Chesney 1 Amber Chesney EDSE 460 Dr.

Sheryl Muir 5 December 2013

Teacher Observation #1 Nancy Wilde - 7th Grade Language Arts 11/6/2013 8:00-9:30

This class consisted of 28 students, one of which was a female ELL student who is fluent in conversational English but not academic English. Students are grouped into table groups of five students The lesson today is a refresher on expository writing and using an organizer worksheet. Then the students will begin to write their essays.

The teacher began by having a discussion with the students about what an effective essay is, what that looks like, the importance of including the page number in order to document your information, character challenges and how the character changed. She asked how many students had remembered to included page numbers and found that many had not. She referred students to the sample essay she had given them earlier that was graded as

Chesney 2 a four. She pointed out the page numbers that were included in the introduction and explained that they are necessary in order to prove the points they are making in their papers. She asks students if they have any questions before they start working. A couple of students raise their hands for questions. Her ELL student does not. As the students began to work on their papers, the teacher was constantly moving around the room. She never sat at her desk and waited for students to come to her. She helped students who had their hands raised and checked in on others as she went around the room. There are notes on the board about what an effective essay looks like and she refers students to that as they are working. The ELL student in the class is sitting at a table group with five desks, but only one other student is there today. She is engaged in conversation with the other student about the book they read. She appears to be comfortable and confident in her interactions. The teacher approaches the ELL student to check in on how she is doing. The help was not solicited by the student. She clarifies for the student that she needs to explain what the character in her book is like and how the character is changed in the story. The student tells her what she wants to say and the teacher tells her that her information is good and that is how she should start. The teacher asks her where that information is in the book so that she can include the page number. The student is unable to find the area in the book, so the teacher helps her find it. After walking around the room some more, the teacher notices that many students are not forming a correct heading on their work, so she talks to them about it and writes how it should look on the board so they have a reference to look at.

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Critique: This lesson did not include very much direct instruction, so I was not able to observe that. The majority of this class period was about the students working on writing their essays. I think the teacher did an effective job of moving around the classroom to answer questions as they arose and to check in with all students. As she found items that some students were having difficulty with or forgetting, she took them as an opportunity to give instruction to the class in a way that did not single any one student out, but helped other students that may be having the same issue. I think the next lesson/writing session should include a reminder of the things that students were having some difficulty with or forgetting to include in their essays. I would check in with the ELL student before she begins writing again to find out how far she had gotten and how developed what she wrote was. I would ask her questions about what she wrote and have her explain her rationale. It will be important that what she has already written is solid and well understood before she proceeds to write more.