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: Payton Doherty Date: 11/20/17

1. To what extent were learning outcomes appropriate and achievable to your students?
I think they were very achievable to the students because they have been writing all
year, and understanding kindness is important to children their age. Our class needed
this lesson to help build their classroom community.
2. How effective were your instructional strategies? What changes would you make in
your instructional approaches if you taught this lesson again? Why?
I thought the students did a good job of following the instructions we gave them; they
seemed to listen well. I would definitely do a better job of keeping the students on
track, adding better transitions from the activities to keep them engaged. They were
getting antsy and were losing focus towards the end. My instructions have been better
than they have in the past for sure. I explained things more then once if I felt like I
needed to, rephrasing my instructions.
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.)
I feel I asked good, engaging questions that got the whole group to think about the
books we were reading and what we were talking about. The students knew my
expectations about what I wanted for them to learn, but I do not feel my instruction
about behavior was portrayed effectively. I feel I facilitated good discussions between
the students though.
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.)
I really think all of the students were involved in this lesson. They were answering my
questions, and they all did everything I asked when we completed the activity that
accompanied the lesson. There were a few who did not want to participate with the
large group, but we started without them, and they eventually joined in the fun activity.
The only problem was refocusing them to engage in the next activity we had planned.
The lesson went smoothly, and we were right on time with everything.
5. How effectively did you use instructional materials, resources, and/or technology?
The books that we read were extremely effective, and they really got the students to
think about the questions we were asking. We used their responses to make a paper
that could be used as a bulletin board that hangs outside of their classroom. We used
this board as incentive to get the students to right meaningful responses on their
notecards, and that really seemed to work. We made sure to have all of our materials
and resources on the ready so the transitions were much smoother than prior lessons.
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?
 I think our assessment was extremely effective even if it was on the simpler side. We
had them just answer one question because we wanted to see what they picked up
from the two books we read and the discussions we had. Their responses did not need
to be long. If I taught this lesson again, I would have had the students go back to their
seats to complete the assessment instead of staying in the circle on the carpet. I feel
they were a little distracted by each other, and we would have received even better
responses if they had gone to their seats.
7. To what extent was your feedback to students accurate, substantive, constructive,
specific, and/or timely?
We collected the assessments as soon as they were done writing them, and I read
them immediately. If they wrote something from the book, I praised them for using their
resources, and if they came up with something we did not talk about, I praised them
using their great thinking skills. If a student wrote something that did not make sense, I
asked them to explain it to me, and then I would help them write what they really
meant. This process did not take long because they students gave really great
answers.
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.)
We had the students in a large circle on the carpet the entire lesson. This caused a
few classroom management issues because our class loves to move around and be
active. I feel we should have moved them to their desks a few times throughout the
lesson in order to keep them engaged.
9. Did you make modifications to your lesson plan during the lesson? If so, what were
they and what motivated these changes?
The only thing we changed was doing the assessment before the activity. We felt that
it would be best to end the class with an engaging group discussion about what being
kind feels like and how it feels when people are kind to us. We wanted this lesson to
leave an impression on our students.
10. Was your Teaching Behavior Focus goal met?
I do believe that we were able to facilitate a discussion with every student. We both did
a good job of calling on students that do not normally raise their hands, and we gave
them time to think about their responses. The discussions we had as a large group
really showed that the students know what it means to be kind. This is a teaching
behavior I can continue to grow on throughout the rest of my career, but I think I took a
step in the right direction during this lesson.