ALVERNO COLLEGE

SUPERVISORS OBSERVATION
OF ED 215-R Field Student
Candidate: Libby Kent

Check One:
1stObservation __X

Assessor: Robin Gleason

2nd Observation __

Date: November 19, 2014

Cooperating Teacher: Tonya Kabele

Number of Students: 18

School: Highland View - Greendale

Planning and Preparation (AEA: Conceptualization, Diagnosis

Grade: 2

WTS: 1,2,3,4,5,7 DISP: Respect)

Plans instruction that addresses the range of the students stages of
literacy development.
Plans instruction that is coordinated with the prior and future learning
experiences of the students.
Plan includes an introduction that clearly connects the lesson objective with
prior learning experiences.
Materials are well chosen for meeting the lesson objective and the
developmental needs of the students.
Plan reflects use of an effective theoretical model, such as Holdaway,
Cambourne, Vygotsky, etc.
Plan includes the teacher think aloud and questions/prompts to engage the
children in the thinking.
Plan reflects the gradual release of responsibility of the learning to the
students.
Plan includes adaptations for students with specific needs and learning
styles.

A meaningful closure that restates the lesson objective and sets

expectations for the learning concludes planning process.
____Inadequate

____Emerging

__X__Proficient

Subject(s): Reading Workshop

Evidence (Candidate)

You carefully planned this lesson by collaborating with your CT to determine a

lesson objective that would coordinate with their current unit of study in
reading focused on understanding non-fiction text. You were mindful of the
lesson objective and the range of developmental stages of readers in your
classroom as you selected the materials you would use to teach to your
lesson objective. Using the Active Board to display the colorful illustrations
from an actual non-fiction text was a great choice for this lesson. You clearly
demonstrated that theory guided your plan as you intentionally incorporated
think alouds, social interaction, and the gradual release of responsibility into
the Procedures part of your lesson. The plan also included your methods for
assessing student learning as well as appropriate strategies for meeting the
range of readers in your classroom. The plan was detailed and showed
thoughtful preparation throughout. You submitted your plan in plenty of time to
receive and incorporate feedback from your field supervisor.

____Distinctive

Copyright 2010. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under U.S., International
and Universal Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in part or whole by any method is prohibited by law.

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Classroom Environment (AEA: Coordination, Integrative Interaction WTS: 1,2,3,4,5,6

Evidence (Candidate and Student)

DISP: Respect, Responsibility, Collaboration, Communication)

Clearly communicates expectations and procedures for behavior and

learning experiences.
Focuses student attention by engaging them productively in learning
experiences.
Offers explicit praise to students.
Teachers and students connect to one another by smiling, sharing and
helping.
Respects each child as an individual, addressing the children by name.
Supports students as they work independently and collaboratively.
Manages transitions efficiently.
Effectively uses resources and curriculum materials to develop the ideas
being taught.

Your CT made sure that the children had reading partners and settled them on
the rug for the start of your lesson.
You began your lesson by stating the learning objective and you worked to keep
the focus on this objective throughout by using several effective techniques. You
connected with the children by calling on them by name during the mini-lesson
and whole group share and by bending down to their levels when conferring with
them individually. During the mini-lesson, you used the Active Board to model
your thinking, involved them in turn and talks and used questioning to engage
them in the learning. You easily transitioned the children to do their own
independent reading and set the expectation that they should have a 0 voice
today.
The children appeared very engaged once they settled in to reading
independently, as they were busy reading and completing their post-its. (They
were reading books of their choosing and at their own instructional reading
levels.) During this time, you went over to the poster where the children were
posting their thinking to monitor what the children were doing. You transitioned
the children back to the carpet for the whole group sharing time by giving specific
directions about what they needed to do to retrieve their post-its before sitting
with their reading partners on the rug. You made sure that the children had
partners and intervened as needed. Before the children began sharing in the
whole group, you asked them to listen to their friends and to give a thumbs up
or raise their hands with a question or a comment. When you noticed they were
not paying attention, you stopped the sharing briefly to remind them to listen.
You also asked the children to put their books into their boxes while the others
shared (The children seemed to get quiet for a while but then some lost focus
again.) After the lesson, you transitioned the children to line up for recess.
During the mini-lesson and whole group share at the end, some of the children
were a bit chatty and appeared to lose focus. You did redirect them when they
got a bit of task a couple of times. Some additional suggestions:
Set the behavior expectations and make sure that the children are
focused on you right after a transition and before you start. This may
help avoid this off-task behavior. Then, stick to your expectations.
Likewise, make sure that during turn and talks that they are engaged
with their partners before you start to listen in.
After transitioning the children to independent reading, scan the room
before you start to confer to make sure that all of the children are on
task.
It is also a good idea to scan the room regularly in between
conferences to monitor student engagement.
Again, make sure that the children are with you before you set them
off to work with their partners when gathering on the rug.
Think about another way you can easily monitor student learning
besides using the poster to place their post-its. As you pointed out
during our debriefing, this became a bit of a distraction for the children.

____Inadequate ____Emerging __X__Proficient ____Distinctive

Copyright 2010. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under U.S., International
and Universal Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in part or whole by any method is prohibited by law.

ED FORM 708
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Instruction (AEA: Communication, Coordination, Diagnosis,

Integrative Interaction WTS: 1,2,4,5,6,7,10
DISP: Respect, Communication)
Relates learning to students previous learning and/or to students
personal experiences.
Focuses student attention on lesson objectives throughout the lesson.
Demonstrates knowledge of content throughout delivery.
Presents content in developmentally appropriate ways.
Explicitly teaches the lesson objective through modeling the thinking of
the lesson objective using the think aloud approach.
Actively engages students in the thinking and keeps them on task.
Consistently demonstrates enthusiasm.
Models and supports active listening, discussion and thoughtful
responses.
Challenges and supports student thinking by using:
o different types of explanations
o various levels of questioning and/or prompts
o techniques that repeat and/or extend student responses
o a variety of modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic)
Adapts plans as needed.
Varies role in instructional process (instructor, facilitator, coach,
audience) in relation to content, purposes of instruction and needs of
learners to gradually release the responsibility of the learning to the
students.
Respects cultural and gender differences.

____Inadequate

____Emerging

__X_ Proficient

Evidence (Candidate and Student)

As previously stated, you worked to keep the focus on the lesson objective throughout.
First, you kept the timing of the mini-lesson within the appropriate time frame, following the
structure of a mini-lesson. You started your mini-lesson lesson by making a specific
connection with the childrens prior learning and then by setting the lesson objective You
called the childrens attention to the images on the active board and modeled your thinking
about how to use pictures to help you learn from the text. You revealed and read the text
and then showed the children the post-it, explaining what you wrote down. You also
explained to them what you would do with the post-it. After your model, you invited the
children to turn and talk with their partners about the next images and then asked a few of
them to share their thinking with the whole group. You revealed the text and then invited
the children to read with you the text under the illustrations. You asked the children to
raise their hands if they noticed if they said something that was the same that was in the
text. You followed this by asking the children to help you determine what to write on the
post-it. When a child offered her thinking, you prompted her to refine her response a bit
and asked her if she wanted someone to help her. You clarified the expectation for the
post-it to use both the words and the text to tell what they learned. This was an important
teaching moment. You deviated from your plan a bit and by doing so, clarified the
expectation for everyone. Toward the end of the min-lesson, you recapped the
expectations of what the children should be doing when they went off to read
independently and reviewed the materials they would need to do it.
After you transitioned the children to independent reading, most of them settled in quickly
and you began to confer with individual children. The children began to post their notes on
the paper you had designated for this purpose and went back to their reading spots to
read.
After you transitioned the children back for the whole group share on the rug, you directed
the children to open their books to the page on which they had generated their post-it. After
this brief partner sharing time, you invited some of the children to share their thinking with
the whole group. Nice job of asking them to share the clues they used from the picture.
This part seemed to get a bit long for some of the children began to lose focus. How else
might you have done this whole group share at the end? To close your lesson, you made a
connection to the students writing - that their pictures in their own non-fiction books need
to match the text- and said they could use this strategy when they are reading and writing.
(Perhaps say the lesson objective first) This was a terrific way to link the childrens
reading to their writing. Id suggest that you clearly state the lesson objective first though.
You exhibited many effective instructional techniques in this lesson, Libby. You modeled
your thinking, engaged the children in the lesson in many different ways, gradually
released the responsibility of the learning to the children, and varied your role in the
instructional process. You also clearly were confident in the content you were teaching the
children. In addition to the feedback given in italics above, think about how you can
become even more effective if you slow down your delivery just a bit and show more
enthusiasm while teaching. How will this engage the children even more in their learning
and allow them to process even more effectively?

____Distinctive

Copyright 2010. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under U.S., International
and Universal Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in part or whole by any method is prohibited by law.

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Assessment (AEA: Diagnosis, Integrative Interaction WTS: 1,2,3,7,8,9

DISP: Reflection)
Focuses the students attention on the process of learning rather than
just getting the correct answer or finishing an activity.
Provides specific feedback to learners (oral and/or written).
Assessment relates directly and is appropriate to the lesson objective
and the levels of development of the students.
Students self assess (oral and/or written).
Evidence of student learning is gathered and used along with
additional information/ feedback from lesson to plan future lessons.

Reflects on own performance in relation to student learning and WI

teacher standards and the Alverno Education Abilities.

____Inadequate

____Emerging

__X__Proficient

Evidence (Candidate and Student)

You planned to use anecdotal records of your observations of student behaviors as
your primary way to collect evidence of student learning for this lesson. You also
planned to use their posted post-its as evidence of their learning. Both assessment
strategies were appropriate for this lesson and for the stages of development of the
children. You followed up on your plan by taking notes as you conferred with the
children and by consulting with the posted notes. What did you find out? Did you
find out that the children were using the pictures to learn more about the topics in
their texts?
In addition, you effectively monitored student learning during the mini-lesson and
adjusted your teaching accordingly. For example, when one child shared her
thinking, you told her that she used the text, but also needed to use the picture to
think about what she learned. This helped to clarify the expectation for all of the
children.
Finally, you did a really nice job of giving specific feedback to the children as they
shared their thinking during the whole group sharing at the end of the workshop.
You asked the children to provide evidence from the picture to support their
thinking, thereby focusing attention on the process they used to complete their
post-its.
You clearly reflect on your performance in relation to the WTS and the AEA and
incorporate feedback to strengthen your learning and your practice.

____Distinctive

Copyright 2010. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under U.S., International
and Universal Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in part or whole by any method is prohibited by law.

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Professional Responsibilities (AEA: Communication, Integrative Interaction WTS:

1,2,6,7,9,10 DISP: Respect, Responsibility, Reflection, Collaboration, Communication)
Demonstrates professionalism through timely completion of quality work for field
classroom and seminar.
Demonstrates professionalism through appropriate dress and regular attendance,
arriving on time to the field classroom and seminar.
Relates professionally and effectively with students, cooperating teacher, staff, and
supervisor (including initiating conversation, and problem solving). (Social Interaction at
Level 4)
Completes self -assessments, reflecting on planning and implementing of lessons in
relation to student learning and the theory.
Is willing to give and receive help.
Demonstrates Effective Citizenship by attending a school/parent event and thoughtfully
completing an accompanying log.
Actively participates in seminar by coming prepared and offering ideas, sharing
materials and supporting peers. (Social Interaction at Level 4)
____Inadequate

____Emerging

__X__Proficient

Evidence (Candidate)
You consistently demonstrate strong professional practices, Libby.
An area for continued growth is initiating conversation in seminar
with your colleagues. You have much to offer to extend the
thinking of others. In doing so, you will strengthen and deepen
your understanding of effective teaching and learning as well.

____Distinctive

Additional Comments: You were well prepared to teach this lesson, Libby. You easily followed the workshop procedures
when teaching your lesson to your second graders. With practice and experience, you will become even stronger in setting
and maintaining a focused and productive learning environment where students are engaged in the learning process
throughout. You will also become more confident in your delivery, which will help you to relax, slow down, and show more
enthusiasm when teaching. You are a responsible and organized professional who also reflects on your practice in relation
to student learning and the theory. It is evident that you learned a great deal from this field placement this semester. I wish
you well as you continue on your journey to becoming a truly effective teacher and challenge you to apply what you learned
about effective literacy learning and teaching in your next field.

Overall Performance: ____Inadequate ____Emerging ___X_Proficient ____Distinctive

Copyright 2010. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under U.S., International
and Universal Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in part or whole by any method is prohibited by law.

ED FORM 708
0210 ED