EDUC 450

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY

OBSERVATION FIELD NOTES FORM DAY ONE

Candidate: __Danielle C. Hicks_______________________________
Mentor Teacher: Mrs.Yarbrough______________________________
Date: _1/20/15___________ Content Area: _Math _____________
Lesson Topic: _Division________________________________
DOMAIN 2: INSTRUCTION
APS 4: ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING HIGH EXPECTATION FOR LEARNERS
An effective teacher establishes, clearly communicates and maintains appropriate expectations for
student learning, participation and responsibility.

A. What did the teacher expect the students to learn from the lesson? How did the teacher convey the
purpose and relevance of the lesson to the students? In what ways did the students demonstrate that they
understood what the teacher expected for them to learn? The teacher expected the students to be able to
properly divide one and two digit numbers. The teacher conveyed the purpose and relevance to the
students by informing them of the uses of division and explaining to them when they will use it outside
of the classroom. The students demonstrated that they understood by playing an online game called
Kahoot on the SMART BOARD. This game allowed the students to demonstrate what they had learned
by answering the division questions on the game correctly.

B. What did the teacher expect the students to do during and after the lesson? How did the teacher convey
expectations for student participation and for accomplishing related assignments and tasks? In what
ways did the students demonstrate that they understood what the teacher expected them to do? The
teacher expects the students to be actively involved and engaged in the lesson on division while she is
teaching it to them and after the lesson she expects the students to be able to proficiently complete the
division problems that she assigned to them, to see how well they understand the material .The teacher
conveyed expectations for student participation and for accomplishing related assignments and tasks by
conveying to them that she expects them to actively participate in every component of the lesson, and by
telling them that she expects them to complete assignments and tasks in an orderly manner. The students
demonstrated that they understood what the teacher expected them to do by accurately following
directions and completing the division problems that they were assigned.

C. How did the teacher help the students take ownership of the learning (e.g., by making the learning
relevant to the students, using scaffolding, providing opportunities for students to engage in selfassessment and reflection, teaching compensatory strategies when necessary)? The teacher helped the
students take ownership of their learning by encouraging active participation among all of the students.
She also uses scaffolding by activating prior knowledge and providing the students with a variety of
examples of division problems. She also provided opportunities for the students to engage in selfreflection by having the students write down in their journal what they did and did not understand then
later on they were presented with the opportunity to ask her questions about the components of the
lesson that they did not understand or had difficulty with. She also made the lesson relevant to the
students by incorporating real world examples that they could relate with into the lesson.

EDUC 450

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY

OBSERVATION FIELD NOTES FORM DAY TWO

Candidate: Danielle C. Hicks_________________________________
Mentor Teacher: Mrs. Yarbrough_______________________________
Date: 1/21/15____________ Content Area: _Math_____________
Lesson Topic: _Telling time________________________________
APS 5: USING INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE LEARNING
An effective teacher promotes student learning through the effective use of appropriate instructional
strategies.

A. What was the content of the lesson? The content of the lesson was telling time on a clock. The teacher
explained to the students that the short hand represented the hour and the long hand represented the
minutes.

B. What instructional strategies did the teacher use during the lesson? The instructional strategies that the
teacher used during the lesson was the use of technology and differentiation of the lesson amongst the
students.

C. In what ways did the teacher vary the instructional strategies during the lesson, and why? The teacher
used a clock on the SMART Board that she could manipulate to display different times to provide the
students with practice on telling time. She also had to differentiate he instruction because quite a few of
the students had difficulty with what the short hand and long hand represented. Since they did not
understand she had to reteach that portion of the lesson and provide them with some more practice
activities.

D. What evidence suggests that the instructional strategies were or were not- effective in terms of
promoting student learning and success? The instructional strategies were effective because, the students
seemed to learn the best and be the most successful when they were doing activities on their Ipads and
the SMART Board. Additionally the students seemed to have a better grasp of the material after the
teacher differentiated her instruction.

EDUC 450

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY

OBSERVATION FIELD NOTES FORM DAY THREE

Candidate: Danielle C. Hicks________________________________
Mentor Teacher: Mrs. Yarbrough_______________________________
Date: _1/22/15___________ Content Area: _Science_____________
Lesson Topic: _Landforms________________________________
APS 6: PROVIDING CONTENT FOR LEARNERS
An effective teacher possesses a thorough knowledge and understanding of the discipline so that he or
she is able to provide the appropriate content for the learner.

A. What evidence suggests that the teacher did-or did not- have a thorough knowledge and understanding
of the content? If content errors were made, did the teacher recognize and correct them? The evidence
that suggests that the teacher did have thorough knowledge and understanding of the content is that she
gave an in depth explanation of every part of the lesson and she provided them with wonderful examples
and if they had any questions she answered them in a clear and concise mannerism.

B. What was the content of the lesson, and how did the content relate to the learners and their learning?
The content of the science lesson was landforms (mountains and rivers etc.) The content related to the
learners and their learning because many of the students did not have in-depth knowledge on landforms
and this lesson provided them with a vast amount of content so that they could begin to learn what
landforms are.

C. How did the teacher organize and present the content in order to make it clear and meaningful to the
students and to promote higher levels of knowledge, skills and/or cognitive processing? The teacher
organized and presented the content in an interactive and engaging way. She provided them with notes
to put in their notebooks and them she let them watch a very interesting video on Brain Pop. She also let
them complete an arts and crafts activity on landforms to put in their notebooks. While teaching the
lesson she also had a lot of higher level open ended questions to help stimulate the students minds.

EDUC 450

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY

OBSERVATION FIELD NOTES FORM DAY FOUR

Candidate: Danielle C. Hicks_______________________________
Mentor Teacher:__Mrs. Yarbrough______________________________
Date: 1/22/15____________ Content Area: _Math_____________
Lesson Topic: _Multiplication________________________________
APS 7: MONITORING, ASSESSING AND ENHANCING LEARNING
An effective teacher maintains a constant awareness of student performance throughout the lesson in
order to guide instruction and provide appropriate feedback.

A. What was the content of the lesson? The content of todays lesson was a review of multiplication.

B. How did the teacher monitor student engagement, understanding and performance during the lesson?
The teacher monitored engagement, understanding and performance during the lesson by walking
around the classroom to see how well the students were doing while completing their work. She
monitored engagement by observing who was actively answering and asking questions and who was
engaged in playing the multiplication game that they were doing on the SMART Board.

C. What adjustments, if any, did the teacher make during the lesson, and why? The teacher had to go back
and reteach and provide more examples for certain components of the lesson because some of the
students did not fully understand the material.

D. What types of instructional feedback did the teacher provide to the students, and how effective was the
feedback in terms of enhancing student learning? The teacher provided feedback to the students by
providing them with graded material that they had completed and reviewing the questions that they got
wrong and had questions on. The feedback was effective because once the teacher explained and
reviewed the material the students had a better understanding of the material that they got wrong and did
not understand.

EDUC 450

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY

OBSERVATION FIELD NOTES FORM DAY FIVE

Candidate: Danielle C. Hicks______________________________
Mentor Teacher:_Mrs.Yarbrough_______________________________
Date: __1/23/15__________ Content Area: Science ______________
Lesson Topic: Landforms________________________________

DOMAIN 3: ENVIRONMENT
APS 8: MAINTAINING AN ENVIRONMENT THAT PROMOTES LEARNING

An effective teacher creates and maintains a classroom environment that encourages and supports
student learning.

A. What was the content of the lesson?

The content of todays science lesson was still landforms.
B. Describe the physical environment of the classroom.
The physical environment of the classroom was very colorful. It had a lot of student work displayed on
the walls and a lot of educational posters were displayed on the walls.

C. What type of affective climate did the teacher create for the students?
The teacher created a climate in which the students felt safe and ready to learn, thrive and be successful.

D. In what ways did the teacher establish a culture of learning in the classroom (e.g., by facilitating
inquisitiveness, motivating to learn, cooperation, teamwork)? The teacher worked really hard to
establish a culture of learning in the classroom. The teacher motivated the students to learn by providing
them with positive reinforcement (such as praise rewards etc.). She also encouraged teamwork by
having their desks arranged in groups. When they had a question she encouraged them to work together
and figure it out as a team.

APS 9: MANAGING THE CLASSROOM

An effective teacher maximizes instructional time by efficiently managing student behavior, instructional
routines and materials and essential non-instructional tasks.
A. What were the teachers expectations for student behavior? In what ways did the students demonstrate
that they understood the ways in which they were expected to behave? How did the teacher address
inappropriate student behaviors, if any, during the lesson? The teacher expected the students to behave
properly at all times. The students demonstrated that they understood how they were expected to behave
by raising their hands in order to be called on, walking quietly in line, and respecting what the teacher
told them to do. The teacher addressed inappropriate behavior by fussing at the students, giving them
silent lunch, and calling their parents.

B. In what ways did the teacher maximize-or fail to maximize- instructional time? The teacher maximized
instructional time by teaching and keeping the students busy working at all times. There was not a
moment during the say when the students were not busy working or learning.

C. How did the teacher manage non-instructional routines and transitions between activities and/or
classes? The teacher made sure that the students remained quiet and acted in an orderly fashion. She
informed them that transitions between classes were not a time to talk or act up and that they were to
remain focused on the task at hand.