UCLA Center X Teacher Education Program

MS/SS Observation Form

Novice/Apprentice/Resident Teacher Date

Observer School/Class

TPE 1: Pedagogical Skills Observer Commentary
Elementary Core Practices
Opening move
Questioning and responding
Secondary Core Practices
Engaging students in rigorous content
High Level Tasks, Concept Maps
Engaging students in discourse
Learning Cycle ?s, Think-Pair-Share
Providing Equitable Access to Content
Form. Assessment, Word Bank/Wall
Developing a positive classroom ecology
Opening/Closing Rout, Comm Circle

TPE 2: Monitoring Student Learning
Checking for understanding
Asking & answering relevant questions
Other
TPE 3: Use of Assessments
Use of criteria/rubric
Taking formal assessment
Completing projects
Student presentations
Other
TPE 4: Making Content Accessible
Accessing prior knowledge
Referencing lived experiences
Scaffolding
Other
TPE 5: Student Engagement
Student participation
Culturally relevant materials
Other
TPE 6: Developmentally Appropriate
Differentiation
Use of media & technology
Other
TPE 7: Teaching English Learners
SDAIE methodology
Academic vocabulary
Other
TPE 8: Learning About Students
Community building activities
Other
TPE 9: Instructional Planning
Lesson plans
Agenda communicated to students
Other
TPE 10: Instructional Time
Starting and ending class
Transitions
Other
TPE 11: Social Environment
Inviting and clean; safe
Student work displayed
Caring environment
Other
TPE 12: Professional, Legal, & Ethical
Classroom management
Teacher speech: clear, pace, warm, tone

TPE 13: Professional Growth
TEP portfolio
Daily reflections

Observation Focus:


Sarah Patterson April 14, 2014

Andrea C. Rodriguez-Scheel Thomas Edison Elementary; Kindergarten: Mr. Salazar


Observations/Commentary/Scripting

Sarah stands at the front of the class, and brings the calendar up on
the overhead projector using the Smart Board. She begins by
explaining that she will be teaching lessons, but that she is also
learning, and explains my presence as an observer to the students.
They begin with the calendar, and Sarah starts off by asking the
students if anyone can tell her what day it is. A student says Monday.
Sarah then asks for a volunteer to come up and help her put yesterday
on the calendar. She also asks for a volunteer to put tomorrow on the
board. Sarah selects a student to come up and write the date. Sarah
uses a students birthday (which is on April 29) to engage the
class in a counting exercise, in which they count the number of school
days until her birthday. They also discuss an upcoming fieldtrip to the
Skirball Cultural Museum on April 22, and count the number of
school days until they go there.

Sarah transitions the screen to show todays numbers, and they recap
as a class that on Friday, they decided that they had been in school for
145 days, and Sarah asks for a volunteer to change the number to 146,
since today is another school day. She also brings up another
volunteer to add a number to the ones category, bringing it up from
five to six. Sarah also discusses with the class that they dont need to
change the hundreds and the tens numbers.

Sarah introduces choral counting to her students by connecting it to
the songs that they have been singing. Sarah tells them that she is
going to write the numbers in. Mr. Salazar places a number grid up
next to the rug for the students to reference if they need it. Sarah
writes the numbers up on the projector as students count together.
After they are done counting to 40, Sarah asks the students to look at
the numbers for patterns. She asks the class if they know what a
pattern is. A student mentions black and white and black and white,
and Sarah comments that yes, that is a color pattern. She asks them to
look at the numbers and see if they see any patterns. As an example,
she then underlines all of the zeros in the tens column, and then asks
the students to engage in a TPS on the rug to discuss what patterns
they see. As students are discussing, Sarah walks around the
perimeter of the carpet to check in and assess what students are
saying. Sarah picks a volunteer to come up to the screen and show
the pattern, and then Sarah underlines the repeating numbers in
columns (e.g., 5, 15, 25, 35). After they go through the patterns,
Sarah asks the class if they had counted up to 50, if they think the
pattern would have continued. Starting at 35, the class counts
together up to 50. After she is done, they comment on the pattern,
and then another student points out that the number 44 has the
number 4 two times. Sarah acknowledges this, and then says that
perhaps they can look at that pattern and some other ones next time
they do choral counting.
Questions/Suggestions




TPE 6: Use of media and
technology
I thought you did a great
job utilizing the Smart
Board in your lesson.

TPE 12: Teacher speech
You have a great teacher
voice calm and caring.


With lots of eager
participants, you might
want to pull sticks.

TPE 4: Making content
accessible
TPE 8: Community
building












TPE 6: Developmentally
appropriate



Might be good to do a TPS
here. Find ways for
students to engage with
one another.


TPE 5: Student
engagement
Ah! You must have read my
mind
TPE 2: Monitoring student
learning











































































Debrief:

In our debrief, I told Sarah that I thought she had a very nice teacher voice and demeanor with students.
I told her that I appreciated that she seemed to have already learned all of their names, and that it seems to
be paying off, as the students were acting as if they were very comfortable around her. Sarah shared with
me that she was a bit nervous when she taught the lesson, which I couldnt tell at all, and I assured that if
I couldnt tell, the class probable couldnt tell either. She says she is still learning about the students and
what they know and what they dont know. For example, in discussing the calendar portion of what she
did with the class, she told me that she knows they move the tens and the ones on the Smart Board when
they go over the number of days they have been in school, but she doesnt know how much they know
about place value. We talked about this a bit, and Sarah knows that she will learn more about this soon, as
at the time of her lesson, she had only spent three days with her class and Mr. Salazar, since her first day
at the placement as a professional development day. We talked a little bit about equalizing opportunities
for participation during whole group instruction, for example, pulling popsicle sticks, and about engaging
different participant structures to promote opportunities for student voice. We also talked about possibly
sharing lesson objectives with students and developing math word walls (Sarah also mentioned that Mr.
Salazar was encouraging her to tell the students that what they were doing was called choral counting,
and I agree that it is good to do this). Overall, Sarah had a fabulous first lesson. This seems like a great
placement for her, and I look forward to continuing to observe her development as a teacher.








Questions/Suggestions