EDUC 5312/3315-Curriculum and Instructional Design

Classroom Observation Assignment

Observation Form 1
Observation Date: 3/8/16

Observation Time: 8:00-8:45

Teacher Observed: Keith Bradshaw

Subject/Grade Level: 10th, 11th, 12th

School Observed: HSA Houston High

Observer: Mustafa Citci

1-What was/were the learning objectives/outcomes of the lesson? (Add state objectives if
known, for example, TEKS 111.4. Grade 2.b.)
Objective: African Imperialism
2-How did the teacher begin and end the lesson?
Students took a survey as a part of CNA for next year classes. After completing the survey, he
passed out small papers with the name of European countries and those students with the same
country name formed different groups of 5-6 people. He passed out information about countries
and an Africa map that is divided into square regions. He asked students to colonize Africa as the
major European colonial powers by putting the initial letter of the country in the boxes. After
lecturing the lesson 5-10 minutes, he projected the map on the board and asked one student from
each group to come up to board and fill in the boxes with the initial letter of the country that they
have decided together in their groups. He also assigned himself a country and be part of the
game. At the end he taught the class them the correct colonization on the map. He also talked
about the negative effects of imperialism and colonization on the people and governments.
3-What did the teacher use for teaching materials or instructional aids/equipment?
Overhead projector, Chromebooks, White Board, Hand-out (See the picture is below), Maps
around the classroom.
4-Which instructional methods and strategies did the teacher use? (Lecture, inquiry,
discovery learning, discussions, games or simulations, demonstrations, cooperative learning,
integration of technology, socrative questioning, etc)
Discovery Learning, Games, Lecture, Cooperative Learning,
5-How did the teacher assess learning? (informal, formal, formative, summative, oral, openended, quiz, feedback etc) See Chapter 8 for more information on assessment methods

Informal (Asking students to come up to board and put the name of the countries on the map)
6- What can you say about the teachers philosophy/beliefs and style?
(Traditional/progressive, behaviorist, student-centered vs. teacher centered, authoritative etc)
Student centered, Guided teaching
7-How does the teacher manage classroom? Can you identify classroom management
techniques used?
It seemed like he already established his rules. He barely had to tell people to get back to work.
This is an Advance Placement class that might be one of the reasons why.
He stands in front of his classroom to welcome students and checking dress code, materials and
homework at the same time. Students took their assigned seat and started to survey. Since this is
an AP class with 10th grade and up students, there is not many management problems.

8-Observe in the classroom setting and determine types of behavior students play when offtask. What do they do when they are not paying attention? How does the teacher re-direct
them or get them back on task?
Students were engaged most of the time. Sometimes they started to talk to each other off topic or
try to change their group but he confidently and nicely warned them and they fixed themselves.
9-How does the teacher communicate with students (verbal, vocal, meta-verbal or non-verbal
communication such as facial, body language, use of space, motion and time?)
Verbal, Body Language
10-Who were the students in the class? What did you notice about them? (Background,
diversity, attitude, motivation, interaction, participation, etc)
It was an AP class so they were mostly well-behaved and well-motivated students. Class was
very diverse.
11-What did you see that is effective in engaging students? What do you see that is
ineffective in keeping students engaged?
Using discovery learning method kept students very well-engaged. Students really enjoyed while
trying to conquer the Africa.
12-What are the two instructional strategies you observed and would like to apply in your
classroom?

Discovery Learning and Cooperative Learning

13-What are two important classroom management strategies that you observed and would
like to apply in your classroom?
1. First of all, the reason I observed Mr. Bradshaw`s class is, he is hardworking, experienced
and enthusiastic about teaching. As you can see in the pictures below everything is set
and ready for the students. So they know what they are supposed to do as soon as they
walk in. I think this makes students feel safe and comfortable for learning.
2. He allows students to talk but he keeps them busy all the time so they can`t cause
discipline problems. Students are communicating with each other and the teacher in a
respectful and productive way. He controls the discussions if anyone is talking off-topic
or being disrespectful to others, he gives a nice warning, sometimes even with sense of
humor. After the first warning students cooperated with him.