Instructional Planning and Delivery
What to know
Instructional planning items ask you to align standards, objectives, assessment, and activities. Know backward design (identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence, plan learning experiences), measurable objectives (condition, behavior, criterion), UDL (multiple means of engagement, representation, action/expression), differentiation (readiness, interest, learning profile), scaffolding, explicit instruction (model, guided practice, independent practice), formative checks for understanding, and MTSS tiers. Know classroom management basics: routines, positive reinforcement, active supervision, and matching support intensity to student need.
Traps
- Mixing up accommodation (changes how the student accesses content; does not change the standard) and modification (changes the content or standard).
- Treating UDL and differentiation as synonyms: UDL is proactive design for variability; differentiation is responsive adjustment.
- Writing objectives that are not measurable (for example, 'understand fractions').
- Planning activities first and assessment last.
- Assuming a strategy that works for most students works for all.
Worked example / rule of thumb
Objective: Given a grade-level word problem, the student will write an equation and solve it with 80% accuracy across five problems. The assessment must sample that exact behavior. A group poster may be engaging but does not measure the objective. Rule: plan backward from the evidence; if the assessment does not match the objective, the lesson is misaligned.