Classroom Observation

Classroom Level/age: GT grades 3rd-6th

Topic/ Content being taught: Intro to creative writing.

Date: 6-21-2016

Observation # 1 2 3 4 5 (Circle one)

Brief discussion of whats happening in the classroom:

Teacher at her desk at front of the room facing students. Students at their desks in two rows facing
teacher and front of the classroom. All the girls sat on one side of the room and all the boys sat at the
other. Teacher explained the writing assignment of writing a mystery story. She had an example with
copies for each student and she had them take turns reading it out load to the class. She then emphasized
some key describing words and talked a little about good story elements. She then had the students work
on writing their own story. She then sat at her desk and read the newspaper. As students finished their
assignment they took them up to her to read. Some students she wanted them to add more detail, others
she said it was fine. Students that finished early were directed to a table that had blank paper and markers
for them to take back to their desk to draw. Some students did this, a few others did not and were talking
while other students were still working. One student just put his head down on the desk. After all students
were dont she asked if anyone wanted to read theirs and 2 students read thei stories. She then took the
students outside for break.

Describe the racial make-up of this class:

Nine students: 5 girls, 4 boys, 1 Asian, 2 Latino, 6 white.

Describe the teacher:

White female in her 50s or early 60s.

Evidence of: (Describe the strategy and be specific as to how it fits the category)

Hattie Hattie High Return Strategies:

Worked examples: she did have a sample for the students to read.
This was the only high return I observed.

Danielsons Instructional Strategies:

Managing student behavior: basic. clear expectations were given to class, but monitoring of
student behavior and response to misbehavior was lacking.
Communicating with students: proficient expectations, directions and procedures were clearly
stated.
Culturally Relevant Teaching Strategies:

I did not witness any of these.

Other Observations:

Teacher does not seem like she wants to be there. Lack of enthusiasm and interest. While one student
was reading his story he kept making a deep breathing noise while inhaling. At one-point teacher
mimicked this noise and said, I knew you were going to do that, to which students laughed. I did not
feel the student was doing this to be funny and seemed to me to be a little embarrassed when teacher
commented on it.

Your evaluative remarks:

Very few examples of effective teaching strategies were witnessed during my 30-minute observation.
Teacher seems to be going through the motions, but not really interested in being in the classroom. When
students came to her she gave them very little feedback and little discussion about their writings. At one
point while she was instructing the entire class got off-task and were talking to one another. She just
stood in front of the class and did not even try to get the students focus back on track.
 Classroom Observation

Classroom Level/age: 10th grade

Topic/ Content being taught: English Credit Recovery

Date: 6-22-2016

Observation # 1 2 3 4 5 (Circle one)

Brief discussion of whats happening in the classroom:

At beginning of class students were handed back their rewrites of their personal essays that they
completed in the previous class. Teacher asked students if they were proud of their work and then told
them how impressed she was of their work and how proud she was. She asked if they all read her
feedback and that she gave a lot of feedback. She then asked for volunteers to read their essay. After a
student read all the students snapped out of appreciation. Then another student led the class at rating if the
elements were present in his essay with the rubric on the smart board and student checking off elements
such as thesis, details etc. Students engaged in discussion if elements were present and how they knew
and to cite examples. She then went over the self-report evaluation that each student had to complete.
The students had to highlight some of the strengths of their own essay, some problem areas and what they
will improve upon on next assignment. During this activity they could listen to music on their
headphones or the music she played in the class.

Describe the racial make-up of this class: 16 students, 10 male, 6 female, 7 African American, 5
Latino, 4 White.

Describe the teacher: White Female late 20s early 30s

Evidence of: (Describe the strategy and be specific as to how it fits the category)

Hattie Hattie High Return Strategies:

Teacher credibility- It was obvious to me that this teacher had the respect of her students and they
were all engaged.
Teacher- Student relationship- Teacher knew these students, called them by name and had a
relationship with all the students in the class.
Feedback- Feedback from teacher, from peers and from self.
Mastery learning- Students were working beyond just getting all the correct elements of the
assignment. Teacher kept emphasizing that even if they got a top level paper that they can always
improve that even the best writers and athletes can improve. There is no such thing as perfect, we
all can get better.
 Worked examples- Examples of student work was all over the room. After each assignment the
students vote on which paper should be put on the wall of fame
Classroom management- There were no behavioral disruptions or any students off-task.

Danielsons Instructional Strategies:

Communication with students: directions, expectations and explanations were clear and linked to
students prior knowledge and interests.
Questioning was at a high level and often the students took responsibility of this role and the
direction of the questions. As a student was leading a discussion he was asking students that
havent responded if they had anything to add.
Student engagement was evident and all students were engaged and contributing to class
instruction.
Assessment was continuous and often student led.

Culturally Relevant Teaching Strategies:

Names eye contact, knew something specific about each student

Diverse racial perspectives were evident through students writings and how students responded
to them.
Self- examination and impact on student learning
Teacher served as the facilitator for the learning, but most was done through the class discussion
that was led by students.
High expectations for all students

Your evaluative remarks:

Was not what I was expecting to see in a summer credit recovery class. It seemed like teacher had an
entire year to get to know these students and set classroom routines instead of this being the second week
of a two-week class. These were all students who failed this class during the school year with a different
teacher, but were all operating at a high level. There were so many positive and successful teaching
strategies evident that I really couldnt keep up. I could not find any areas of improvement that I could
recommend.
 Classroom Observation

Classroom Level/age: 4th grade remedial summer program

Topic/ Content being taught: Math

Date: 6-23-2016

Observation # 1 2 3 4 5

Brief discussion of whats happening in the classroom:

Students sitting on the floor with teacher prompting criss cross applesauce Converting fractions into
decimals and percents. Teacher explains why its important to convert fractions into decimals and starts
class discussion why else its helpful? elbow share clap, clap,clap. Kids did pair share. Teacher then
clap, clap, clap students came back to conversation. Made sure everyone understood before moving on.
Did 6 examples together as a class. Explained next steps of group work and told students explicitly what
the expectations were, how much time they had and what to do if they finished early. Made sure
everyone knew what to do before sending them off in groups. As students worked in groups of 3 teacher
spent time with each group making sure they were doing the work correctly.

Describe the racial make-up of this class:

12 students, 7 male, 5 female 7 white, 3 African American 2 Latino

Describe the teacher:

White male mid 30s

Evidence of: (Describe the strategy and be specific as to how it fits the category)

Hattie Hattie High Return Strategies:

Teacher clarity: teacher was very clear with steps, expectations and learning outcomes.
Classroom behavioral: teacher had good control of classroom management reminding students to
raise hand before speaking, sitting, making sure when it was time for questions that they were
asking questions and relevant and not making statements.

Danielsons Instructional Strategies:

Communicating with students: expectation for learning, directions and procedures and
explanations of contents were very clear and the teacher made sure everyone knew what they
were doing before moving on. Teacher did a good job at connecting the content with students
 prior knowledge and allowed them to draw upon their own knowledge and explain their thinking
to their peers.
Use of questioning: questions were of high quality and ample time for student response was
evident. Teacher refocused students if they started drifting away from topic. All students were
engaged, but not at the level where the students themselves made sure all voices were heard.

Culturally Relevant Teaching Strategies:

I did not witness much. The lesson was very much teacher directed and he was the giver of knowledge
not the facilitator. There were no choices offered and the focus of the assignment was achieving he
correct answer not the process of learning. The teacher did hit some basic culturally relevant strategies
such as using names, eye contact, active teaching methods and provide opportunities for clarification.

Other Observations:

Teacher was dressed professionally wearing a shirt and tie. Treated each student with respect, maturity
and professionalism.

Your evaluative remarks:

I thought this was a very good lesson at presenting the concepts that are often confusing to many students.
Teacher used real world examples and allowed them to formulated their own examples of when this might
be used and why its important. The teacher had a good control over the behavior of the class and
seamlessly refocused students that were getting off-task. The students responded well to his redirection
and very little to no time was lost due to dealing with behavioral issues. Teacher did a good job at making
sure students knew the concepts. He revisited the concepts to clarify using different approaches that
seemed to help students understand. While students were working in groups he only offered assistance
when the partners could not figure it out.

Classroom Observation
Classroom Level/age: 7th Grade summer remedial program

Topic/ Content being taught: Math

Date: 6-23-2016

Observation # 1 2 3 4 5

Brief discussion of whats happening in the classroom:

Teacher is at front of class demonstrating adding and subtracting positive and negative rational numbers.
Students have a math packet. Students are at desks that some have pulled together in the back of the
room with several of the students with their backs to the teacher immersed in their own conversation and
not engaged in the lesson. Three students sitting front row actively engaged in the lesson. One student
sitting at his desk with hood up and head down. Looks like hes sleeping. Another student playing with
phone. Teacher explaining the concepts and asking questions. Teacher asks if anyone is listening. He
repeats. One of the students in the front responds yes. Students in back of the room laughing and not
engaged what so ever. Teacher approaches group and asks if they are paying attention. One student
responds in very disrespectful manor yes, now go up and teach me something. Teacher does not
respond and freezes for about 10 seconds. Another student yells at the group, would you guys shut up so
we can learn. Group of students laugh and mock her. Teacher returns to front of classroom and
continues with the lesson. Group of disengaged students are not spoken to for the rest of my observation.
Teacher never interacts with the student sleeping or the one on the cell phone. After presenting the lesson
the students that are listening are not getting the concepts. Teacher uses different equations with same
steps. One student says, oh I get it and explains it to the other two. Students work on their math packet
while teacher sits at front of the room and only engages when students have questions.

Describe the racial make-up of this class:

13 Students, 7 female, 6 male, 6 Latino, 2 African American, 4 White, 1 Asian

Describe the teacher:

White male in his 60s

Evidence of: (Describe the strategy and be specific as to how it fits the category)

Hattie Hattie High Return Strategies:

None observed

Danielsons Instructional Strategies:

 Teacher interaction with student: unsatisfactory. Teacher is respectful to students, but students
have no respect for the teacher, other students nor does he have the expectation that they should.
Culture of learning and management of classroom procedures: unsatisfactory. Teacher has little
to no expectations for students to learn.
Management of classroom behavior: unsatisfactory. Has no behavior expectations for the
students. Does not Call students on disrespect of off-task behavior.
Instruction: Basic. Teacher tries to explain the concepts with limited success. Does not try
different strategies when students are unclear.

Culturally Relevant Teaching Strategies:

None observed

Other Observations:

Teacher did not seem well versed in the concepts he was teaching. Kept referring to his book and notes
while demonstrating concepts on the board. Examples were unclear and did not seem to be rehashed
prior to lesson. Appropriate lesson planning is not evident. Teacher looked at clock several times during
observation

Your evaluative remarks:

Teacher did not seem well prepared to be in this class. He did not have any enthusiasm for his students or
the lesson he was teaching. Did not use any effective behavioral management strategies to try and engage
students. The students that were paying attention did so on their own intrinsic motivation. Students in
the class scored below the 40th percentile in math and reading and were recommended by a school
counselor. Many of these students did not seem like they wanted to be there and had no interest in
learning. Teacher was ineffective or unwilling to engage these students.

Classroom Observation

Classroom Level/age: 2nd Grade

Topic/ Content being taught: Math

Date: 6-24-2016

Observation # 1 2 3 4 5

Brief discussion of whats happening in the classroom:

Students sitting on floor by the smart board. Start of the lesson teacher said, its time to start our math
block and what are we studying? They answered analyzing values. Teacher asked why that was
important and told them to pair share why they think its important. Counted down from 5 when pair
share was over then teacher asked if anyone was ready to share their thinking. Took several responses
and kept the focus on place value. Went to lesson on the smart board with number boxes and a term
organized list. Had student pair share what they think an organized list is. Followed same procedure as
before. Asked students to observe the list of numbers and see whats they notice. Then pair shared again.
Discussed patterns and relationships and what they see. Went on with the lesson with discussion about
place value 1s,10s, and 100s. Students all had opportunity to give input. Students were put in groups of 3
to go and work on math assignments while teacher observed and asked questions at each group to check
for understanding.

Describe the racial make-up of this class:

12 Students: 5 female, 7 male, 7 White, 4 Latino, 1 African American

Describe the teacher:

White female in her 30s

Evidence of: (Describe the strategy and be specific as to how it fits the category)

Hattie Hattie High Return Strategies:

Classroom Discussion- students were engaged by discussing with themselves and the teacher
about the lesson.
Teacher credibility and clarity- Teacher has well respected by the students and she was very clear
on the assignments and keeping the focus of the discussion on point.
Feedback- teacher gave a lot of positive feedback and praise all throughout the lesson.

Danielsons Instructional Strategies:

Interactions- Teacher and students interacted with a high degree of respect and caring
Culture for learning- High expectations for all students was evident. The teacher showed that the
assignment was important and the students took pride in their work and helped others as needed.
 Managing student behavior- all students were engaged and on-task during the entire lesson.
Questioning and discussion techniques_ high quality questions with many opportunities for
students to give their opinion. Many pair shares for students to discuss with a partner.

Culturally Relevant Teaching Strategies:

Process of learning is the focus of the lesson- this lesson was not just learning the math facts for it
was also about cooperating with others and learning together.
Teacher serves as facilitator for the learning- often the teacher would ask the question and the
students would discuss together to achieve the answer then ask and answer each others
questions.

Other Observations:

Teacher made sure to call on everybody and made sure all voices were heard.

Your evaluative remarks:

Teacher was well prepared for the lesson and had all materials ready and was able to anticipate the
questions that would be asked. Teacher was engaged with the lesson the entire time. I felt that this was a
very good lesson in which all students were learning and engaged. I did not witness any student who was
confused or did not know what they were supposed to be doing.