Student Teacher_____Aaron Lober School_PS/MS 107

Observation #_4 Date _Nov. 13, 2015 Class 8th gr. English ICT Period_6__
Main Lesson Objective (short range concept):_close reading, second reading:__students will be
able to recognize the tone of a text by examining the authors word choice.
__________________________________________________________________ _______
I. GETTING STARTED/INTRODUCING THE LESSON
___yes _Establishes opening balance of firmness and friendliness
__yes_ Introduces focused, short-range performance objective(s)
_yes__ Establishes organized agendathe main steps for learning new knowledge
__yes_Motivates students to become interested in the learning objective
__yes_Engages students in generating relevant prior knowledge upon which to build
__somewhat__Helps students contextualize the lesson within the broader unit of study
_yes_Establishes behavior guidelines necessary for a productive lesson
General Observations: The Do Now asked students to imagine that they were an admission
officer at a college. What would their expectations be in evaluating an incoming students essay?
What effect would the use of academic language and a high level of vocabulary have?
The purpose of the lesson was a second reading of a college essay text (from Engage NY) to
guide students in a close reading that focused on analyzing the authors word choice and
resulting tone.
Strengths for this phase:
This was Aarons first day of teaching this class by himself. His strong classroom presence and
huge arsenal of management strategies helped him engage the students as he worked through the
plan. Students wrote during the Do Now period. As he circulated during the 3 minutes of
writing, he asked questions and helped individual students.Students shared their answers and he
captured their answers in summarizing phrasesperseverence, extracurricular activities,
creativity. He complimented students answers and asked appropriate follow up questions to
help particular students more clearly articulate their thoughts. From their answers he developed
the Aimwhat can we understand about tone in a second reading of a text by looking at word
choice.
Goals for this phase: Part of Aarons charm is letting students know how pleased he is with
their answersI love it, I like that, Raise your hand if you understand how I worked through
it. This completely captivates them. However, it can backfire if students dont want to please

him. The pointing out of whats good and pleasing can be stated as That is a good answer
because, Do you see the value in that answer is, Do you understand how to work
through thatunderline, circle, star text?
II. TEACHING/IMPLEMENTING THE LESSON
_yes __Establishes key learning objective (concept) and how students will understand it
__yes__Gives in-depth presentation of the learning objective and builds lesson around it
__somewhat__ Offers students deductive (direct teaching) and inductive (discovery) approaches
_yes__Uses instructional formats to appeal to verbal, visual and kinesthetic modes
_yes__Presents new knowledge, not previously taught knowledge (review, etc.)
__activity good, but not enough time to do it__Designs varied activities for applying new
knowledge (individual, pairs, groups)
__yes__Provides clear directions and expectations for each learning activity
_needs work __Structures and paces lesson for unity and completeness, including debriefing
_yes, could do more_Uses effective questioning to generate critical thinking and multiple views
__yes __Manage students effectively throughout the lesson
__yes but a slower pace would provide deeper understanding__Provides traditional and
performance-based assessment of new knowledge
General Observations:
Aaron did a think aloud of the text students had already read once. He explained that they should
listen for how words created a tone, and he defined and gave an example of tone. He compared
tone to a human being with a personality.
He read the tex out loud twice, the second time with annotations. He pointed out how specific
words shifted the tone of the essay. He had the students repeat in unison the phrase shift in
tone.
Strengths for this Phase:
The read aloud was was lively with the tone of the piece clear in the reading, and the SmartBoard underlining and circling of key tone words was good.
Goals for this Phase:
Keep teacher talk to a minimum. Students had only 5 minutes to do the graphic organizer and
were tired and inattentive by the time their turn to work came.
Although the directions for filling in the graphic organizer with word, meaning and impact
on tone were given and students indicated that they understood what to do, they clearly didnt.

If the graphic organizer had been filled out on the board and by the students at their seats during
the talk aloud they would more likely have known what to do during their independent work.
This modest differentiation in the plan for this ICT classes might have made a difference in their
participation on the graphic organizer. But, fortunately this class has a lot of extra time built into
the weekly schedule so they can easily finish the work began during this class.

III. CLOSING/DEBRIEFING THE LESSON

__no__Paces lesson to provide for an effective culminating display of new knowledge
__NA_Provides clear directions for homework application of learning objective
___no_Invites students to debrief by articulating the lessons personal and cognitive benefits
Observations/Goals: Time ran out as the students were writing their exit slip and students
handed in their work as they left the room. The exit slip was to choose one word that had been
analyzed during the lesson and discuss how the word would impact your decision about the
essays effectiveness.

IV. OVERALL PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

yes__Reflects on/evaluates how instructional choices and actions affect students
__yes__Builds relationships and seeks resources that support students active learning
___yes_Is flexible in accommodating varied learning aptitudes and formats
__yes__Is objective and calm in dealing with the unexpected

Observations/Goal
Aaron is working with a wonderful and generous teacher in an excellent school. It appears that
the relationship with his cooperating teacher and the special ed. teacher is already solid and that
he will learn a lot about rigorous instruction, team teaching and eighth graders during this
placement.
Making behavior more metacognitive should be a classroom management goal. Students should
be encouraged to recognize what they are doing right to please themselves (not the teacher) and
to be made aware of what it means to be part of a full class dynamic (respect for others in the
room as they work quietly).

Questions Reflective Teachers Ask Themselves When Reflecting on Observed/Implemented Lessons

Date:

Lesson:

Following your observation of a lesson, read and reflect carefully on the following questions. Respond in
writing to those that most pertain to the lesson.

Did the student learning anything? If so, why? If not, why not?

Did anything significant occur? If so, what and why?

Was the lesson built around a focused short-range objective that students could learn during the class?
Was the objective too narrow or broad for the grade level; if so, how could it be improved?

Was the strategy used the most effective one? What other strategies might be more effective?

How well did the lesson elicit the students prior knowledge, relevant experiences, and personal interests?
How might these important connections be improved?

How flexible was the teacher in modifying the lesson to accommodate students learning needs?

How well was classroom behavior managed? What proactive techniques might have been more
successful? What technique worked best and why? What didnt work and why?

What connections were made between the instructional strategies and the learning effectiveness? In the
future, how can I mend this gap to ensure all students learn a concept in depth?

Was the lesson coherent? How might the opening, the actual instruction the learning application, or the
closure be improved to give students a more coherent learning experience?

How were students inspired to learn the lesson objective? Were they offered intellectual and personal
rationales for learning? How might I do this in the future?

Did students have adequate opportunity to direct their own learning? If so, how? If not, what could be
done?

As a result of observing or teaching this lesson, what have I learned about teaching? What goals have I
developed as a result?