Sneak peek of Chalkbeat's Feb. 25 event: "A New Lens on Teaching"

The picture above is a screenshot of video shot of Danielle Lerro’s eighth grade English language arts class on Valentine’s Day. Lerro marked the holiday by playing Adele’s “Someone Like You” and then grouped her students into pairs to explain what the song is all about.

“What’s the central theme of this song? And think about how it’s conveyed,” Lerro instructs the students. “That’s much harder, which is why you’re going to work in pairs.”

Lerro’s handling of the transition from song to activity is a crucial moment in her lesson. It’s also an important consideration of Danielson Rubric, which Lerro and tens of thousands of New York City teachers will be evaluated on this year.

Lerro, a ninth-year teacher at I.S. 303, and her assistant principal, Monica Brady, will discuss both topics with Chalkbeat readers on Tuesday, Feb. 25, for an exciting panel event about teacher evaluations. They’ll present video clips of lessons and talk about the ways video can enhance — and limit — the observation process.

Reserve a seat for the event here.