1. Tool for Analyzing and Adapting Curriculum Materials
Overview: This tool is designed to help you prepare to use
curriculum materials, particularly individual lessons that are
part of larger units, with students. It supports you to do three
things:
1. Identify the academic focus of the materials;
2. Analyze the materials for demand, coherence, and cultural
relevance;
3. Consider student thinking in relation to the core content and
activities;
4. Adapt the materials and create a more complete plan to use in
the classroom.
Section 1: Identify the academic focus of the materials
Read the materials in their entirety. If you are working with a
single lesson that is part of a larger unit, read or skim the entire
unit, and then read the lesson closely. Annotate the materials:
1. What are the primary and secondary learning goals?
· What are the 1-2 most important concepts or practices that
students are supposed to learn?
· What are students responsible for demonstrating that they

2. know and can do in mid-unit and final assessments and
performance tasks?
2. What are the core tasks and activities:
· What needs to be mastered or completed before the next
lesson?
· Where is the teacher’s delivery of new information, guidance,
or support most important?
· Where is discussion or opportunities for collaboration with
others important?
· Are there activities or tasks that could be moved to homework
if necessary?
Section 2: Analyze the materials for demand, coherence, and
cultural relevance:
Use the checklist in the chart below to analyze the materials. If
you mark “no,” make notes about possible adaptations to the
materials. You may annotate the materials directly as an
alternative to completing the chart.
Consideration
Yes or no?
Notes about possible adaptations
1.
Analyze for grade-level appropriateness and
intellectual demand:
1a. Do the learning goals and instructional activities align with
relevant local, state, or national standards?
1b. Are the materials sufficiently challenging for one’s own

3. students (taking into account the learning goals, the primary
instructional activities, and the major assignments and
assessments)? Do they press and support students to do the
difficult academic work?
2.
Analyze for instructional and academic
coherence (if analyzing a unit):
2a. Do the individual lessons in a unit build coherently toward
clear, overarching learning goals, keyed to appropriate
standards? Name the set of learning goals.
2b. Is progress against those goals measured in a well-designed
assessment?
2c. Does each lesson build on the previous one?
2d. Are there opportunities for teachers to reinforce or draw
upon previously learned information and skills in subsequent
lessons?
3.
Analyze for cultural relevance/orientation to
social justice:
3a. Are the materials likely to engage the backgrounds,
interests, and strengths of one’s own students?
3b. What biases (racial, gender, etc.) or particular perspectives
are evident in the materials?

4. 3c. Do they support teachers in creating and maintaining a
learning community, including in helping students learn to
interact with and learning from each other?
3d. If appropriate, do they support students in identifying point
of view, perspective, and bias in texts and practices, and in
appreciating other points of view or perspectives?
3e. Do the materials support the broader goals of schooling,
including the work of building a more just society?
Section 3: Consider student thinking in relation to the core
content and activities
Use this section to consider what students might do or say
during each of the core parts of the lesson, and what supports
you might need to provide as a result. Alternatively, annotate
the lesson plan with these thoughts.
Name each of the core parts of the lesson (this can be
reproduced from a lesson plan agenda).
What might students say or do during this activity or task?
Are there any potential sources of confusion or
misunderstanding? How will you respond to or remedy these?
What will you do if the activity or task requires student
responses, but you get none?

5. What special supports are there in the lesson for individual
students or groups of students? Are there others that you need to
be prepared to provide?
Section 4: Develop a more complete plan to use in instruction
After considering possible adaptations, develop a more
complete plan to use in instruction. This could involve
recreating a lesson plan or plans, but it could also mean simply
making usable annotations and notes to yourself in an existing
plan. Use the checklist below to ensure that you have
considered important categories of adaptations, recognizing that
not all considerations will be relevant to all subject-areas and
lesson plans.
Consideration
Present?
Lesson framing is planned that makes clear the relevance of the
material to students’ lives and goals and communicates how the
material will help students understand and build a more just
world.

6. Careful language is planned for explaining, asking questions,
labeling, etc.
Tasks have been scaled up or down in difficulty as necessary, to
support all students’ learning.
Additional scaffolds are prepared to support individual
students’ learning.
Timings for each section of the lesson are clear, and a plan is in
place for what to do if lesson segments take more or less time
than planned.
Biased (racial, gender, or other) examples, contexts, or other
lesson elements are omitted and/or replaced.
Plans are in place for putting students into pairs or small
groups.
External Communications Strategy Meeting Agenda – October
2017
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1
Tool for analyzing and adapting K-12 instructional materials –
October 2021
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/;
© 2018 TeachingWorks • University of Michigan • 48109 •
[email protected]

7. *These materials were authored by the TeachingWorks Team.
This content can be re-used in other work with attribution to the
authors.
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General Lesson Plan Template with Guiding Questions
Directions:
For day-to-day planning, use this template. Read and
check off the questions that you have addressed in the
respective section of the lesson plan.
Pre-planning: Complete this section in order to prepare all the
necessary research, expectation-setting, and resources prior to
lesson planning.
Utilize the guiding questions, SBS lessons, and feedback from
NYCTC staff in order to successfully complete this section.
Standard(s): (no more than 2-3 standards)
K.MD.3 - Classify objects into given categories; count the
numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by
count. (Limit category counts to be less than or equal to 10.)
K.CC.4A - When counting objects, say the number names in the
standard order, pairing each object with one and only one
number name and each number name with one and only one
object.
K.CC.5 - Count to answer "how many?" questions about as
many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a
circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration;
given a number from 1-20, count out that many objects.
Lesson Objective(s): What will students know or be able to do
by the end of the lesson?

8. Students will be able to add facts within 10.
Connections to Prior Learning: What prior content, concepts,
and/or skills does this lesson build upon?
PK.CC.1 - Count to 20
NY-PK.CC.3 - Understand the relationship between numbers
and quantities to 10; connect count to cardinality
Assessments: How will you measure progress towards the
objective?
What criteria will you use?
I will:
• Observe students’ assess their understanding of the lesson
content.
• Support students who are not understanding clear
(counting together with them).
• Observe students if they are able to count each dot and find
the total amount.
Differentiation: How will you adapt the content, process, and/or
products to meet so all students can be successful?
I can adapt the content in order for students to be successful by
- Using a 5-frame with a small icon in each corner in place of a
hand as the vocabulary may present challenges
Materials: Provide links to any resources that are being utilized
during lesson facilitation. This can include, but is not limited
to, PowerPoint/Slide Deck, worksheets, reading material,
videos/images, etc.
• Math Board
• Markers
• Worksheets
• Pencils
• Crayons
· The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

9. Lesson Planning: Complete this section in order to prepare and
organize all the necessary scripting, directions,
routines/procedures, questioning, differentiation, and materials
to facilitate the lesson for students.
Utilize the guiding questions, SBS lessons, and feedback from
NYCTC staff in order to successfully complete this section.
First Five:
(5 minutes)
· How will students enter the classroom and get prepared to
learn?
· What initial task will students perform that aligns to the
objective(s)? How will you review it?
Teacher Actions
Student Actions
· Tell students they will be listening to a story about a grouchy
ladybug.
· Show students the cover of The Grouchy Ladybug
· Read aloud the title, author, and illustrator.
· Ask students to predict what they think the story will be
about.
· Ask students to share what they think the roles of the author
and the illustrator are.
· Read the story
· Listening the lesson introduction
· Answer the question: This story will be about ladybug.
· Answer the question: counting dots
· Listening the story about a grouchy ladybug.
Introduction of New Material:
(10 minutes)
· How will you build upon the skills/content of recent lessons?

10. · How will you convey the knowledge and/or skills of the lesson
(explaining, modeling, coaching, inquiry)?
· What will students be doing to process this information?
Teacher Actions
Student Actions
· Provide background information in the form of visuals about
ladybugs.
· Echo count from 1–10.
· Ask students if they can think of other insects.
· Practice counting aloud from 1–10.
· Echo count from 1-10
· Aloud counting from 1-10
Guided Practice: (5 minutes)
· How will you know that students are ready to begin working
independently? How will you gather that data?
· What will you do if students are confused or misunderstand?
· What directions will you give to students for independent
practice?
Teacher Actions
Student Actions
· Project one of the prepared red circles and say, "This is a
ladybug. It needs dots!"
· Draw 6 dots on left wing and 2 dots on right wing.
· Have students count the dots on one wing and write that
number (6) below the wing.
· Repeat this for the second wing.
· Have the class count all the dots on both wings and put that
number – 8 (the sum) on the line at the bottom of the ladybug.
· Read the equation, emphasizing the words "plus" and "equals".
· Explain that you just created an addition sentence.

11. · Count the dots on each wing
· Write the numbers below the wings
· The class count all the dots (8)
· Read: 6+2=8
Independent Practice: (25-30 minutes)
· What responses do you expect to see from students? Which
misconceptions do you anticipate?
· How will you assess the quality of student work? (
rubric, checklist, etc.) How will you gather
data?
· How will you elicit and coach student thinking? How will you
support students who struggle?
Teacher Actions
Student Actions
· Have students each create an addition sentence in their math
journals on their own.
· Draw dots on each wing (no more than 10 together)
· Count on each side
· Add two sides
· Count how much is together
· Wright the sum
Last Five:(5 minutes)
· How will you assess learning?
· How will you students summarize what they have learned?
· How will students prepare to transition to a new subject or
class?
Teacher Actions
Student Actions
· Use the practice and homework pages to provide children with
more practice of the concepts and skills presented in this lesson.
· Give other examples how to add numbers
· Encourage children to use their Math Journals to record their

12. answers
· Homework
· Practice at home
· Repeat the topic next day
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