Charlotte Danielson’s Teaching Framework: Looking at Real

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Charlotte Danielson’s Teaching Framework:

Looking at Real Classrooms

Module Two – Domain Two: Planning and Preparation/

Domain Two: The Classroom Environment

B. Domain Two: Examples from Pre-K and Elementary Classes

Kindergarten Learning Centers, Part One

(components 2B, 2C, 2D)

CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: In this kindergarten class, the teacher has organized her

children to work in learning centers; and she clearly understands that you have to teach children

how to move from one center to another, which ones to go to, what order to go in and how to

avoid chaos.

JACLYN FUENTES: Now we’re going to explain how we move through our centers.

Okay. We have how many different colors? How many different color centers?

STUDENTS: Blue, yellow.

JACLYN FUENTES: But how many?

STUDENTS: Five.

JACLYN FUENTES: Five. So you’ve got five in each folder. I’m going to take Ali’s

folder as an example. Where’s Ali? Danny, Omar, you’re supposed to be on the grey carpet.

Okay. Mike, on your behind, okay. And eyes up here with me. Keith, do I have your eyes?

Okay.

So there’s five different colors. What center does Ali start in?

STUDENTS: Blue.

JACLYN FUENTES: Blue. So, he takes his folder; and he’ll go straight to the blue

center; right? After he goes to the blue, where does he go?

STUDENTS: Yellow.

JACLYN FUENTES: Yellow. So, when we change, he’ll come over here to yellos; and

then after. . .

STUDENTS: Red.




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JACLYN FUENTES: He goes to red.

STUDENTS: Green.

JACLYN FUENTES: Green. So, he’ll come – and the green is the reading table in the

back; and then he’ll go to?

STUDENTS: Orange.

JACLYN FUENTES: Orange. Okay. We use those colors to help us move around the

room. Now, does everybody have the same color patterns?

STUDENTS: Yes.

JACLYN FUENTES: No. Everybody’s is different.

STUDENT: He has the same one as me.

JACLYN FUENTES: As you. Some people have some of the same centers together.

Before I pass out your center folders, we need to talk about our center rules. Mike, on your

behind; okay. Jose Imendez, eyes up here. Omar, Danny, eyes up here with me. Let’s talk

about our center rules. They’re really important so that we get all of our work done today; okay.

All right. Center rules. What’s the first thing we need to remember?

STUDENTS: Work quietly.

JACLYN FUENTES: Work quietly. Today, that’s this kind of a voice. At the plant

center, you’re going to be talking with your friends. At the reading center, you’re going to

talking about your book. But you can use a quiet voice like this. You can use a voice like this to

talk because if it’s really loud, we can’t get our work done. This is how you work quietly.

Danny. Number two.

STUDENTS: Stay at your center.

JACLYN FUENTES: These cards are there so that you know what you’re supposed to

do, so you shouldn’t have to get out of your center. That’s why you can ask friends to help you

figure out what you’re supposed to do next. Step number three: What do we need to remember?

STUDENTS: Ask three people.

JACLYN FUENTES: Whenever you have a question—that’s not our quiet voice that

we’re using today. You need to ask three people. And, number four?




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STUDENTS: Clean up fast.

JACLYN FUENTES: You’ve got to clean up everything really quickly, so we can move

to the next center. When you hear Mrs. Fuentes say it’s time to change, you need to get your

things ready, get the center just like it was before you were here and then move.

Kindergarten Learning Centers, Part Two

(components 2B, 2C, 2D)

JACLYN FUENTES: I grabbed a couple pieces of work from people’s folders. Is this

yours, Noah?

NOAH; Yes.

JACLYN FUENTES: What I really liked about Noah’s work at the reading center was

that he remembered to write the title—Shana and Arianna, do we need to separate you?—and

then he wrote a complete sentence abut his favorite part; remembering capital letters, finger

spaces and a period at the end. He wrote—let’s see what he wrote. His book was I Spy, and he

wrote, “My favorite part was when the pig was really big.” And he drew a picture that showed

exactly what he read. I thought this was an excellent job.

I picked Diego’s journal because I really liked the way that he used those words that we

had brainstormed beforehand to do his writing. And, Diego, if you don’t mind, I’m going to read

it to the class. I’m going to read what Diego wrote. “Plants need sun and water to grow and

roots.” And he drew; that’s exactly what he drew. He drew the roots and the sun and the water.

That’s exactly what he was talking about in his sentence. He remembered his finger spaces, and

he put a capital P at the beginning and a period at the end.

I really thought—I thought everyone did a wonderful job, but I like when I see people

remembering all of the steps for journal writing and all the steps for partner reading.

To finish up today, what we’re going to do is we’re going to see how well you think we

followed the center rules. We’re going to give a smiley face, a medium face or a sad face if we

really had a hard time. I’m going to write the numbers up here on the board. I’m going to write

one, two, three, four. I want you guys to tell me. Did you work quietly? Raise your hand if you

thought you worked quietly.

STUDENT: No.

JACLYN FUENTES: I think Mrs. Fuentes kind of had to talk to a couple people a lot.

I’m going to have to put—I’ll put a medium face because I thought people were working well;

but there was still a lot of talking. I’m going to put a medium face. Not a sad face, but not a

happy face. Did you stay at your center?




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STUDENTS: Yeah.

JACLYN FUENTES: It was almost perfect; almost perfect. There was a few people

who forgot to ask their friends at the center. I’m going to put a medium face for that one too; but

it was really, really good. You guys were really close. Did you remember to ask three people?

STUDENTS: No.

JACLYN FUENTES: Raise your hand if you were asking three people when you had a

question.

STUDENT: I did.

JACLYN FUENTES: Okay. What do you think? A medium or a happy?

STUDENTS: Happy. Medium.

JACLYN FUENTES: I’ll put it almost towards a happy face. It’s almost there. It’s

pretty happy, but the next day maybe we could have it all the way a really big smile. Last thing.

Did you clean up fast?

STUDENTS: Yes.

JACLYN FUENTES: Yes. For the most part, I think you did a pretty good job. What

should we give it?

STUDENTS: Happy.

JACLYN FUENTES: Okay. We’ll give it a happy face.

STUDENT: Two middle faces, two happys.

JACLYN FUENTES: What do we really need to work on for tomorrow. Guys, hang on.

On your behinds. Boys and girls, on your behinds. We’re almost ready to finish up, but I need

your eyes. I know. It’s really tight. The first two, we said, work quietly, we gave a medium

face. Was that something we’re going to try to work on for tomorrow?

STUDENTS: Yeah, and stay in your center.

JACLYN FUENTES: And stay at your center, too. That’s something we need to work

on. Guys, I know you’ve been working really hard; but those are two things that we really need




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to remember. What are we going to work hard on tomorrow? Work quietly and. . . For

tomorrow, those are the two things we’re really going to work on.

Kindergarten Learning Centers –

Charlotte Danielson Commentary

CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: In this clip, the teacher demonstrates Component 2B,

which is the Culture for Learning. She conveys clearly to the students that this work that they’re

engaged in is important; and she establishes the high expectations for the entire class for doing

good, quality work. Of course, she also recognizes the efforts of an individual student, which he

clearly appreciates.

The teacher has clearly taught her students; or is teaching her students how to move from

large group to small group to centers, from one center to another. She demonstrates that she

understands the transitions, which is part of Component 2C, Managing Classroom Procedures –

just doesn’t happen. They have to be taught, and the students have to learn them; and when they

can verbalize them, then she knows that they understand beforehand what they’re to do.

In reviewing with her students the behavior for working in learning centers, the teacher

manages to accomplish a number of things at the same time here. She has to remind some

students of how to behave when they were sitting on the rug. She did this in a parental way, but

it was a good illustration of a teacher’s use of Component 2D, which is Managing Student

Behavior; because she goes over with the students what the proper way, the good way, to behave

in learning centers; and, furthermore, engages the students in assessing their own performance.

Not only has she clearly established expectations for learning center behavior, but she has

engaged the students in not only creating those expectations but also in evaluating their own

behavior. That is metacognition at its best.

Kindergarten Discussion: Concept of Pattern

CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: In this clip, a kindergarten teacher is exploring the

concept of pattern with her students. Now, pattern is a fundamental concept in mathematics, of

course; but, also, in other fields as students get older – patterns of history, for example. It’s a

fundamental concept, and the teacher is introducing it to these kindergartners.

STACEY ANDERSON: Follow this. Ready. This is called a pattern. That is called a

clapping pattern. Knee, knee, clap, clap, clap.

STUDENTS: Knee, knee, clap, clap, clap. Knee, knee, clap, clap, clap. Knee, knee,

clap, clap, clap.

STACEY ANDERSON: Nice working. Now, if I were going to make a model of that

pattern, somebody give me an idea. If I were going to use these cubes to make a model of knee,




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knee, clap, clap, clap; knee, knee, clap, clap, clap; raise your hand if you have an idea of how I

could show that with these cubes. How could I show it, do you think? What would I do with it?

STUDENT: You could do light green and dark green.

STACEY ANDERSON: I could, but what would I do with that?

STUDENT: Put them in a row.

STACEY ANDERSON: Light green, dark green, light green, dark green.

STUDENT: Ah huh.

STACEY ANDERSON: Light green, dark green, light green, dark green. What would

this mean?

STUDENT: Knee, clap, knee, clap, knee, clap.

STACEY ANDERSON: Would it? If light green was knee and dark green was clap,

show me this pattern. Show me right now how you do it.

STUDENT: Knee, clap, knee, clap, knee, clap.

STACEY ANDERSON: It would. How can I change this? How can I make it?

STUDENT: Two greens.

STACEY ANDERSON: Two what greens?

STUDENT: Light.

STACEY ANDERSON: Two light greens.

STUDENT: No, two dark.

STACEY ANDERSON: Two dark. And then what? One light and two dark?

STUDENT: That’s knee, knee, clap, knee, knee, clap, knee, knee, clap.

STACEY ANDERSON: It is. Let’s all do it together starting right here.

STUDENTS: Knee, knee, clap, knee, knee, clap.




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STACEY ANDERSON: Actually, try it one more time.

STUDENTS: Knee, knee, clap, knee, knee, clap, knee, knee, clap.

STACEY ANDERSON: It stopped.

STUDENT: Clap.

STACEY ANDERSONS: What would come next?

STUDENT: Clap. A light green.

STACEY ANDERSON: A light green, and that would make us end on a clap. You can

make your pattern first and then add your motions, or you can make your motions first and then

add your cubes. You can do it, merry bunch. You can make it either way you want. Cubes first,

add the motions; motions first, add the cubes. You may make your pattern first and add the

motions, or do the motions first and do the cubes. Do you understand the directions? Any

questions?

Kindergarten Discussion: Concept of Pattern –


CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: This clip shows a number of examples of the Components

of Domain 2, although in a subtle way. The children are seated in a circle – that would be

Component 2E – so the teacher can see them and, of course, they can see one another in the

clapping pattern activity.

Also, the transitions, Component 2C, are smooth from one portion of the activity to the

other. And, of course, the teacher’s interaction with the students is very respectful and honoring

of their ideas. At the same time, of course, she’s able to monitor their understanding closely.

Primary Science Lesson: Part One

CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: In this video segment, there are two teachers in the

classroom; and they are helping students explore, actually to observe, the behavior of

mealworms and to learn the skills of scientific inquiry and observation from this exercise.

MRS. GILBERT: Down at the bottom you’ll notice where it says, the observations

collected. If you want to draw a picture of the tray, that’s a great suggestion. You don’t have to

write the words of what they’re doing. If you want to draw the tray, that’s a great idea. You

might want to put the things are little closer together, so they don’t have quite so far to go.

Hocus pocus.




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STUDENTS: Time to focus.

MRS. GILBERT: While Mrs. Steklac is coming around and doing that, I had a question

too. I’m going to be coming around and bringing larvae for you and adults. I’m curious, when

you’re doing your observations, do they eat the same thing. These are some things to be thinking

about. Watch how they move. What do they go for? Do they go to one thing and stay there?

Do they go there and then they move around?

I love the way as I’m walking around that I’m seeing some people draw a picture of what

the tray looks like; some people have columns and are making a data table; some people are just

ready to write their words. Whatever works for you. I’m going to be coming around with some

mealworms.

BETH STEKLAC: Did you find it?

MRS. GILBERT: He’s in the salt. Where is he going? I think he’s turning around. I

just heard a good, good question, and that is, Can we touch them? What do you guys think?

STUDENTS: No.

MRS. GILBERT: Why not, Erica?

ERICA: Because it might change the direction that they’re going in.

MRS. GILBERT: Yeah, it might change the direction. It might change the direction.

STUDENT: It might not be the thing they really wanted to go to. If we touch them, then

they might start turning around.

MRS. GILBERT: Yeah, it interferes with our data we’re trying to collect. We don’t

want to touch them. We want to touch try to do as little as possible. Eyes on me.

STUDENTS: Eyes on you.

MRS. GILBERT: I have a question. Who has a suggestion for a good way to keep track

of what the mealworms and the beetles are doing to know where they’re going? Matthew?

MATTHEW: Make a data table.

MRS. GILBERT: Make a data table. What would you do? If you have a data table,

what would you? If they go to something, what would you do?




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MATTHEW: Write it down.

MRS. GILBERT: Actually, guys, hang on. Matthew had a great suggestion. One way is

if you have a data table, and he comes to the apple, you just need make a check. And then if

another one comes, then you. . .

STUDENT: Make another check.

MRS. GILBERT: Make another check. Who has another suggestion for a way you can

keep track of what the mealworms are doing? Shawn?

SHAWN: Tally marks.

MRS. GILBERT: Tally marks. Toby?

TOBY: You can make this label before, and then you can put circles around.

MRS. GILBERT: Put little circles around.

TOBY: A tally mark.

MRS. GILBERT: Good. All right, keep up your observations. There are lots of ways.

He’s pretty far, so I would go ahead and mark it. Your group is really moving. He’s going all

over that tomato; isn’t he?

STUDENT: Yeah, he actually ate all of that.

Primary Science Lesson: Part Two

MRS. GILBERT: We’re going to spend about one more minute doing our observations,

and then we’re going to spend some time writing down what we have seen. As I’m walking

around, lots of you are taking notes and doing things. It’s great. We are seeing lots of tally

marks. Keep in mind, I know some groups that have a beetle that stayed on an apple the whole

time. Is that important to say?

STUDENTS: Um hum.

TEACHER: Yeah. That’s different than, okay, I’ll walk by the apple and touch it. Is

that different than, Hey, this is pretty good, I think I’m going to hang out here for a while? You

want to write that down. Maybe if there’s one that they really stayed on or one that they liked

more.

STUDENT: Mrs. Gilbert?




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MRS. GILBERT: Wow, they’re strong.

STUDENT: This one really liked the apple.

MRS. GILBERT: Awesome job doing science today, you guys. Mrs. Steklac’s coming

around to collect the trays. While she’s doing that, what I’d like you to do is continue writing

down your observations. I really think it’s important now – there were some interesting – Mrs.

Steklac had a really cool observation about the adult beetles and whether they liked the same

things as the younger ones. What do you think? That would be the kind of thing that if you have

a conclusion to write on the back on your conclusion. Maybe the adult really liked one thing and

stayed there. Maybe there was one thing that they walked through, but then they got away from

it really quickly, and there were other things that they really hung out on.

STUDENT: Mrs. Gilbert?

MRS. GILBERT: Cole just had a great question. I know you guys, some of you, I know

can answer it. Cole, what was your question?

COLE: What’s a conclusion?

MRS. GILBERT: What’s a conclusion? Who can tell me, What’s a conclusion? In this

experiment, what was our original question?

STUDENT: How about the observation?

MRS. GILBERT: You’re close. What was our question?

STUDENT: What do mealworms eat?

MRS. GILBERT: What do mealworms eat? In our observation, what did watch them

do?

STUDENTS: Eat.

MRS. GILBERT: They were going to different kinds of foods. What would our

conclusion be for this?

STUDENT: They eat beets.

KATIE: They ate, and then you would write whatever they ate.




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MRS. GILBERT: They seemed to like – yeah, they seemed to like this because they

hang out on it a lot; or they seem to not like this because whenever they get near it they run away

really quickly. Whatever you’re going to say, but it’s your conclusion. Then tomorrow, I want

to gather what you guys have in your conclusions and see if we can come up with up with a

group of class conclusions. Why do we want to pull conclusions from lots of different people?

How does that help our experiment? If your tray had one beetle, is that enough data to really. . .

STUDENTS: No.

MRS. GILBERT: But if each table has a beetle, that’s a little more data. Tomorrow,

we’re going to pull together all of our data together to make our class conclusion of what do we

think.

STUDENT: Yeah, like we did to the worm. Like, we made this big graph and said, like,

well, the trapezoid table said, more went to the salt, more went to the potato, three went to the. . .

MRS. GILBERT: Do you guys think that would be a good thing tomorrow, and we can

collect our data into a chart?

STUDENT: Yeah. We can draw it on the back because there’s a bunch of room.

MRS. GILBERT: There is. If you have a conclusion for now, this is kind of your idea of

what you think. Then we’re going to pull everyone’s ideas together and kind of get a, Oh. And

your ideas might stay the same; they might change once you get more data just like what

happens with scientists out in the field. Nathan?

NATHAN: I liked her idea of doing a chart for the whole class because it gives more

data for each table. From each table you have, like, if your adults stayed on the potato, and

everyone’s did, then you know that the adults probably like potatoes.

MRS. GILBERT: That’s going to be really interesting. I’m wondering, if you have a

chart that looks like this—if you have a chart, and all you have are tally marks, does it really tell

you whether it was the adult or the larvae?

STUDENTS: No.

MRS. GILBERT: So what might you want to do to change your tally marks?

STUDENT: Put an L for larvae and an A for adult.

MRS. GILBERT: Yeah, maybe a larvae liked it or maybe an adult. You might want to

take a second to do that now, and go back to your data table and your observations. If you

remember, you can make an L or an A. Matthew?




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MATTHEW: Or you can make two rows on your chart. One for the larvae and one for

the adult.

MRS. GILBERT: That’s another great suggestion.

STUDENT: I have another way too.

MRS. GILBERT: You have another way too? What’s your other way?

STUDENT: You can just write the tallies for an adult, and a little check for the larvae.

MRS. GILBERT: If you did that, you would need to make a key out to the side like a

check equals the adult. All right, when you have your observations, when you’re finished with

your observations, and you have some kind of something written for your conclusion as a

beginning. If you don’t have your conclusion yet, that’s okay. I’d like you to take your papers

and put them inside your science folders; all the way inside. Push in your chairs, put away your

folders and wash your hands.

Primary Science Lesson –


CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: In order to accomplish the lesson on mealworms, it’s

clear the teacher had to do some serious planning; that is, to acquire the mealworms and to have

them alive at the time she wanted to do the lesson. She had also clearly planned the nature of the

investigation and how much information to provide to the students ahead of time and how much

to let them follow their own interests and then to derive the actual conclusions about behavior of

mealworms from what they observed.

The Components of Domain 2 illustrated in this clip about observation of mealworms –

there are three of them really: 2A, Respect and Rapport; 2B, the Culture for Learning; and 2E,

the Use of Physical Space. The teachers show enormous respect for student views and would

probe their thinking. That’s, of course, related to 2B, the Culture for Learning, in that she set the

expectations high; she came back to the students if she thought they could see more. She didn’t

let them sort of slide through with doing the minimum. The children themselves were extremely

curious about the mealworms, but she did focus their energies and set the standard for what she

was anticipating from them at a high level.

Of course, the desks were arranged in tables with the mealworms spread out, so that the

children could talk to each other while they were observing them.




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Intermediate Social Studies Lesson

CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: This video clip illustrates a class in intermediate social

studies. The students have been studying India, and this lesson is devoted to exploring how

people in India dress and why they dress the way they do, relating it to the climate there.

MRS. GILBERT: The way it looks, the way it feels. Eyes on me.


MRS. GILBERT: I’m going to give you two minutes to go around to. . . Stand up and

push in your chairs. You can go around to all of the different tables and touch and notice the

different things. Notice the colors, the patterns, the way they feel.

Do you notice if you look at it close, there are two colors in it? All right. Eyes on me.


MRS. GILBERT: If you have fabric or ribbon around your chair, go ahead and put it

back on top of the table. What are some things that you noticed about the fabric – either the way

it looked or the way it felt? Matthew, just give me some words. What did you notice?

MATTHEW: Smooth.

MRS. GILBERT: It’s smooth. Josh?

JOSH: It kind of felt like silk.

MRS. GILBERT: Some of it felt like silk. In fact, Cole said, Hey, this is silk. Did you

remember that from our China studies?

COLE: Yes.

STUDENT: And that purple one had silk.

MRS. GILBERT: All right. Casey?

CASEY: That there was like straw in them.

MRS. GILBERT: There was like straw. Katie?

KATIE: That it has these flowers on it.




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MRS. GILBERT: It had flowers on it. Some had flowers in them. Paisley. Remember

where we said that paisley comes from the shape of a what?

STUDENT: A pear.

MRS. GILBERT: Not a pear. No.

STUDENT: A mango.

MRS. GILBERT: A mango.

STUDENT: Almost all of them, if you look real up close, you can pretty much see

through them, and you can see little lines on them.

MRS. GILBERT: Is something you can see through, does that mean it’s very light or

very heavy?

STUDENTS: Light.

MRS. GILBERT: Light. Okay, I want you to put the cloths in the middle of your table.

If you’re touching them with your hands, I’d like your face and your heads to not be near them.

Is India a hot place or a cold place?

STUDENTS: Hot.

MRS. GILBERT: Hot. It’s very hot. In fact, if you were to live in a hot place, would

you want to wear really heavy clothes or really light clothes?

STUDENTS: Light.

MRS. GILBERT: Erica is wearing an example—this is another very light fabric; in fact,

it’s so light that you can—can you see through that, Erica?

ERICA: Yeah.

MRS. GILBERT: It’s so light if she can see through it. And it turns everything blue. I

don’t want you to touch it with your hands. Thank you. People in India for a long time have

worn loose clothing. If you’re really hot, if your clothes are kind of looser, then your body is not

doing as much what?

STUDENTS: Sweating.




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MRS. GILBERT: You’re not sweating much. If you wear tight clothes and it’s hot, you

feel all sweaty and yucky. If your clothes are loose, the air can kind of go through. Erica is

wearing an example of a sari. A sari. . .

ERICA: Can I move over.

MRS. GILBERT: Sure, if you want to stand over a little bit, so you can see the bottom of

it. This is what this book says about saris. “The beautiful ancient sari is worn by most women,

even today. This is a five-to-six-yard piece of cotton, silk or nylon.” Who knows what a yard

is? Show me with your arms or your hands about how big is a yard. Ryan, I think you’re about

right. We have a yardstick here.

SCOTLAND: That’s actually a little bit bigger than a yard.

MRS. GILBERT: You’re right because this is a metric one. This up to my finger is a

yard. Good noticing, Scotland. This is about a yard. This is five or six yards of fabric. Long,

short, what do you think?

STUDENTS: Long.

MRS. GILBERT: It’s pretty long. This one is not as long. It doesn’t wraparound.

Yours is about four feet, so it’s not as long. “It’s a five-to-six-yard piece of cotton, silk or nylon

that’s gracefully draped around the body and over the shoulder.” You can see Erica is modeling

that for us. “With this is worn a short, form-fitting blouse”—and Erica even wore a good blouse

for her to wear with this, she has a T-shirt—that’s called choli. Can you say choli?

STUDENTS: Choli.

MRS. GILBERT: “A long petticoat front is worn underneath the sari.” A petticoat is

like a skirt that you would wear underneath. It’s kind of thin. “A flower, seashell, geometric

bird or animal design is often woven into a vibrantly colored material. A more expensive sari,

particularly a wedding or evening sari, has golden threads in its design.” You’ll notice some of

the threads in some of the ribbon I put around has goldish threads in it. The one that Matthew

has, has some metallic in it. This one has some golden threads.

STUDENT: That one does.

MRS. GILBERT: And Erica just noticed something about hers too. We said about

different animals, and she said that hers. . .

ERICA: Has fish.




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MRS. GILBERT: Has like fish, has fish shapes on it. “Inside the fish are drawn different

things.” Very cool. And, also, “You’ll notice some of the beadwork, as they would sew beads

into it. “Some Muslim women completely cover their entire bodies with one long piece of cloth

draped over their heads to the floor.”

“A teenage girl wears brightly colored trousers called salwars and a long blouse called a

kameez, and a scarf is draped over the shoulders.” If you’re a young girl, you wouldn’t wear as

much of the sari, which goes all the way down to the ground. You’d wear more like short pants.

“Little girls wear short dresses and brightly colored hair ribbons. All little girls of India

may not be lucky enough to have such pretty dresses.”

Intermediate Science Lesson –


CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: This lesson on India and the clothes of India required

considerable planning on the part of the teacher, primarily to obtain the fabric samples that she

used. She also knew in advance what one could learn from these samples, and she had the

written material, the text, that she was able to read from to help the students understand the full

picture of dress in India.

This video clip illustrates several of the components of Domain 2, the first one, of course,

being just the arrangement of the desks into tables; so that the fabric samples could be spread

out, so that the children could look at them, compare them, feel them, touch them; but also do so

in – so the fabric could be spread out onto the tables. They weren’t scrunched up into their

individual desks.

The transitions were also admirable, and that would be Component 2C. The children

moved from one table to the other. They didn’t seem to be hassled bumping into each other. It

seemed to be a well-established routine for moving around the classroom and looking at the

material on the different tables.

Then, of course, the teacher, in having the conversation with the students, showed a lot of

respect for their dignity, for their ideas. It appeared to me, at least, to be a safe environment for

the students to take risks; and that would be an example of Component 2A.

Furthermore, Component 2B, the Culture for Learning – the teacher conveyed a real

interest in the subject, and she conveyed a sense that this is important to understand; that we have

an opportunity to travel or we meet people from other countries, and it’s important to understand

their cultures so we understand them better.




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Primary Reading: Vocabulary Development

CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: In this video segment, the teacher is working with a group

of primary students in reading; and they’re looking at a big book, using it as an opportunity for

vocabulary development, primarily around the words predator and prey, although there are others

as well.

JEAN BOLTZ: Boys and girls, let’s take a look at our big book today. What do you see

on the cover of our big book, class?

STUDENTS: A snake.

JEAN BOLTZ: A snake. Turn to your neighbor for just a moment, and tell your

neighbor something you know about snakes. One, two, three, back to me. Good job, boys and

girls. We are studying animals right no in science; aren’t we? And we’re going to be studying

reptiles. Reptiles are an animal, and we’re going to be learning lots and lots of new things about

reptiles.

STUDENT: I read a book called Reptiles.

JEAN BOLTZ: Great. All right. Let’s take a look at our picture on the cover and our

title The Predator. I want you to think for a moment about this picture, and I want you to see if

you can raise your hand and tell me something about the cover. Marie.

MARIE: It look like the snake might be in a pile of wood.

JEAN BOLTZ: Okay. Could be. Anyone else have a different idea? Eric.

ERIC: He looks like he’s looking at something.

JEAN BOLTZ: Okay. Casey.

CASEY: It looks like it’s trying to hunt for some food.

JEAN BOLTZ: Why do you say that you think it’s ready to hunt for some food? What

gave you that clue?

CASEY: It’s a predator, and a predator is like your enemy.

JEAN BOLTZ: Thank you. The predator – predator. Casey hit the nail on the head. A

predator is an animal that has to hunt for its food. It has to eat other animals to survive, and it’s

called a predator.




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How many of you learned something new about snakes today? Raise your hand if you

learned something new that you can share with me. What did you learn that was new?

STUDENT: Snakes can’t blink.

JEAN BOLTZ: Snakes cannot blink. That’s a new fact that you can share at home

today. Annie, what did you learn that was new today?

ANNIE: That they eat different kinds of food like mice and stuff.

JEAN BOLTZ: Okay. Do you remember all of those different animals what word we

call that? If this is the predator, all of the different animals are called their—

STUDENTS: Prey.

JEAN BOLTZ: Prey. Good. That’s a new word. That’s a new word – predator and

prey. Irene, what did you learn?

IRENE: That they eat with their teeth.

JEAN BOLTZ: That a snake uses its teeth to do the catching part. Okay. Casey.

CASEY: I already knew something, and it’s really interesting.

JEAN BOLTZ: What?

CASEY: You know when you’re holding a snake, first it has a nose; and then the

particles from the air. And the particles tell him what he’s looking at.

JEAN BOLTZ: Wow. So you already knew a lot about snakes before you even heard

this story, and now you know a couple more things about snakes. Boys and girls, we’re going to

put our hands down. We are done with our story The Predator for today, and I will leave this

book out so that you can enjoy it during your reading time.

Primary Reading Lesson: Charlotte Danielson Commentary

CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: This clip offers us examples of several of the Components

of Domain 2, particularly 2C, Establishing the Routines and Procedures. When the teacher says,

“One, two, three, eyes on me,” she very successfully regains the students’ attention from when

they’ve been talking to each other in pairs and small groups. This is not an easy thing to do with

young children, and it’s clearly a routine that she has established, and they do it well.




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She also shows real respect for the students’ ideas. She draws them out. She wants to

hear what they know already about snakes and how to incorporate what they know already into

what she wants to teach them.

The students are seated on the floor, and I was impressed that they were extremely well-

behaved sitting on the floor. I didn’t see any poking of each other. Now, perhaps, it’s because

the cameras were there; but they were well-behaved and seemed to know what they were

expected to do and how they were expected to behave.

Language Arts: Use of Physical Space

CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: This clip shows us a very interesting and somewhat

unusual use of the physical space for the teacher’s purpose. The students’ desks are arranged in

a double horseshoe, which permits the students both to see one another, except for the ones who

are directly in front of or behind one another, but see almost everybody in the class, so they can

have discussion. But it also enables the teacher to get around to help each student with his or her

own writing on an individual basis.

It’s a flexible type of class arrangement for the purpose of language arts, it’s less good for

group work, of course, because the students aren’t looking at each other to do a project together.

But, for writing, you don’t need that. I thought the teacher used the classroom physical space

well for her purpose.

She also showed a lot of respect of the students, Component 2A. There was some Q & A

back and forth, and she respected their answers; didn’t put students on the spot when they

weren’t sure and moved on to another student; and elicited comments from the students.

Fourth Grade Descriptive Paragraph Lesson

CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: In this clip of a fourth grade class, the teacher is

introducing the notion of a descriptive paragraph to the students and focuses on selecting a topic,

acknowledging that that’s almost the hardest part of it – to find the topic and to narrow it

sufficiently so you can then structure an essay around it.

CHRIS O’BRIEN: Our lesson today is going to be a descriptive paragraph. Maniac

Magee had a wonderful skill. His skill was running. Today we’re going to talk about what

amazing skill that you might have that you are very, very proud of. As we might start to

brainstorm about topics, what are some skills, amazing skills a fourth grader might have that

would make an interesting topic, because we know, quite often picking a topic is probably the

hardest part. Once you get one you got, it almost seems to write itself. Michael.

MICHAEL: First baseman.




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CHRIS O’BRIEN: Absolutely. I’m going to put first baseman. It’s specific. But, in

general, it could be about any sport. It could be about soccer or hockey or football or basketball;

different positions there. Maybe it’s just you can catch the ball really well or throw the ball

really well. Any of those sports skills can definitely be a topic. Anything not sports-related?

Joseph.

JOSEPH: The piano.

CHRIS O’BRIEN: I know I have plenty of piano players in here. I have some violinists,

and I have a flutist. Maybe you have a special skill related to music, whether it be singing or

instrument playing.

STUDENT: I play the trumpet.

CHRIS O’BRIEN: A brass instrument like a trumpet. You have your piano and your

violin and all of your different kinds of instruments including your voice if you are an

exceptional singer.

STUDENT: What about if you can yodel?

CHRIS O’BRIEN: You can put it down too. If I had to list all of these, we’d never get

started. What else besides sports and music that you might write about? Would you want to say

you can play instruments or in general, or would you want to talk about one specific one?

STUDENT: Do you mean like a piano?

CHRIS O’BRIEN: You could, and it would probably be a very long list. For this one,

we’re talking about getting specific. I would like you to pick one; this is one thing you’re good

at. I’m sure we could write a whole book about all of the things you’re good at. Christopher.

CHRISTOPHER: It could be things like math, reading or a subject.

CHRIS O’BRIEN: Sure, you could do school subjects. Let’s say you’ve got a really

good memory, and you can memorize things very well; let’s say you’re awesome at fractions or

great at geometry or you’re maybe you’re good at writing. Maybe you want to write about

writing. It’s an interesting idea.

STUDENT: Drawing.

CHRIS O’BRIEN: Drawing. Of course, all of your artistic skills. Your drawing skills,

your sculpting skills if you had any; all of those wonderful—maybe photography or that kind of

thing. I’m going to give you—and I’ve already given you time beforehand—but I want to give




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you some time now, and what I want you to do is make your own little web here on a piece of

paper.

I want you to take your skill, whatever you’re going to write about, and just start jotting

words down – anything you might be able to fit into your paragraph about that skill. I’m going

to give you about two, three minutes just to start getting some key sparks, just getting some ideas

of where your paragraph might want to go; some specific details about that skill. I’m going to let

you have those two minutes, and I’m going to have you start it now.

Fourth Grade Descriptive Paragraph –


CHARLOTTE DANIELSON: This clip offers us examples of several of the Components

of Domain 2, primarily 2A, the Environment of Respect and Rapport. The teacher demonstrates

a lot of appreciation for the talents and interests of his students and conveys his sense to them

that there’s lots of things they are good at – of course there are. They just have to narrow their

focus and pick one of the many things they are good at. That’s a very comfortable environment.

The desks, however, are arranged in two lines, as you noticed; and, in my view, that

made it harder for the students to talk with each other, which, he, in fact, didn’t ask them to do

but could have done in the last part of the clip. I think it actually would have strengthened it.

That would be Component 2E, Use of Physical Space.

Component 2B, A Culture for Learning was demonstrated, I thought, very well in the

sense that the teacher had enthusiasm for what he was teaching the students; and conveyed the

sense that this important and it’s fun. He has a little humor with it – you could write about

writing. I think I would have guessed that the students appreciate that and got into it more than

they might have been if it was presented in a sort of a cold way.

Documents

Charlotte Danielson’s Teaching Framework: Looking at Real