Classroom Observation Paper

Students will be asked to write down anything they don’t understand from the lesson on a piece of paper (? Cards-see appendix 2.2) and it will be collected by the teacher

The Case of Randy Harris describes the lesson of a middle school mathematics teacher, and how he uses diagrams, questions, and other methods to guide his students to a better understanding. Throughout his case study, Harris’ methods could be easily compared to that of the Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices. There are eight mathematical teaching practices that support student learning, most of which are performed throughout Randy Harris’ lesson. Harris didn’t perform each teaching practice perfectly, despite doing the majority of them throughout his lessons. The following are examples of how Randy Harris implemented the eight mathematical teaching practices into his lesson, and how the ones that were neglected should have been

Dee asked the students how the Pythagorean Theorem related to area. Students caught on to this pretty rapidly by responding that in some situations they may need to find a missing side of the triangle before being able to find area. After completing the warm-up, Dee projected the answers to the homework on the board and asked if there needed to be clarification on any of the problems. For the introduction of the current day’s lesson, Dee projected the powerpoint presentation on the board. This included the lesson essential question. She asked the students to recall what they had learned the previous day and related it to what they were to be learning today. During the lesson Dee stressed to the students that titles, like the Segment Addition Postulate, had high importance. Students took notes on a notes packet while following along with the lesson. Dee walked through examples with the students in using the Segment Addition Postulate. She also stressed that, “part + part = whole.” Students then worked with Dee, “we do,” in order to solve additional examples. After this, students were told to practice the remaining examples in the notes packet either on their own or with a

Also, we had some posters about the shapes and I used them to demonstrate to them. With showing the illustration and let them to touch the colourful shapes I engaged them and I let them to discuss between themselves. I asked them for this activity you should all work as a team and should look at the shapes carefully and according the sides you must put in one circle. For example, in circle 1 we have all shape with 4 sides that we call quadrilateral.

This week I did both an interview and a small observation of my third grade host teacher's classroom. I was first able to interview my host teacher. Miss A does use many of the techniques for teaching words that were listed on my observation form. Specifically she uses crossword puzzles, dramatizing, word sorts, possible sentences and dictionaries. She also uses many techniques that are not listed on the observation sheet as well. She does a lot of repetition with her students. She has them right there words in rainbow colors, in vowels and consonants colors, in alphabetical order and many more that I didn't see. Miss a believes that " they are all useful for different students. Some students feel like crosswords are helpful and others feel like pictures are helpful" () I would completely agree with her statement in this regard. I do think it's good to have many different options for the many different students you have in your class. Miss a believed that there were a lot of benefits to wide reading. She make sure that the children are provided with a variety of texts especially her students who are ELL students. She mention specifically that it "helps build their schema for Content areas such as social studies and science and the vocabulary that goes with that."()

What were the objectives of this lesson? How well do you think your students understood the overall purpose and relevance of the lesson? (APS 4.A–C)

In a good classroom, students should feel safe and comfortable. The classroom was staffed with Ms. Caitlin the kindergarten teacher and Mrs. Doherty the teacher's assistant. The class size consisted of twenty children. The classroom held five round tables with four students per table. Having tables rather than individual desks, Ms. Caitlin encouraged a sense of community rather than allowing a child to be alone at a desk. The furniture was at an appropriate level and size for 5 and 6-year-old children. Also, there was space for children to store their work and personal belongings in cubbies. The class had four different learning center stations these included: writing/reading center, block center, math center, and the kitchen center. Bulletin boards were displayed and decorated with colorful pictures which reinforced concepts learned in the classroom. For example, the alphabet, numbers and days of the week. Student work was also visible in the classroom. In the front of the classroom, a smartboard and rug was arranged for the students to gather for lessons and play. This area was kept free from all forms of distraction. In the back of the room, extra materials were available such as pencils, erasers, crayons, glue sticks, and scissors. Overall, I believe that Ms. Caitlin provided her students with a positive, cheerful, and organized learning environment. She instilled in her students that the classroom is a

My first observation was completed by my school professor. Going into the lesson, I really was not sure what she would be looking for when observing me. I felt this was a good thing because not knowing, I just taught the way I usually do and as nervous as I was, overall I was pleased with my performance and evaluated effectiveness as a teacher.

January 21 from 2 o’clock until 4. The first activity was a presentation put on by various

I had hoped to find a group of people to observe under the context of my spring break in Atlanta, Georgia. However, I spent most of the time on my PLIA service trip working with nature, not people. So here I find myself sitting in the middle of the local mall food court at one o’clock in the afternoon, feeling awkwardly conspicuous as I try not to make eye contact with any of the people I spy on. With so many different tables of people around me, I was able to observe a variety of different characteristics of communication styles.

The setting I currently teach in is located in the Bronx. The school consists of a Middle school and a High school. Additionally, I teach 7th grade, English in a General education setting. Also, the classroom is populated with twenty-eight students five out of the twenty-eight are English Language Learners (ELLs). The rest of the students are native English language speakers. Moreover, the classroom consists of various reading levels. Some of the students are at grade reading level while others are meeting grade level or below grade level. Creating the groups by students Lexile reading level was a successful method because students were able to peer assist each other. Lastly, I selected the pass the portrait activity because I felt that it

The field site was Highline’s Cafe and sitting area in building 8. The Cafe and sitting area are in an L shaped part of building 8. The Cafe is at the end of this L and doesn't take much space up, the rest of the building is full of tables with chairs and just chairs on their own. Some tables are high up requiring stools, some of the chairs are made up of metal while others fabric and cushion. The Cafe is where students can get something to eat or drink, and the numerous sitting areas can let students study and converse with other students. I sat in one of the chairs closest to the entrance so that I could observe the whole space. My first observation was when someone would walk through the entrance that whether or not they were going to get something from the Cafe, they would look for a place to sit.

Memphis Intermediate School is located in the city of Memphis, TN. It is comprised of grades 3-5 with a total enrollment of 464 students and a student/teacher ratio of 20. Memphis has been in operation for only seven years and is a public school. The ethnicity of the student body is largely White at 86%, followed by Hispanic 6%, Multi-racial 2%, Asian 2%, Native American 2%, and Black 1%, “not provided” and Pacific Islander are both less than 1%. There is prevalence of students who require free or reduced lunch, about 27%. Additionally, the students who require special

To show that they are ready each student will be sitting on assigned letter on the carpet with their hands folded in their lap. Teacher will sit in front of them modeling the behavior. Once each student is on the carpet sitting nicely teacher gives each child one of the laminated pictures of an item in the classroom.The teacher then reads aloud the content and language content to the students so they know what the lesson is. Then the teacher introduces the Velcro board and the names of six shapes on the top as well as the picture of the shape. Teacher calls on each child with a 3x5 card and ask them to place the picture in the correct category on the Velcro board. (for example: Kayla what do you have a picture of “table” and it where do you think the “table” goes pointing to the six different shapes on the Velcro board) Repeat until each child who had a card has gone. Teacher then tells the students that at your desk you will find Yellow “Just shape me Journals”. “Today we are going to use what we just learned to make a book of shapes, look around the room and draw the item or items that fit with the shape. Please focus on the smart board so you can see an example of what your books should look like. Include a sentence with your picture: If you look at my book I choose a table and placed it under a rectangle

For my second lesson, I decided to conduct a math lesson as I had never conducted a math lesson in an elementary classroom let alone a 3rd grade classroom. I discussed with my CT what math concept I could teach that pertained to one of the 3rd grade standards. My CT told me that I could introduce the new concept of area to the class on the Friday that I was supposed to teach my lesson. I knew that that introducing a new topic on a Friday in an elementary classroom was not ideal as the majority of teachers that I have observed in the past usually wrap up their week’s lessons on Friday. The Friday I was conducting my lesson was also a shorten day due to Fall Break, so I thought the students would show some off task behavior for the early release day. These circumstances made me think hard about how I was going to introduce the concept of area to the students in an effective way. I knew that I needed to have a lesson that included an exploratory hands- on activity to keep the students engaged and wanting to learn. Therefore, I decided to use cheese crackers as manipulatives to represent square units. The students were to first guess what the area of the different shapes in a worksheet packet were and then they were to use the crackers to figure out the actually area of the different shapes.