Elementary Education

Task 2: Instruction Commentary

TASK 2: INSTRUCTION COMMENTARY

Respond to the prompts below (no more than 6 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the
brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Commentary pages exceeding the maximum will not be
scored. You may insert no more than 2 additional pages of supporting documentation at the end of this file. These pages may
include graphics, texts, or images that are not clearly visible in the video or a transcript for occasionally inaudible portions. These
pages do not count toward your page total.

1. Which lesson or lessons are shown in the video clips? Identify the lesson(s) by lesson plan
number.
[Clip 1 is from Learning Experience 1 during the read aloud of Pete the Cat, I Love My White
Shoes by Eric Litwin. Clip 2 is from Learning Experience 1 during the lesson closure, when the
students used picture cards to retell the story.]
2. Promoting a Positive Learning Environment
Refer to scenes in the video clips where you provided a positive learning environment.

a. How did you demonstrate mutual respect for, rapport with, and responsiveness to
students with varied needs and backgrounds, and challenge students to engage in
learning?
[I demonstrated respect for students by calling students by their name in
Learning Experience 1 Clip 1 time stamp 0:00:12 when I asked, “Ey’moni wait a minute.
We are listening to our friends.” I also demonstrated mutual respect through my tone of
voice, modulating it so it was calm and gentle, while I reminded Ey’moni that we wait for
our friends, when they are talking. Clip 1 0:00:28 I called Mason by name when I called
on him to tell us what his favorite shoes are. When I said “Jamiyah, what are your
favorite shoes?” I continue to call students by name throughout the rest of clip 1. Clip 1
time stamp 0:03:41, Jayden said strawberries are, “Red.” I repeated, “Yes, Jayden,
strawberries are red. Clip 1 time stamp 0:05:23 I said, “Tallulah what do you think he is
going to step in?” I also showed respect when I called Tallulah by name when she said
that Pete steps in blueberries next, in clip 2, time stamp 0:01:36.
I demonstrated rapport with students by engaging in a conversation by asking the
students about shoes that they love, during the introduction of the story in Clip 1 time
stamp 0:00:00 to 0:02:48.
I demonstrated responsiveness to students by restating Jayden’s gestures when
he pointed to the bottom of his shoe and said, “Stars.” on clip 1 starting at time stamp
0:00:00. As well as when I restated that Jamiyah’s black shoes are her favorite, because
her mom got them, and it makes them special.” In Clip 1 time stamp 00:03:30, the group
said that the shoes were going to turn, “Red.” I restated what they said and asked them
why they think his shoes will turn red. “You guys think they’re going to turn red? Why?” I
also demonstrated responsiveness in clip 2, time stamp 0:01:36.
I challenged students by activating their prior knowledge when I asked them
about their favorite shoes in Clip 1 time stamp 0:00:00. I promoted higher order thinking
when the students said that the shoes were going to turn, “Red!”, then I restated what
they said and asked the students, “Why?” they thought the shoes were going to turn red.
Throughout clip 1 I looked at the students while they were talking to me showing
them that I am attentively listening to what they are saying. Example of this is in Clip 1
time stamp 0:01:42. When Ey’moni was talking to me, and I was using eye contact to
show her I was listening. In clip 2 starting at time stamp 0:01:33 worked together to retell
the story Pete the Cat I Love my White Shoes, using picture cards.]

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 Elementary Education
Task 2: Instruction Commentary

3. Engaging Students in Learning

Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts.

a. Explain how your instruction engaged students in developing an essential literacy

strategy and related skills.
[Instruction engaged students in developing the essential literacy strategy of retelling a story by
having them answer predictive questions about the story in clip 1 time stamp 0:03:00 to time
stamp 0:07:22 and in Clip 2 when the students retold the story using pictures starting at
timestamp 0:01:42.
Instruction engaged students in developing the related skills of sequencing by answering
first, next, and last questions in Clip 2 starting at time stamp 0:00:34 when I asked them, “What
happened first?” Clip 2, time stamp 0:01:33, When I asked, “What happened next?”, and in clip
2, time stamp 0:02:41, when I asked, What does he step in last?”]
b. Describe how your instruction linked students’ prior academic learning and personal,
cultural, and community assets with new learning.
[I connected learning to students’ prior academic learning by asking them about the shoes that
they love in Clip 1 time stamp 0:00:00. As well as having them practice the essential literacy skill
retelling, and related skills of sequencing when the students use picture to retell the story with
teacher support on Clip 2 starting at time stamp 0:00:00 when I built on what the students
learned from the story, and apply what they learned, by having them retell the story, by placing
the picture cards on the felt board as I asked, what happened, first, next, and last.
I connected learning to students personal, cultural, and community assets by linking their
shoes to the story in clip 1 time stamp 0:00:00]
4. Deepening Student Learning during Instruction
Refer to examples from the video clips in your explanations.
a. Explain how you elicited and built on student responses to promote thinking and
apply the essential literacy strategy using related skills to comprehend OR compose text.
[In clip 1 time stamp 0:03:30 when the students said that the shoes were going to turn, “Red!”
after Pete stepped in a pile of strawberries, I asked the students, “Why?” I did this to elicit an
understanding of cause and effect, to help the students’ pair what Pete steps in with what color
the shoes turn, so the group can retell the story.]
b. Explain how you modeled the essential literacy strategy AND supported students as
they practiced or applied the strategy to comprehend OR compose text in a meaningful
context.
[I modeled the essential literacy strategy of retelling a story by placing the card with a picture of
Pete on a pile of strawberries and picture of red shoes on the felt board as the students helped
retell the story with prompting Clip 2, time stamp 0:00:34.
I supported students use of the essential literacy strategy of retelling the story by having the
students as a whole group retell the story using prompting and picture cards during the lessons
closure, clip 2, time stamp 0:00:34 - 0:03:33.]
5. Analyzing Teaching
Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts.

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 Elementary Education
Task 2: Instruction Commentary

a. What changes would you make to your instruction—for the whole class and/or for
students who need greater support or challenge—to better support student learning of
the central focus (e.g., missed opportunities)?

Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different
strategies/support, such as students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners,
struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic
knowledge, and/or gifted students.
[For the whole group, I would repeat what happened in the story so far, before asking the
students what I thought would happen last in clip 1 time stamp, 0:06:02 to assess what the
students remembered from the story, and as a way to retell the story again. In learning
experience 1 clip, starting at time stamp 0:03:46, for Tallulah, I would try to learn the colors in
Haitian Creole, to see if that would help deepen her understanding of the story. This would also
help by utilizing her personal/ family assets.]
b. Why do you think these changes would improve student learning? Support your
explanation with evidence of student learning AND principles from theory and/or
research.
[For the whole class, the change is related to the central focus of retelling by modeling how to
retell the story multiple times during the read aloud. This change is supported by “Information
processing theory. Environmental input first arrives at your sensory register. Information that
you attend to makes its way to working memory, where you are able to process and manipulate
information, combining it with prior knowledge. Complex cognitive process like metacognition,
transfer, problem-solving, creativity, and critical thinking take place in working memory. Through
rote learning, meaningful learning, or repeated practice, information may move from working
memory to long term memory. Information can be retrieved from long term memory.” (Theory &
Application, n.d.)

For Tallulah, the change is related to the central focus of retelling a story by letting her hear her
home language. This change is support by research that shows “Young children who were
exposed to age-appropriate books and literature in their native language developed stronger
pre-literacy skills than children who were only exposed to books in their second language
(Association for Childhood Education International, 2003).” (Breiseth, 2019)
Using peer modeling will help Ey’moni get the extra support she may have needed from a peer.
“When we utilize general education peers as models for students with special needs, this
method of instruction creates an expanding number of opportunities a child has for learning
or gaining a new skill.” (Loutsch, 2020)]

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The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is
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