Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

Elementary Education Program

Formal Observation Reflection

Directions: Complete the reflection questions and submit your response to your observer prior to having a post-
conference to discuss the observation. If a conference is held immediately after the observation you will submit
your responses to the observer the following day via email.

Name: Savannah Phipps Date:11/30

1. To what extent were learning outcomes appropriate and achievable to your students?
a. The learning outcomes that were decided on were completely appropriate and
achievable to our students, proof of which is in their continued participation
throughout the lesson, and the request to continue on with the activity planned.

2. How effective were your instructional strategies? What changes would you make in
your instructional approaches if you taught this lesson again? Why?
a. The instructional strategies used were good for the lesson. However, if there
were an opportunity to do the lesson again, I would plan even more time for
discussion with the students during the read aloud. It felt as though I rushed
through during the lesson.

3. Evaluate the effectiveness of your oral and written communication with students.
(Consider how well you communicated learning objectives, clarity of directions, use of standard English, quality of
questions and effectiveness of discussion techniques.)

a. On a 1-10 scale, 1 being the least effective, and 10 being the most effective I
would give myself a 7. My written communication is more solid and concise
than my verbal communication. When I get nervous I tend to speak quickly so
that I can be done talking, and sometimes that means students arent hearing
my directions because either I am talking to fast, or in an attempt to finish I dont
make any sense. My one on one communication is much better though which
gives me an opportunity to clarify my expectations.

4. Evaluate the level of student engagement in your lesson . (Consider how you presented the
content/skills, the activities and assignments for students, grouping of students, and structure and pacing of the
lesson.)

a. On a 1-10 scale, 1 being the least engaged, and 10 being the most engaged, I
would rate their engagement at a 10. The students absolutely adored being
read to, and kept begging for more time to finish the activity,( writing bucket
fillers for their classmates). As we progressed through the lesson you could tell
that the students were really enjoying themselves and that, if time permitted
they would have spent so much time writing to one another.
5. How effectively did you use instructional materials, resources, and/or technology?
a. Referring to a similar 1-10 scale as the above question I would rate the
effectiveness at an 8. Everyone had the opportunity to write several notes,
everyone had a bucket, each instructional material had a vital purpose to the
lesson and progressed the lesson forward rather than making the lesson
stationary.

6. To what extent were your assessment strategies effective? What changes would you
make in your assessment approach if you taught this lesson again? Why?
a. I think that the assessment strategies were effective enough, but had we been
given more time I would have loved to have them write an actual letter to
someone, rather than just a few sentences on a index card. They understood
the material though. That was evident in what they chose to write one another.
So as far as the assessment being able to check what they learned and
evaluate their understandings it did a good job, but I think we could have done
more, had there been more time.

7. To what extent was your feedback to students accurate, substantive, constructive,

specific, and/or timely?
a. I didnt encounter a surplus of moments where students required redirection,
however for those I did spend time with I referred them back to the examples in
the book when they were struggling to come up with their individual
experiences. I asked them if their lived experience was anything like the bucket
fillers in the book which enabled them to continue on with their work.

8. To what extent did the classroom management and environment contribute to student
learning? (Consider your classroom procedures, your use of physical space, and the students conduct.)
a. The strategies that were relied upon were those that Ms. Dove used in class so
that we could quickly gain their attention without having to take the time to
explain a new attention grabber that the wouldnt be used to. It enabled us to
spend more time on the lesson and less time disciplining and waiting for student
attention.

9. Did you make modifications to your lesson plan during the lesson? If so, what were
they and what motivated these changes?
a. I think the only modification we made was allowing students more time to write to one
another which was motivated by their enjoyment in lifting each other up with their
words. We wanted those kinds of actions to go on for as long as possible which is why
we allowed it to continue. It also gave us plenty of time to go around and check on each
student to see how they were doing and what they were writing.

10. Was your Teaching Behavior Focus goal met?