Cadet Teacher Academy

Observation Form
Cadet Teacher Intern: Dani Douglas

School District: Bloomingdale

Mentor Teacher: Jennifer Price

Observation Date: March 30, 2016
x

Official Observation (3)

OBSERVATION TASKS
Remains calm and shows patience and understanding in the classroom.
Yes! Students were already in their assigned seats when I arrived.
Todays lesson was on the life cycle of the butterfly. She started with a
lively video and song about the life cycle of the butterfly on youtube
and the kids loved it!
Uses classroom management procedures. The classroom was very
structured and students sat in rows. They had assigned seats and Dani
walked the floor around the horseshoe desk structure to see what kids
were doing. I didnt see any obvious classroom management skills
being used.
Appropriately manages student behaviors. Dani is becoming more
confident in her ability to be a leader to her students. They were
excited but well behaved, until the very end and then they were getting
up and out of their seats more than they should have. Dont be afraid
to discipline if necessary.
Communicates clearly with appropriate age-level vocabulary and
volume. Dani did a good job engaging in conversation with her first
graders while she had them do a cute project with a worksheet and
then a paper plate. They all seemed to know what needed to be done
and worked well.
Provides appropriate feedback to the students. Yes! Dani gave good
feedback almost like a personal cheerleader! I often heard good
answers to questions and good reminders about putting garbage in the
trash can from their project etc.
Shows respect for the students and mentor teacher.
Lots of respect going on in all directions.
Demonstrates flexibility & responsiveness to the students.
Very flexible and responsive to students. I was very glad to see Dani do
such a nice job and be ready to teach on the day we had scheduled.

Cadet Teacher Academy

Observation Form
Additional Comments:
I really enjoyed watching Dani teach this science lesson to her kids. They
are going to Fredrick Meijer Gardens tomorrow to see the butterflies so
this was a really good reminder of what the life cycle looks like. She was
dressed appropriately and used the white board during her lesson. She
discussed through a question and answer format what the steps were of
the life cycle and put them on the board. The kids copied what she wrote
and put it in the correct spots on the worksheet. Afterward they cut out
the pictures and put them in order on the paper. They all seemed to have
this concept down pat! Once that was done she gave them a paper plate
that they drew in quarters and put the life cycle on it. Next, she gave
them a little baggie of candy that had a gummy worm, marshmallows,
tootsie rolls and gummy butterflies. These were to go on the plate in the
correct category. Marshmallows were eggs, the chrysalis was tootsie
rolls, the caterpillar was gummy worms and the butterfly was
represented by the gummy butterflies. Bravo!! I really like that you
extended your time with them and read them the book on butterflies.
They really opened up and chatted a lot about butterflies. They really
loved the subject!!
Suggested Improvements:
One improvement that I would like to see from you is to practice making
sure that you check your handwriting and make it more legible. It takes
practice for sure. I also noticed that you missed an s in chrysalis and
never noticed it. You are teaching these kids the wrong spelling if you
dont double check yourself.
Next time, you should have the book lined up in case you have time to
read it! You were just lucky that Mrs. Price had books she could just pull
off her shelf. That would be a great thing to add to your lesson for
backup.
Overall, a much stronger lesson than last time. Also, practice being more
of an authority rather than just their friend otherwise they will run right
over you!
Overall score: 90/100 A-