplinary comments can be used as evidence that students are not responding appropriately We differentiate between off-task and disruptive behavior and capture visible/audible off-task behavior that is not necessarily disruptive in time management.
|
Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
Provides consistent strong evidence |
Behavior Management |
The
classroom is disorderly, and student behavior is a major
impediment to learning. |
The
classroom is somewhat disorderly, and student behavior sometimes
impedes learning. |
The
classroom is mostly orderly, and student behavior generally
permits learning. |
The
classroom is orderly, and student behavior facilitates
learning. |
The
element of Classroom
Discourse (CD)
focuses on the opportunities students have for extended ELA-related
talk with the teacher or among peers, and the extent to which the
teacher and other students pick up on, build on, and clarify each
other’s ideas. At the low end, the teacher does the majority of
the talking and, if student talk is present, the teacher and students
do not build on previous responses; rather, the talk is disconnected.
At the highest level, students engage in elaborated, coherent, and
focused discussions, in which the teacher and other students build on
each other’s contributions and prompt each other to clarify and
specify their ideas.
|
1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
Uptake of Student Responses |
Teacher
or students rarely if ever respond to students’ ideas about
ELA content. |
Teacher or students respond briefly to student ideas, and responses do not elaborate or help develop the ideas (e.g., restating without academic language, simple “I agree/disagree” statements that do not specifically reference a previous comment). Alternatively, the teacher may mostly respond to student ideas with automatic responses interspersed with an isolated instance of higher-level uptake (e.g., re-voicing in academic language; asking for clarification, elaboration or evidence). |
Teacher or student contributions show a balance between brief responses and higher-level uptake (e.g., re-voicing in academic language; asking for clarification, elaboration or evidence). There are multiple instances in which the teacher or students specifically address student ideas. |
Teacher or students consistently engage in high-level uptake of students’ ideas, responding in ways that expand on student ideas or enable students to further explain, clarify and specify their thinking. |
Opportunities for Student Discussion |
There are few to no opportunities for ELA-related student talk. Teacher lecture, extended introduction (including giving directions) to an assignment or activity, or recitation formats lasting fewer than 5 minutes would fall in this category. |
Talk is tightly teacher-directed, but there are occasional opportunities for brief ELA-related student talk. Examples include recitation formats lasting 5 minutes or longer, or ELA related talk (whole group, small group, partner talk) lasting fewer than 5 minutes. |
Teacher provides opportunities for at least 5 minutes of ELA-related conversation between teacher and students, and/or among students. Some students participate by speaking and/or actively listening, but only 2-3 students are the primary participants. There may still be a substantial amount of teacher direction, and some of the questions that guide the conversation are open-ended. Student-directed discussions that fail to stay on-track would also be at this level. |
Teacher provides opportunities for at least 5 minutes of ELA-related conversation between teacher and students, and/or among students. The majority of students participate by speaking and/or actively listening, and students are responding to each other, even if the teacher is still mediating the conversation. The questions that guide the conversation are mostly open-ended, and the focus of the conversation is clear and stays on-track. |
The element of Connections to Personal and Cultural Experiences (CPE) focuses on the extent to which new material is connected to students’ personal and cultural experiences. At the high end, these linkages engage students in a lesson, pique their interest in a topic, and illustrate ideas and concepts within English Language Arts. At the low end, references may be made to personal and cultural experiences, but they are not strongly connected to the content of the lesson or to the goals of ELA instruction more generally and so do not seem to advance student learning.
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1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
Links to Personal and/or Cultural Experiences for Academic Purpose |
Teacher or students do not refer to or elicit students’ personal and/or cultural experiences to engage them in a topic or to illustrate a point or idea. |
Teacher
or students may refer briefly or superficially to students’
personal experiences and/or cultural phenomena or try to elicit
students’ personal/ cultural experiences. |
Teacher
or students elicit or refer to students’ personal and/or
cultural experiences to engage them in a topic or to illustrate a
point or idea. |
Teacher
or students effectively refer explicitly to and elicit students’
personal experiences to engage them in a new topic or to
illustrate a new point or idea. |
The
element of Connections
to Prior Academic Knowledge (CPK)
focuses on the extent to which new material is connected to students’
previous academic knowledge. At the high end, new material explicitly
builds on prior academic knowledge to develop skills, strategies, and
conceptual understandings within a knowledge domain in order to meet
the lesson’s goals. At the lower end, connections may be made
occasionally, but they do not advance student learning.
|
1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
Links to Prior Academic Knowledge |
Teacher or students do not refer to prior lessons nor elicit students’ prior/background academic knowledge on a topic. |
Teacher
or students may refer briefly or superficially to prior lessons
and/or attempt to elicit students’ prior/background academic
knowledge. |
Teacher
elicits or refers to students’ prior/background academic
knowledge multiple times on a topic. |
Teacher
or students refer explicitly to prior lessons and elicit students’
prior/background academic knowledge on a topic (one or several
really clear examples). |
The
element of Feedback
(FDBK) focuses on
the quality of feedback provided in response to student application
of ELA skills, concepts, or strategies. Feedback includes comments on
the quality or nature of student work as well as suggestions for how
students can improve the quality of their work.
At the
high end, feedback is specific and targets the skills at the heart of
the activity. The feedback helps students understand the quality of
their work and helps students better perform the task at hand by
addressing substantive elements of the task. At the low end, feedback
consists of vague comments that are not clearly anchored in student
work and suggestions for improvement tend to be procedural (i.e.
focused on the instructions for the activity rather than the skills
or knowledge that students are applying). These comments do not help
students gauge their progress and do not provide a means for students
to improve. At the low end, feedback may also be confusing or
misleading.
Feedback can be provided while students are
working on a task or after a task has been completed. Teachers may
also orient students to an activity they are about to do by providing
feedback on past work (e.g., “I noticed that when writing
dialogue, many of you did a great job of incorporating different
dialects, so we’re going to build on that by working with
dialect in our poetry.”).
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1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
Quality of Feedback |
The teacher does not provide feedback to students. |
Teacher and/or students provide feedback that is vague, repetitive, perfunctory, or misleading (e.g., “Good job,” “Right,” “No”). Suggestions for how to improve student performance are procedural rather than substantive. Teacher questions that imply next steps or suggestions for improvement fall at this level (e.g., “Have you thought about adding more details?” or “Have you asked your neighbor what they think?”). |
Teacher and/or students provide some feedback specific to features of students’ work or ideas. Feedback is constructive and clear. Suggestions for how to improve work are a mix of the procedural and substantive. |
Teacher and/or students frequently and consistently provide specific feedback. Suggestions for how to improve work are largely substantive. It is reasonable to infer that feedback helps students with the activity. |
The element of Intellectual Challenge (IC) focuses on the intellectual rigor of the activities students engage in during the instructional segment.
Activities with high intellectual challenge ask students to engage in analytic or inferential thinking.
Activities with low challenge, in contrast, only require students to engage in recall or rote thinking.
Intellectual Challenge also depends on the level of analytic or inferential thinking demanded by the questions asked by the teacher during class activities.
When the class is working as a whole group, score intellectual challenge based on the proportion of the work that is inferential or analytic.
When the teacher provides instructions and asks students to work individually or in small groups, determine the intellectual challenge of the activities as presented by the teacher and then adjust the score according to comments and questions by the teacher and students.
High-level questions can maintain the rigor of a challenging task or can increase the rigor of an otherwise rote or routine task.
Questions and comments that focus on routine, rote, or procedural aspects of an otherwise challenging task will degrade the score.
|
1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
Intellectual Demand of Activities and Questions |
Teacher provides activities or assignments that are almost entirely rote or recall. Silent reading and lecture without the provision of inferential or analytic focusing questions for students would score at this level. |
Teacher provides activities or assignments that are largely rote or recall, but a portion of the segment promotes analysis, interpretation, inferencing, or idea generation. |
Teacher provides a mix of activity or assignments: most promote analysis, interpretation, inferencing, or idea generation, and a few are focused on recall or rote tasks. |
Teacher provides rigorous activities or assignments that largely promote sophisticated or high-level analytic and inferential thinking, including synthesizing and evaluating information and/or justifying or defending their answers or positions. |
Adjustment based on teacher and student questions and comments |
Do
not adjust the score if teacher and student questions and comments
are in line with rigor of the activity as initially presented to
students.
- Adjust DOWN one score point if teacher and student questions and comments are less challenging than the activity as initially presented.
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The element of Modeling and Use of Models (MOD) focuses on the degree to which a teacher visibly enacts strategies, skills, and processes targeted in the lesson to guide students’ work before or while they complete the task, the extent to which they are analyzed or not, and whether they are used to illustrate for students what constitutes good work on a given task. The teacher might model metacognitive or discussion strategies, a think aloud on how to identify theme, demonstrating how to support a statement with textual evidence, and so on. Modeling often includes think-aloud and role-plays. This element also includes the use of models to support students in completing the task at hand. At the high end, the teacher decomposes specific features of the process by using modeling or models to provide detailed instruction. At the low end, the teacher may simply refer to a model, without using it to provide instruction in the task at hand or visibly enacting the strategies, skills or processes that are targeted. Students may also be involved in modeling. A teacher who completes the student task while the students are completing the task with no additional instruction (e.g., reading during SSR or journaling while students are journaling) receives a 2 on this element.
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1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
Modeling |
Teacher does not visibly enact strategies, skills, or processes targeted in the lesson. A model, if present, is not explained or used to provide instruction in the task at hand. |
Teacher
partially demonstrates or enacts strategies, skills, or processes
targeted in the lesson, but the modeling is incomplete, only
available to some students, or inaccurate or
unclear. |
Teacher
clearly, accurately, and completely enacts strategies, skills, or
processes targeted in the lesson. The modeling is complete and
available to most students. |
Teacher
clearly, accurately, and completely enacts strategies, skills, or
processes directly related to ELA targeted in the lesson. The
modeling goes beyond showing students how to complete procedural
tasks. In addition, the teacher decomposes specific features of
the process, strategy, or skill being modeled by explaining how
and why. |
The
element of Purpose
(PUR) attempts to
capture both the coherence of the lesson around a communicated
objective (internal learning goal) and the position of the lesson
within a larger context (situated learning goal). The internal
learning goal speaks to lesson structure and the relevance of
classroom activities toward meeting a learning goal identified by the
teacher. Situated purpose speaks to the future relevance to motivate
the students to engage with the task at hand. The element focuses on
whether the purpose of the lesson is made explicit by the teacher, is
tied to the goals of ELA instruction, and is reflected in the
activities undertaken by the class. At the highest level an ELA
related purpose is clearly articulated, the lesson activities
directly address and make progress toward the stated purpose, and the
teacher or students check their progress toward achieving the purpose
during and at the end of the lesson.
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1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
Purpose |
There is no clear learning goal in the class or the learning goal is not related to the development of reading and writing skills, oral communication, or understanding of literature. |
There is a learning goal communicated or inferred, that is connected to the development of ELA skills. The goal takes the form of a general topic or activity (e.g., “Today we will learn about mood.”). The lesson’s activities may not align to the learning goal. |
There
is a clearly communicated, specific, learning goal that is
connected to the development of ELA skills. |
There
is a clearly communicated, specific, learning goal that is
connected to the development of ELA skills. |
The element of Representation of Content (RoC) focuses on the teacher’s ability and accuracy in representing ELA content (reading, writing, literature, grammar/mechanics, and oral communications) to students through effective and meaningful explanations, examples, and analogies, along with the conceptual richness of the teacher’s instructional explanations. Only publicly visible representations of content should be factored into scoring (i.e. examples in textbooks or on worksheets that are not discussed as a class should not be factored into a segment’s score). At the lowest level, the teacher may introduce ideas (i.e. close reading, editing, symbolism), but either does not provide any examples or explanations or provide incorrect examples or explanations. At the highest level, the teacher provides clear and nuanced explanations and helps students distinguish between different but related ideas, and the instruction focuses on conceptual understanding of ELA content. Clarity of directions of instructions should not factored into scoring this element. The ways in which students represent content should also not be factored into a segment’s score except when the teacher picks up on or clarifies a student’s idea with an example, model, analogy, or explanation. In the rare case where the teacher is not representing any content during the full fifteen minutes (i.e. during Sustained Silent Reading), one should score this element a 1.
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1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
|
|
Teacher provides weak or incorrect explanations of ELA concepts that may include incorrect analogies, examples or explanations. |
Teacher provides incomplete or perfunctory examples, analogies, or explanations that only touch on surface-level features of ELA content. The explanations are only partially successful in illuminating a concept. |
Teacher provides accurate and clear examples, analogies, or explanations to sufficiently explain ELA concepts. While the teacher may address student misunderstandings, the teacher does not highlight the nuances of concepts, or provide counterexamples to help students distinguish among different features of related ideas. |
Teacher provides examples, analogies, or explanations that are accurate and clear. In addition, the teacher addresses student misunderstandings, highlights the nuances of concepts (perhaps through the use of multiple slightly different examples or models), or provides counterexamples to help students distinguish among different features of related ideas. |
|
Conceptual Richness of Instructional Explanations |
|
The teacher provides superficial representation of ELA content, focusing on rules, procedures and labels, with little attention to conceptual or deeper understanding. |
The teacher’s representation of content includes a balance of a focus on rules, procedures, and labels, as well as attention to conceptual or deeper understanding. |
The majority of the teacher’s instruction focuses on conceptual understanding of ELA content. The teacher provides instruction that goes beyond the superficial to a focus on interpretation or deeper understanding of the concepts. |
The
element of Text-Based
Instruction (TBI)
assesses the degree to which students engage in activities and
discourse that are grounded in authentic texts. The element captures
both the degree to which students use authentic texts and engage in
the production of them. At the highest level, the teacher is using
the text in the service of a larger goal: the development of readers
and writers. Students actively use authentic texts for a sustained
period of time to deepen their understanding of the text and wider
genre and/or engage in writing authentic texts for a sustained period
of time with attention to specific features of style and genre.
Authentic texts include: published material,
student-generated work, pieces of music or art, or film/video. When
excerpts of text are taken entirely out of context (specific words or
sentences divorced from the surrounding text, they no longer function
as authentic texts). The use of texts for purely informational
purposes (e.g., definitions in a dictionary, explanations in a
textbook) is not considered text-based instruction.
This
element can apply to instruction across domains of ELA; for example,
in grammar instruction, this element would distinguish among teachers
who teach grammar rules out of context of a text and those who tie
grammar instruction to either student or published texts.
When
scoring this element it is recognized that a lesson many not include
both the opportunity for using and producing authentic texts. The
rater should score each indicator separately as observed.
|
1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
Use
of Authentic Texts in Instruction |
There
are no authentic texts present or an authentic text is present and
students are rarely asked to make use of it. |
Teacher
provides instructional activities or opportunity for discussion
that require students to refer to authentic texts. |
Teacher
provides instructional activities or opportunity for discussion
that require students to actively use authentic
texts. |
Teacher
provides instructional activities or opportunity for discussion
that require students to actively use authentic texts for a
sustained period of time. |
Production
of Texts |
There are no opportunities for students to engage in the writing process, or the students’ writing is formulaic (e.g., fill-in-the-blank, recopying), or less than a paragraph in length of connected text (e.g., short answers or note taking), or for less than 3 minutes. |
Teacher provides opportunities for students to engage in the process of writing brief pieces of connected text. Texts in this category include unstructured opportunities for idea generation (e.g., short answers, responses, journal prompts, quick writes, pre-writing) that may be longer than a paragraph. Students write for at least 3 minutes. |
Teacher provides sustained opportunities for students to engage in the process of writing authentic and extended texts (either creative or expository) within a particular genre or structure. |
Teacher provides sustained opportunities for students to engage in the process of writing authentic and extended texts (either creative or expository) and explicitly focuses students’ attention to issues of writing craft, style or genre in their writing. |
The
element of Time
Management (TM)
focuses on the
amount of time students are engaged in ELA focused activity. It looks
at the teacher’s efficient organization of classroom routines
and materials to ensure that little class time is lost and that
instructional time is maximized. Periods of downtime may occur for
lack of procedures in routines such as getting into groups, passing
out papers, or collecting work. In addition, behavior management
issues may impact time management. For example, a teacher who spends
a significant amount of whole-class activity addressing student
misbehavior would be scored down on time management.
|
1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
Time Management |
The
teacher may not provide ELA activities for students. (Less than 10
minutes of the 15-minute segment are used for ELA
activities.) |
Much
of the segment is used for ELA activities. (At least 10 minutes of
the 15 minutes are used for ELA activities.) |
All
or almost the entire segment is used for ELA activities (At least
13 of the 15 minutes are used for ELA activities.) |
The
entire segment is used for ELA activities. The teacher actively
monitors students and adjusts time for activities accordingly.
|
The
element of Strategy
Use and Instruction (SUI)
focuses on the teacher’s ability to teach strategies and skills
that supports students in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and
engaging with literature. ELA strategies may help students complete
such tasks as reading for meaning, generating ideas for writing, or
figuring out the meaning of unfamiliar words. Strategy instruction
does not include the teaching of rules (e.g., grammar/spelling rules,
definitions of parts of a story). The teacher can use a variety of
methods for teaching explicit strategies, including modeling
strategies, providing opportunities for guided practice, etc. At the
high end teachers provide the opportunity for students to develop a
repertoire of strategies and skills that they can use flexibly and
independently, depending on their purpose. At the low end, where
strategy instruction is minimal or insufficient, teachers may repeat
definitions and rules when students are stuck.
|
1 Provides almost no evidence |
2 Provides limited evidence |
3 Provides evidence with some weaknesses |
4 Provides consistent strong evidence |
Strategy Use and Instruction |
Teacher does not refer to or provide instruction about strategies. This includes referring to strategies without discussion of why or when to use them. |
Teacher introduces or refers to at least one strategy including why to use it, however, the teacher does not provide explicit instruction on how to use the strategy. Or the teacher prompts student to use strategies and there is evidence that students use them. |
Teacher provides explicit, but limited, instruction about a strategy, including how to use it. |
Teacher provides explicit and detailed instruction about one or more strategies, including how (and often why or when) to use them. |
Note. This observation rubric is based on existing instrument (Grossman et al., 2013, 2014).
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Wan, Yinmei |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2024-07-29 |