Classroom Observation Form

Teacher: Mrs. Wells

Grade Level/Content: 8th Grade Math

Observer: Nick Priestley

Date and Time: March 25th, 2015

10:45am-1:00pm

Use the information below and complete based on your observation.

Review Section
1. CLASSROOM CONTEXT
a. Describe the physical classroom space.
How are things laid out? How does this
affect learning?
b. Describe the students including gender,
racial diversity, and other factors that
stand out to you.

Observation Notes

2. LESSON CONTEXT
a. What lessons did you observe?
b. What subject was taught?

3. CLASSROOM CLIMATE
a. What kind of rapport did the teacher and
students have for each other?
b. Was there a sense of purpose and
energy around learning?
c. Was there a sense of order (classroom
management)?
d. How did the teacher create an inclusive
environment sensitivity to students'
personal culture, gender differences and
disabilities?

The layout of the classroom is designed like a normal middle school classroom.
They have tables that can fit 2 students and they sit beside each other. This allows
them to help each other and not disturb the rest of the classroom.
A lot of the students were majority African American and Latino. There were a few
white kids in the classroom, but the majority were other races.
Some lessons that I observed were that you always have to be paying attention to
everybody because they will use every moment to talk when they can and act up.
As soon as yo let your guard slightly down they will be doing something.
The subject that was taught was scatter plots and if they had positive or negative
slopes. They had to determine the independent and dependent variable of the
chart also.
The students respected the teacher to an extent. They would listen and
understand what the teacher was saying to them, but they would occasionally get
angry at the teacher. I could tell they really liked her overall.
Yes they seemed to be learning at a quick pace and knew what they were doing.
She would allow them to work on their own and they were getting the work done.
There was a great sense of order in the classroom. The teacher knew when to be
nice and knew when to be a little assertive to get her point across.
She would allow the students that werent necessarily getting it on the first try to
work with the students who already understood the material. So the students
were also teaching each other.

Review Section
4. DIFFERENTIATION
a. How did the teacher attempt to meet the
needs of different students (ESL/ELL
students, struggling students, students
who have missed class)?
5. TEACHER TRAITS & PROFESSIONALISM
a. What kind of image or identity did the
teacher project to students?
b. What about professional comportment
and appearance?
6. PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF CLASSROOM
a. What is the layout of the room?
b. How might the way the classroom is set
up affect student learning?
c. What resources do you see in the
classroom?
d. How do the resources and layout affect
teaching and learning?

Observation Notes

She would make sure they were paying attention and staying on task. She would
also allow them to catch up and finish what they needed before they would move
on to the next chapter. They had a book to help them learn and students were all
at different places so she would help when needed.

She projected a young African American women who has been through the same
thing as them and she had more experiences to show. She would act as a mother
figure to some of the students and it allowed a great connection between the
students.
She dressed well and was very professional. She never wore anything out of the
ordinary every time I came to observe.
The layout of the room was table for the students to work on and they would fit 2
students to a table.
It allowed students to work with a partner and they could help each other and it
also allows them some alone work time because everybody wasnt together.
They had laptops for each student and all had books to work through. She had
plenty of extra pencils and many erasers. She had plenty of resources in the
classroom.
They promoted a faster learning environment because she had a lot of technology
in the room they could use.

What do you see as the strengths of this teacher and classroom?

The strengths of the teacher were her communication skills with the students and she was able to understand how they are feeling. She wasnt
that old and it felt like she has come from the same sort of background as the students so she could relate to them very well.
Overall impression of teaching effectiveness and its impact on student learning:
My overall impression of teaching was a very positive one. She could teach the kids and they would be paying attention to her and not have
many disruptions. They also seemed like they were understand the material with a little guidance.
What did you learn about teaching and learning from this observation?
I learned that I can relate to the students just by talking to them and getting to know how they act. She taught me to teach each student
differently because they all are on their own level of learning. I can use different techniques for each student to get the most progress.

CLASSROOM LAYOUT. Draw a simple sketch of the classroom to include in your clinical notes.

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