Half Hollow Hills School District

Independent Formal Observation

Id Teacher Building Department Cert Type Tenure Period Grade Subject

12007 Danielle Fricke West Hollow (053) MATH Professional Non Tenured Period 5 Grade 7 MATHEMATICS

Date Opened Observation Date Observer Date Closed Score

1/16/2018 1/30/2018 Ian Dunst 2/10/2018 3.74

Select one rating for each criterion as they apply.

Ratings: (H) Highly Effective, (E) Effective, (D) Developing, (I) Ineffective, (N/O) Not Observable
Domain 1: Planning and Preparation
The planned objective of this lesson is for students to understand how to apply their knowledge of working with
percentages and proportions to real life contextual problems involving discounts. Students will be able to find and
understand the difference between the amount of a discount as well as the sales price for the various items
presented to them. Ms. Fricke plans to utilize the available iPads during this lesson, where students will work
through a NearPod activity involving different examples related to the objective of the class period. During this
activity, each student will receive one slide of information at a time, containing the next example or task to work on
their own iPad, when Ms. Fricke decides to advance this method of presentation. This approach will require each
student to remain focused on each task, while also encouraging them to share their work with their teacher and/or
the whole class, as well as submit answers to different quiz type questions. While using this instructional tool, Ms.
Fricke will also have students work alongside a class partner to discuss, share and solve the different problems
presented to them during the class period.

In planning for this lesson, students typically experience difficulty or have misconceptions using the accurate pieces
of the problem to set up a correct proportion or equation to represent the problem at hand. Quite often, students
interchange the discount and the sales price incorrectly as well. In planning for these concerns, Ms. Fricke plans to
receive each of her students’ current thoughts and answers to each of the problems presented to them during the
class period by utilizing the NearPod activity. Based upon the information acquired from this tool, Ms. Fricke will
point out the typical errors being made by the students in real time, or if the students are demonstrating
understanding and accuracy of the problems at hand, elect to continue progressing along within her planned
lesson. This process will allow both the students and Ms. Fricke with the opportunity to fine tune any
misconceptions throughout the entire class period.

1a: Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy H E D I

1b: Demonstrating Knowledge of Students H E D I
1c: Selecting Instructional Outcomes H E D I
1d: Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources H E D I
1e: Designing Coherent Instruction H E D I
1f: Designing Student Assessments H E D I
Domain 2: The Classroom Environment
An environment of respect between the teacher and students as well as between the students themselves has
been previously established in Ms. Fricke’s classroom as evident from the following observations. All students were
quiet, involved with or tracking the conversations during the entire class period, whether their teacher or
classmate contributed ideas into advancing the work at hand. At times, different students were heard continuing
one of their classmates shared ideas to build upon their ideas, demonstrating they were listening to each other
and that they valued their classmates’ ideas.

Ms. Fricke demonstrated an expectation that her students fully understand the concepts at hand, as evident from
the following observations. Ms. Fricke patiently accepted different student answers to the various problems
discussed during the class period. To elicit these various student responses, Ms. Fricke was heard asking, “Can
you explain?” “Why?” “Wow, I didn’t do it that way, very good. Did anyone else do this differently?” Additionally,
towards the end of the class period, Ms. Fricke even withheld providing the answer to a student’s question after
allowing multiple students attempt to answer the question at hand. She concluded the period and this
conversation by informing her students that they would have the opportunity to continue thinking about as well as
answer this question during the next class period.

Smooth and efficient procedures and transitions where utilized throughout the entire class period resulting in little
to no loss of instructional time, as evident from the following observations. Through the use of a previously
prepared NearPod presentation, Ms. Fricke smoothly progressed from one activity to the next seamlessly. To begin
the class period, Ms. Fricke posted a class code that allowed students to access this presentation directly on their
iPad. Within this presentation, each student was provided with an answer key to the homework that they could
easily zoom in or move around for a clearer view, all of the problems worked on during the class period, as well as
a method of sharing and submitting their answers to their teacher. As a result of using this technology, Ms. Fricke
was able to immediately and easily display selected student work, or all of the submitted student responses,
anonymously or by student name.

2a: Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport H E D I

2b: Establishing a Culture for Learning H E D I

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 2c: Managing Classroom Procedures H E D I
2d: Managing Student Behavior H E D I
2e: Organizing Physical Space H E D I
Domain 3: Instruction
A clear and valuable objective was communicated and established during the lesson. The progression of content
was designed in a coherent and fluid manner, promoting students ability to discover the new concepts being
presented to them. Additionally, Ms. Fricke presented the content to her students in a manner that “turned the
math dial up slowly”, which started at very straightforward and inviting examples, and then progressed towards
the abstract and complicated mathematical concepts present within this lesson. Specifically, students were initially
asked to think about how to calculate different percent problems mentally, without using any calculator or paper
and pencil. During this time, Ms. Fricke asked this string of questions, “What is 10% of 40?” “What is 50% of 40?”
“What is 20% of 40?” “What is 15% of 40?” “What is 60% of 40?” After each question, many students raised their
hands to answer the question, and Ms. Fricke called upon different students to explain their reasoning and process
for arriving at their answers. After completing these “fluency” drills, students were then presented with word
problems that incorporated these fluencies within the context of finding the discount or sales prices for different
items. It was observed that the students’ were not having any difficulty with performing the practiced skills within
their process of solving the more complicated word problems, which could be as a result on this ongoing fluency
practice. As discussed during the post conference, Ms. Fricke is to be commended for providing time for each
student to practice answering questions in these fluency drills, and then with the opportunity to connect this
knowledge to more complicated examples. Also as discussed, consider progressing through these fluency
questions more quickly, which would provide many examples of these skills in a repetition format. Students will
benefit from this quick practice, possibly more than taking the time to listen to the explanation of how these
answers were arrived.

Ms. Fricke regularly expected that her students fully explain or justify their answers as evident from the questions
she asked her students during the class period. For example, Ms. Fricke asked, “Ok, where did you get the 80%
from?” “Ok, why are you allowed to do that?” “Why wouldn’t $18 be the sales price?” and “If we wanted to take
your proportion and put a different number where your 15 is, could we put something else there?” In the middle of
the class period, one student asked Ms. Fricke, “What is the way that most students find discount?” Ms. Fricke
responded to this interesting student question in a whole class conversation. As discussed in our post conference,
this was an excellent opportunity to have all students think about and focus on the main objective of the lesson.
Consider providing time for all of the students to answer this question individually or with a partner, and possibly
using the NearPod activity as well. This expectation for each student will hold them all individually accountable for
thinking about, and hopefully being able to explain the objective for the class period.

Students were engaged throughout the entire class period, either by working on different examples at their seats
individually or with classmates, comparing their work with the presented procedures and answers that were
shared anonymously within their iPad “NearPod” presentation, or thinking about or listening to different
explanations for the completed problems. By utilizing the NearPod activity, where each student had their own iPad,
each student was constantly held accountable for not only remaining focused on the task at hand, but also sharing
information that could be viewed by both their teacher and their peers. During the lesson, students were asked to
complete work at their seats and to submit their answers and full work through the NearPod lesson. As a result,
Ms. Fricke formatively assessed of her students’ knowledge throughout the lesson to gauge her response to her
students work as well as which task to assign next.

3a: Communicating with Students H E D I

3b: Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques H E D I
3c: Engaging Students in Learning H E D I
3d: Using Assessment for Instruction H E D I
3e: Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness H E D I
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities
4a: Reflecting on Teaching H E D I N/O
4b: Maintaining Accurate Records H E D I N/O
4c: Communicating with Families H E D I N/O
4d: Participating in a Professional Community H E D I N/O
4e: Growing and Developing Professionally H E D I N/O
4f: Showing Professionalism H E D I N/O
Comments
Observer Comments
Teacher Comments

This document requires Electronic Signatures.

Ian Dunst 2/13/2018 3:22:53 PM

________________________________ ________________________________
Observer Signature Date

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 Danielle Fricke 2/13/2018 2:10:50 PM
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Teacher Signature Date

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