Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP)

1. Lesson Preparation

• Clearly define content objectives
• Clearly define language objectives
• Select content concepts that are appropriate to learners’ age and educational background
• Use a variety of supplementary materials to make the lesson clear and meaningful (computer programs, graphs, models, visuals)
• Adapt the content to all proficiency levels
• Use authentic and meaningful activities and integrate them into lesson concepts

2. Building Background

• Explicitly link concepts to students’ background experiences
• Explicitly link past learning to new content
• Emphasize key vocabulary

3. Comprehensible Input

• Use speech that is appropriate for students’ proficiency level
• Clearly explain academic tasks 
• Use a variety of techniques to make content clear (model, use visuals, demonstrations and hands-on activities)

4. Learning Strategies

• Provide ample opportunities for students to use strategies
• Consistently use scaffolding techniques throughout the lesson 
• Include a variety of question types that promote higher-order thinking skills

5. Interaction

• Provide students with frequent opportunities for interaction and discussion between teacher and student and among students and encourage extended student discourse about the lesson concepts
• Carefully configure the grouping of students to support language and content of the lesson
• Consistently provide sufficient wait time for student responses
• Provide ample opportunities for students to clarify key concepts in their native language

6. Practice and Application

• Provide hands-on materials and/or manipulatives for students to practice using new content knowledge
• Provide activities for students to apply content and language knowledge in the classroom
• Use activities that integrate all language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking)

7. Lesson Delivery

• Clearly support the content objectives in lesson delivery
• Clearly support the language objectives in lesson delivery
• Engage students 90 percent to 100 percent of the time
• Pace the lesson appropriately to students’ ability level

8. Review and Assessment

• Include a comprehensive review of key vocabulary
• Include a comprehensive review of key content concepts
• Provide regular feedback to students on their output
• Conduct assessments of student comprehension and learning of all lesson objectives throughout the lesson

SOURCE www.cal.org/siop [1]