Explicit Teaching Scenario 

Sara has the lesson objective displayed: We will say and make a sentence about something you have done. When the students come in from recess, Sara reads the objective and explains that students will know they have been successful when they can say and make a sentence about something they have done.

The lesson starts with a simple sentence: I shopped. Then, Sara has students move through a progression of skills that teaches them how to create a sentence about something they have done by identifying the parts of a sentence: the naming word and the doing word. At regular points in the lesson, Sara stops and checks for understanding by having the students give choral responses. Her students are participating frequently during the lesson in responses, turn-and-talks and activities.

At the end of the lesson, the students complete independent work and then reflect on their mastery of the lesson objective. By the end of the lesson, Sara can identify which students were able to say and make a sentence about something they have done and are ready for the next day’s work.