Student Centered SIOP Checklist for Reflection

The intention of this document is to provide a more student centered approach to teacher reflection using the SIOP features as a tool. Every lesson is an experiment in cause and effect.

The essential question this tool will help you answer is: What effect does my teaching have on student learning?

How to use:

After teaching a series of lessons think of the actions and performance of each of your students (use formative and summative assessment and observations). Determine which features contributed to effective student learning and make a plan for how to stay consistent in implementing those features. Decide which student impact you would most like to see aligned to SIOP features and experiment with SIOP techniques over a series of lessons looking for the resulting student impact. Repeating the process regularly (once a week), should result in your familiarity of SIOP features and more consistent practices which ultimately will lead to enhanced student learning. Use the guiding questions below to focus your reflection.

Questions to ask yourself as you reflect:

  • What do I want my students to be able to do as learners?
  • How frequently did I implement the features in one class over several (one week’s worth) lessons? (daily, occasionally, not attempted)
  • Which feature(s) had the most positive impact on student learning? (identify at least one feature as your PLUS), What evidence do I have? How can I be consistent in this feature so I can continue to get the same/better results?
  • Which feature(s) do I want to experiment with? (identify at least one feature as your DELTA) What is the student impact I am looking for that would indicate that I effectively implemented this feature? What resources can I explore to find techniques to try? (SIOP text book Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model, participant workbook from training, SIOP trained colleagues, SIOP Lead etc…)

SIOP features:
These are teacher centered observables.
Features of effective Sheltered Instruction include… / Intended student impact:
These are student centered observables.
Each student can…
Lesson Preparation
(only component to occur before the lesson begins)
1. Content objectives clearly defined, displayed, and reviewed with students / Identify the objectives and recognize it as a personal learning goal.
2. Language objectives clearly defined, displayed, and reviewed with students / Identify the objectives and recognize it as a personal learning goal.
3. Content concepts appropriate for age and educational background level of students / Experience grade level learning that is based on a core standard
4. Supplementary materials used to a high degree, making the lesson clear and meaningful / Access learning through multiple modalities and at appropriate levels
5. Adaptation of content (e.g., text, assignment) to all levels of student proficiency / Access learning through multiple modalities and at appropriate levels
6. Meaningful activities that integrate lesson concepts with language practice opportunities for reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking / Practice and apply lesson concepts and academic language during academic tasks
Building Background
7. Concepts explicitly linked to students’ background experiences / Connect prior life experience with classroom concepts
8. Links explicitly made between past learning and new concepts / Connect skills and knowledge acquired in previous lessons to the current lesson
9. Key vocabulary emphasized (e.g., introduced, written, repeated, and highlighted for students to see) / Define and apply academic vocabulary in his/her learning of the lesson concept
Comprehensible Input
10. Speech appropriate for students’ proficiency levels (e.g., pausing between statements to allow student processing, enunciation, and simple sentence structure for beginners) / Understand what the teacher is saying (in whole group students with lower levels of language proficiency may rely on visual models/demonstrations)
11. Clear explanation of academic tasks (e.g., set the purpose and model procedures) / Understand the purpose of the task and follow procedures during a task
12. A variety of techniques used to make content concepts clear (e.g., modeling, visuals, hands- on activities, demonstrations, gestures, body language) / Access learning through multiple modalities and at appropriate levels
Strategies
13. Ample opportunities provided for students to use learning strategies / Apply a variety of learning strategies (metacognitive, cognitive, social effective) to navigate learning tasks and meet learning goals.
14. Scaffolding techniques consistently used, assisting and supporting student understanding (e.g., think-alouds, moving from modeling to guided practice and independent practice) / Use scaffold provided, self-assess the need for the scaffold and challenge him/herself to work independent of the scaffolds provided
15. A variety of questions or tasks that promote higher-order thinking skills (e.g., literal, analytical, and interpretive questions) / Process learning at a variety of levels and formulate questions to monitor and clarify his/her learning
Interaction
16. Frequent opportunities for interaction and discussion between teacher/student and among students, which encourage elaborated responses about lesson concepts / Actively listen to engage in meaningful discussions anduse academic language when responding during interactions with peers and teacher
17. Grouping configurations support language and content objectives of the lesson / Work collaboratively in whole-group, small-group and pair configurations to support his/her learning of the objectives.
18. Sufficient wait time for student responses consistently provided / Process information during interactions and on his/her own to formulate his/her best response.
19. Ample opportunities for students to clarify key concepts in L1 as needed with aide, peer, or L1 text
(may be NA) / If possible, and necessary, use first language resource (aide, peer, text, application) to translate and clarify his/her learning. *Especially useful for students to use trans-languaging as emerging bilinguals
Practice and Application
20. Hands-on materials and/or manipulatives provided for students to practice using new content knowledge
(may be NA) / Choose the most appropriate tool provided to enhance his/her learning
21. Activities provided for students to apply content and language knowledge in the classroom / Participate fully in activities developing deeper understanding of the content and application of the related academic language
22. Activities integrate all language skills (i.e., reading, writing, listening, and speaking) / Apply balanced use of reading/writing/listening/speaking skills
Lesson Delivery
23. Content objectives clearly supported by lesson delivery / Use objective to stay focused and self-assess learning throughout the lesson.
24. Language objectives clearly supported by lesson delivery / Use objective to stay focused and self-assess language use and application throughout the lesson.
25. Students engaged approximately 90% to 100% of the period / Remain overtly and/or covertly active in the learning throughout the lesson.
26. Pacing of the lesson appropriate to students’ ability levels / Keep up with the set pacing of the lesson and move ahead when possible accomplishing the objectives in a manner appropriate to his/her learning/language abilities.
Review and Assessment
27. Comprehensive review of key vocabulary / Apply the use of academic vocabulary previously learned to new concepts
28. Comprehensive review of key content concepts / Accumulate the concept knowledge acquired to more fully understand a concept
29. Regular feedback provided to students on their output (e.g., language, content, work) / Seek feedback from peers, teacher and his/her environment to inform his/her personal learning
30. Assessment of student comprehension and learning of all lesson objectives (e.g., spot- checking, group response) throughout the lesson / Self-assess and report learning of all lesson objectives and utilize peer and teacher feedback to deepen meaning of lesson concepts and academic language.