EDUC 5312/3315-Curriculum and Instructional Design

Classroom Observation Assignment

Observation Form 1

Observation Date: 03/31/17 Observation Time: 10:52-11:37

Teacher Observed: Lisa Shirley Subject/Grade Level: ELA/5th Grade

School Observed: Young Scholars of McKeesport CSObserver: Mertkan Murt

1-What was/were the learning objectives/outcomes of the lesson? (Add state objectives if
known, for example, TEKS 111.4. Grade 2.b.)

Describe effective test taking techniques

Identify important tips

Discuss the reading part to interpret the story

2-How did the teacher begin and end the lesson?

Teacher welcomed students into the classroom and greeted them. She explained the lesson and
describe the outcome before she started the presentation. She used a presentation to reinforce her
lecture and make it more visual.

She ended the lesson with whole class discussion. She asked various questions about the reading
part and how students made decision to choose the best answer she also reviewed if students
used some of the tips she explained during the presentation.

3-What did the teacher use for teaching materials or instructional aids/equipment?

Projecter

PowerPoint

Practice ELA test

Highlighters
4-Which instructional methods and strategies did the teacher use? ( lecture, inquiry,
discovery learning, discussions, games or simulations, demonstrations, cooperative learning,
integration of technology, socrative questioning, etc)

She started the lesson with the lecture following a socratic method where she used several
questions to interact with students and draw information out of students.

She also used practice method to get students used to some test taking strateqies.

5-How did the teacher assess learning? (informal, formal, formative, summative, oral, open-
ended, quiz, feedback etc) See Chapter 8 for more information on assessment methods

She used both formative and informative assessing tools to assess students learning.

She used socratic method and discussions to formatively assess students and practice test to
summative assess them.

She always provided feedback to students to improve and support students learning

6- What can you say about the teachers philosophy/beliefs and style?
(Traditional/progressive, behaviorist, student-centered vs. teacher centered, authoritative etc)

She basically combined students-centered teaching with teacher-centered teaching and managed
classroom learning very well. During the lecture it was pretty much teacher-centered but after the
lecture Questioning and discussion sessions were more of student-centered. Students seemed in
charge of discussion but teacher was always there to control student so that they were always on
task

7-How does the teacher manage classroom? Can you identify classroom management
techniques used?

She never let students get out of topic by providing guidelines, immediate feedback and
repeating expectations when necessary. She seemed to have established a good classroom culture
so that students knew what to do in certain situations. Her body language and voice level was
also very balanced so that students received positive reinforcement.

8-Observe in the classroom setting and determine types of behavior students play when off-
task. What do they do when they are not paying attention? How does the teacher re-direct
them or get them back on task?

She established a very positive classroom environment and good culture so that most of the
students were on task and had no behavior issues. Two students went off the task but she
immediately recognized students and addressed them. She repeated the expectations and stated
what would be a best choice in that situation. She always used positive language to encourage
students and gave them positive feedback.

In many cases, she used questioning techniques to keep students on task and had different
activities so that students did not get bored.

9-How does the teacher communicate with students (verbal, vocal, meta-verbal or non-verbal
communication such as facial, body language, use of space, motion and time?)

She communicated with students in different ways. She mostly used verbal communication to
deliver the lecture and keep students on the task. She also used body language a lot to encourage
students and motivate them. She was always walking around the classroom and keep eye contact
with students.

10-Who were the students in the class? What did you notice about them? (Background,
diversity, attitude, motivation, interaction, participation, etc)

Classroom consisted of 21 students 11 of them were boys and 10 of them were girls. Students
mostly come from low income families and have a lot of behavioral issues. They lack motivation
and study skills. Teacher seemed to have very good knowledge of the students background and
had very effective approach towards students behavioral problems. Two students were not
proficient in English but she explained everything clearly and thoroughly so they could
understand.

11-What did you see that is effective in engaging students? What do you see that is
ineffective in keeping students engaged?

Question and answer session and discussion session was practically very effective as students get
chance to express themselves.

Lecture or presentation session seemed a bit ineffective tough it was not that long but students
showed less interest and they looked a bit bored.

12-What are the two instructional strategies you observed and would like to apply in your
classroom?
Socratic method was one strategy that she used to keep students on task and engaged. She asked
various questions to draw the information out of students besides they used critical thinking
skills to discover the topic.

Discussion was another strategy used during the lesson. Students again used their critical
thinking skills to dig dipper to discover more information and learn how to effectively read a
story and understand it.

13-What are two important classroom management strategies that you observed and would
like to apply in your classroom?

She always used positive language and encouraged students to participate and try their best. Her
body language was also very supportive.

She was always fair and let everyone take a chance or answer some questions.