What is component 1C? Component 1C is setting instructional outcomes. Teachers must outline what students are expected to learn throughout a chapter, unit, or academic year. Setting these outcomes or goals for students will help the teacher to be purposeful in lesson planning and the students will know what they are expected to learn from certain sections. There are four elements to this component. The first element is value, sequence, and alignment which states that students should be able to build upon concepts they have previously learned to learn a new concept. The second element is clarity. This element states that teachers should be clear to the students of what they are expected to learn, not what they are expected to do. There should also be a clear and viable assessment for what the students are learning. The third element is balance which outlines that assessments should assess different types of learning; knowledge, conceptual understanding, and thinking skills. This balanced assessment will help the teacher to see the whole picture of if the students are grasping the concepts in class. The fourth element of this component is suitability for diverse students. This is simple in that it states teachers should be setting instructional outcomes that are attainable for all students in the classroom.
This element is crucial to a successful classroom because the students need to know what is expected of them. Teachers also need to know what they are expecting of their students at the end of the unit so they can be sure to emphasize the most important concepts. The assessments used must also be balance and suitable for students of all backgrounds so that the students are being fairly assessed. Teachers can implement the first element by providing students with scaffolds from previous lessons or school years so they can see how their new information is compatible with things they already know.
How can it be implemented in the classroom? One way this element can be seen in the classroom is when students are learning to add fractions. The teacher can review quickly how they learned to add whole numbers and then lead into how to add fractions. This gives students a background in adding while increasing their knowledge in this area. Since they know how to add whole numbers, they can learn how to add fractions. Building upon an older concept they already know will help students to build their own connections between concepts. Another way to see this in the classroom is through assessments. Instead of giving a multiple choice exam, teachers can give an exam that has essays or short answers to allow students to justify why they believe something is true or not. This helps students to show what they have learned and how they understand different concepts. Teachers can then see how the students perceived different concepts. This also allows students to look at a concept in a similar but different light and explain their reasoning or understanding. As long as the student is still correct, the teacher can allow them to see things how they do. For example, in a high school math class, if a student uses a different way to get the correct answer than the teacher used, the student would still be correct as long as the answer was correct. Allowing students to show how they see problems can help the teacher to see things differently while also allowing students to learn concepts in different ways. Creating an assessment that is fair rather than strictly multiple choice is essential to giving students a chance to explain their personal understanding.
The Framework for Teaching Evaluation Instrument. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://static.pdesas.org/content/documents/danielson_rubric_32.pdf