STI Observation Form

Lesson Structure and Progression

Intern Teacher: Juliana A.
Observer: Casey V.
Date: July 13, 2016
Lesson Topic: Progressive and Perfect Tenses

Outline the structure of the lesson

below. What was the goal, and
how was it communicated? What
activities were involved? How did
the activities build off of each
other? How were transitions
managed?
9:00 class
9:31: JA asks students to start wrapping
up NoRedInk
9:32: JA asks students to put their
devices down and eyes up
9:33: prompts students to take a

picture of the slide on progressive tense

9:34: starts to move forward, but goes
back so Chris can take a picture
9:35: prompts students to take a
picture of the slide on perfect tense
9:36: asks if anyone has questions
before going into self-revision

9:39: JA sits next to Avonte to help with

his revision
9:41: introduces early finisher task:
including three direct quotes. JA tells
the class she will be coming around to

check this, which holds them

accountable.
9:42: sits with Jackie
briefly talks to Nathalies table
9:44: reminds class to avoid floating
quotes
reads Chriss paragraph
sits with Jalante
9:47: five-minute warning
reads Deirdres paragraph
talks to Brigid

Commentary: Observers
responses, questions, affirmations,
suggestions

Is there any way to get some more

student engagement in this lesson?
Maybe start with how this is linked to
the participles they learned about
yesterday? I always remember things
better when they're built on what I
already know.
I like the color-coding!

I like the early finisher task (and also

that you gave them some time to
complete the original task first so they
wouldn't feel pressured to move
ahead).

9:52: one minute left

asks Ben if he's done everything
9:53: five-minute break
9:59: goes over research prompts
10:00: tells boys they're late
10:30 class

10:52: reminds class they still have five

more minutes to work on NoRedInk and
to keep the talking to a minimum
10:56: one more minute
10:59: tells class to finish up
11:00: iPads down, eyes up, starts
lesson
11:01: calls Vinny, Brendan, and friends
out for talking
Derrick answers a question

Lily answers a question after some wait

time
Charlotte answers a question
Jessica answers a question
11:03: tells students to take a picture

Incorporates wait time for a tricky

question; Kiley eventually answers
Ten answers a question
Asks students to answer the question
out loud yes/no
Joey answers a question
Lydia is very confused, but JA tries to
guide her to the right answer
Asks the class if anyone else has a
question similar to Lydias
11:07: class takes another picture
Asks if there are any more questions
Introduces self-revision activity
Vinny explains gerunds and participles
from yesterday
Joey tries to help him come up with an
example, gets it wrong
Vinny finishes answering the question
Sits with Jessica to talk about her use of
participles
Checks in with Jocelyn
11:13: asks class to quiet down
Helps Lydia with technical difficulty
11:16: introduces early finisher task,
gives example of in-text citations and
flow quotes

11:18: asks why quotes are important

You should probably tell them exactly

what time to get back from the break.

You did a much better job waiting for

this to actually happen this time
around!

Nice student engagement!

Try to explain more to Joey why his

in research papers, Lydia and Folarin

answer
11:19: talks about floating quotes
11:32: five-minute break
11:37: ends the break and introduces
the research prompts

wasn't a gerund

Great addition!

Ms. Hasebroock Notes- Round 1 (9:00am)

You lay out great examples on the projector, but pause to discuss the examples. Ask
follow up questions like What do you notice about the verbs in these three
examples? Or Based on the way this sentence is written, what is implied about Xs
action? Get the students to participate, dialogue, and articulate their
understanding. Otherwise, they may just take pictures and not process.
One practice that may help is to write down (for your own reference) questions that
you will ask the class. Think of these in advance. These questions do not need to be
projected, but will aid in the flow of the lesson. Using the lesson plan template will
help!
Always ask yourself: How do I know that students are learning?
The review of the different tenses moved rather quickly. It was over in 4 minutes
(9:32-9:36am!)!
Spend more time breaking down the examples. Color coding the verbs in the
example sentences will help visual learners.
You did ask the class if they had questions, but no one spoke up. I have a hunch that
every student had a question, but no one wanted to ask!
Asking for a thumbs up is a good way to gauge student learning, but in this case, I
felt that students passively put their thumbs up, or felt pressured to give a thumbs
up because other classmates were.
Avonte asked a good question about what to highlight in his paragraph-- Do I
highlight the whole thing?-- so clarify the directions on the slide from highlight
them in the color they are projected as to highlight the parts of speech and
highlight the word highlight to reinforce the task
Also, do you want students to work on either paragraph, or specifically the one they
completed for homework? I recommend the homework assignment, as early
finishers can then move on to independent revision of this paragraph
Can you quantify the highlighting in any way? What if students do not use a
progressive tense, perfect tense, gerund, or participle? Should they add at least one
example? (Im inclined to think yes, in the interest of focused correction)
I like that you had an early finishers task-- 3 direct quotes and parenthetical
citations. Because this skill was taught a few days ago, it would help to provide an
example of a proper flow quote and proper in-text parenthetical citation on the
projector. We discussed this at the end of Week 3 and beginning of Week 4, so feel
free to copy a previously used example/slide.
Good to mention that students should not throw a quote in there and should tell
me why it's important, but again, without a visual reference, this instruction and
expectation is lost.

 Another idea is to create a reference worksheet and post it on Google Classroom.

This way, students who are ready for this task can also have access to a document
that shows exactly what youre looking for with both parenthetical citations and a
proper Works Cited page. You could include an instruction on the project: To see an
example- visit Google Classroom and open the Reference Guide.
8 minutes in to the self revision activity, you stopped at Chriss desk. He had not
highlighted a single thing. You spoke about parenthetical citations. What is the
expectation here? Should he have something highlighted? Reiterate this with him
1:1. I might say Im going to circle back in 3 minutes and I want to see X.
The class has been largely quiet...which to me, signals inactivity (especially for
boys, who need to be stimulated to learn!). During the self revision activity, can you
build in some partner work? Instead of having to check each students paragraph
(which will be impossible in a class of 27), how can students still be held
accountable by their peers?
Round 2- 10:30 am
When giving verbal cues or reminders about time limits, make sure students can
both see and hear you (instead of remaining seated at the back of the room, start to
circulate and establish a presence. Students shape up once they see you!)
General rule of thumb: teaching in a high school setting cannot be done sitting
down :)
There is a lot of chatter. Practice some classroom management strategies to mute
it-- tap on desks, stand near talkers until they stop talking
Great job- I love that you asked a question about the first present progressive tense
right off the bat (How do we know it is happening right now?--> Answer: use of
the word IS)
This is a super chatty class, yet they did not participate in the ways that you wanted
during the grammar lesson. Here, you need to wake them up and add some energy!
Come on people, look at these sentences! I know you are smart and intelligent
individuals, so you tell me-- what do these sentences have in common? Let me see
a show of hands!
One observation, rather pedantic: consider ordering the tenses and explanations on
the slide from past perfect future
Find different ways to explain the concepts of perfect tenses.
Ie Greg will have returned from his trip by the time we leave for school. You might
say something like, In addition to will have we also see the verb returned which
is a past tense verb if it stands alone; however, given the context, Gregs action
(will have returned) will be completed sometime in the future before the next event
(our departure for school).
When reviewing concepts from previous classes, consider including the grammar
rules alongside the part of speech
Gerund- a word that looks like a verb but functions as a noun. Example: fighting,
swimming.
This alleviates confusion that kids might have!
Using the lens of lesson structure and progression, please identify one
specific affirmation and one specific challenge you can offer to this
teacher.

Affirmation:
9:00: You really engaged (not just superficially) with a lot of the quieter
kids during revision time. Nice job!
10:30: This lesson was way more engaging! Also, sweet review of
yesterdays class.
Challenge:
9:00: Slow down the lesson a bit. It's sort of a tricky concept, so some
kids seemed to be zoned out or not understanding. Also, they're not
actually going to self-revise for that whole time.
10:30: Try to come down harder on kids who are talking during activities
that clearly do not require talking, like doing research or NoRedInk. (I'm
thinking specifically of Patrick, Kate, Charlotte, and Lydia, but they're
not the only ones who do it.)

STI Observation Form

Student Engagement
Intern Teacher: Juliana A.
Observer: Jackie M.
Date: July 13, 2016
Lesson Topic: Progressive and Perfect Tenses
In the space below, sketch a diagram of the classroom. Using an x,
mark whenever a particular student offers a response, asks a question,
etc.
9:00am Class:
Table 1

Table 2

Nathalie

Obiari
X
Vanessa
X

Brigid
X

Table 3

Table 4
Deirdre
X

Jackie
Jalante X

Table 5

Table 6

Ben X
Chris X

Avonte
XX

10:30am Class:
Table 1

Table 2

Patrick
X

Lydia XX
Kate X

Brendan
X

Charlot
te X

Vinny
XX

Table 3

Table 4

Alexand
ra XX

Jacob
Maeve XX

Luke XX

Jessica
X

Derrick
XX
Edward C

Table 5

Edward
R.

Joey
XXXXX

Table 6

Kiley X

Lily X
Folarin X

John Z.

Jocelyn

Tendaji
XX
Lorenz

Jake

Using the lens of student engagement, please identify one specific

affirmation and one specific challenge you can offer to this teacher.
Affirmation:
9:00 am Class: You planned a great lesson!
10:30 am Class:
You did a really great job including Wait Time before asking for an answer.

Challenge:
9:00am class: As you were walking around it seemed like you were staying on the
right side of the classroom a bit.
10:30am class: Your joke about Did I only have four people in class yesterday? I
thought was really great. Vinny spoke a bit out of term and tried to be funny about
it, but I think you handled it very well. Great job prompting Lydia when she
thought she didnt know the answer. You gave a lot of attention to Joey today but I
think you did a good job of attending to almost everyone. Try focusing more on
the quieter students like Edward C. or Jocelyn.