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: Alexa Nicole Atchison Date: 11-3-17

1. To what extent were learning outcomes appropriate and achievable to your
students? I think that the outcomes were harder to measure based on the
students varied previous knowledge on the concept. However I think that having
the students help generate a rubric was a good way to get them involved in self-
monitoring.

2. How effective were your instructional strategies? What changes would you make
in your instructional approaches if you taught this lesson again? Why? I last
minute used my mentor teachers smartboard slides rather than the one I
created. This was a good way for the whole grade to experience the same
material however I could have been better prepared for questions if I was more
familiar with the slides she made.

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.) Overall this was a largely
independent activity but I feel that I facilitated good classroom discourse that allowed the
students to share and grow their scheme on the topic.

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.) my students were very excited about this lesson. They all wanted to share all
their traveling experiences and stories from siblings about the bonanza. I should have set
aside some extra time for them to share all these ideas.

5. How effectively did you use instructional materials, resources, and/or

technology? I used really only the smart board for this activity. I could have
expanded on my technology use.

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?
There were not many assessments used other than the final product and student
 engagement in the classroom discussion.

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

constructive, specific, and/or timely? I tried to guide the students to think about
their design without added my own ideas which I found to be a struggle. But I did
like to walk around the room and see their work, which they were happy to show !

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.)
I think that the classroom was a positive and creative environment where all the
students were excited to see and hear about their peers designs which made for
an overall better learning experience.
9. Did you make modifications to your lesson plan during the lesson? If so, what
were they and what motivated these changes?
My mentor teacher helped me with some management and keeping the timing on
track. This was need as it was an off behavior day and behavior management
had been an ongoing issue the whole day leading up to my lesson.
Was your Teaching Behavior Focus goal met? I think I did a good job incorporating
the students experiences but should have brought in more of my own to add the lesson
experience.