Student Observation Feedback Form for TC: _____Melissa

Cosgrove________________ Date:___2.9.16_______ Time:_12:45 pm_________

Class:__Grade 9 English_____School:_Cottonwood High______________ STE:__Amy
Noyce_______________ US:___Dole_______________
Topic/Class info:
Understanding connotation and inference
Standards

Comments and Suggestions

1: Learner
Development

Melissa conducted a Socratic seminar today with her group of 18 9 th

graders. She had seen her mentor teacher, Amy Noyce, conduct such a
seminar last semester and wanted to try it herself. The seminar went
extremely well, and Melissa did a wonderful job with it. Based on Amys
work, Melissa had students in an inner and outer circle. To begin, she
reviewed the successes and what-to-work-on from the last seminar. She
showed them a list of things they did well and where they needed to
improve. Students in the inner circle had prepared questions to ask
each other. Melissa gave these students a certain amount of time to
discuss the current book they were reading. While students in the inner
circle discussed the book, students in the outer circle were provided
with an observation sheet on which they recorded their comments as
they watched and listened to students in the inner circle. They had
been shown how to look for specific thingsmonitoring air time,
providing evidence from the book to support claims, everyone
participates, etc. After the first discussion, Melissa paused the group
and took comments from the outer circle as to the strengths (called
There!) and weaknesses (called Not Yet!) of the inner circle talk.
Students were attentive and interested in these comments. Then
students switched groups and the inner circle became the outer circle
and visa-versa. The same procedure repeated itself. Thereafter, Melissa
used a different colored marker to show what the second group did and
how well they conducted themselves. While students in each circle
conducted their discussions, Melissa observed in the back of the room,
watching who was talking and recording the kinds of comments they
made.

Students background
knowledge and
experience
Learning expectations
Make content
comprehensible
Communication with
parents or guardians

3: Learning
Environments

Fairness
Rapport with students
Physical environment
Instructional time
Learning Goals

4: Content
Knowledge

Connections with the

content knowledge
Extend thinking
Clear learning goals and
instructional procedures
Make content
comprehensible

5: Assessment

Evaluation strategies
Monitor understanding of
content
Reflection
A sense of efficacy

6: Instructional
Planning

Learning Goals
Make content
comprehensible
Clear learning goals and
instructional procedures

This lesson went over very well. Students seemed to enjoy it a lot, and
they learned how to talk to each other rather than to the teacher. The
seminar was organized, implemented well and structured and
scaffolded to encourage student success.
My only suggestion for Melissa on this lesson was that it might be
helpful to teach students the QAR questioning technique by Raphael.
This can be googled easily with instructions on how to proceed.
Teaching students to ask the right kinds of questions might get them to
think more deeply about their questions. The QAR questioning
procedure helps students get away from right there in the text
questions to the deeper kind of inferential thinking we would like them
to practice.

7: Instructional
Strategies

Teaching methods and

learning activities
Evaluation strategies

The remainder of the 35 minutes of class was devoted to reading

silently as part of their homework. This is something that Amy has
students do each day, and so Melissa follows this procedure. All
students were not on-task with this work. In fact, for the whole time,
not more than 5 or 6 students were on-task the whole time. Melissa
was casual about this. While she walked around the room, she seemed
to ignore much behavior that was off-task. My suggestion to Melissa is
that if she wants students to be reading, then she needs to ensure that
they are all reading. Otherwise, over time the class will become more
rowdy during those 25 minutes. In addition, those 25 minutes are
important instructional time and should be used well. I suggested she
talk with the whole class to reiterate that the time is reading time and
nothing else. If students choose not to read, then she should give them
something else to doprobably not to their liking. She also needs to
monitor them carefully and insist that they read.
Overall, Melissa is progressing very well as a student teacher.

Strengths

Goals

Conference
Questions

How did your lesson build on students prior knowledge?

How did you adapt your lesson for language learners?
What communication have you had with parents?

Conference

How did this lesson address diverse learning strengths

and needs (i.e. needs of language learners, students of

Questions

color, special ed, gifted, etc.)?

Conference
Questions

What routines do you use to maximize instructional time?

Conference
Questions

What non-verbal feedback do you give to students?

How do you adjust assessments for students?
How do you use information from assessments to adapt
your instruction?
How do you incorporate multiple and diverse sources into
your instruction?

Conference
Questions

How do you use reflection to inform your instruction?

What is your professional learning plan?
In what ways do you collaborate with colleagues?

Conference
Questions

How do you adjust instruction based on student

responses?

Conference
Questions

In what ways do you participate in your school?

How do you contribute to student success overall?
How are you improving your knowledge and skill base?

Conference

Are you familiar with laws and requirements for teachers?

Questions

Standards and Rubric

Standard 1: Learner Development

Students background knowledge and experience: Take into account the prior knowledge of your students before
you teach any new concept.
Learning expectations: Setting out clear goals that need to be achieved by the end of the lesson or by the end of
the unit/topic.
Make content comprehensible: Especially for English language learners and students receiving special education
support.
Communication with parents or guardians: Convey student performance to parents/caregivers. May be
accomplished through phone calls, conferences notes home, community participation.

Standard 2: Learning Differences

Learning Goals: Develop objectives for every class. Describe these objectives to students at the beginning of the
lesson.
Connections with the content knowledge: Discuss how content is applied broadly.
Teaching methods and learning activities: include a range of pedagogical approaches (e.g., think-pair-share, group
activities, inquiry-based learning).
Extend thinking: Applying concepts to real world scenarios.

Standard 3: Learning Environments

Fairness: All students should be treated with dignity and respect.

Rapport with students: Related to fairness (above); build relationships with each student.
Physical environment: Create an environment that is focused, lacks distractions (side talking and speaking over
others) and encourages engagement.
Instructional time: Keep track of the time; your agenda/objectives should not be that widespread that you cannot
cover them in a period.
Learning Goals: Set up some objectives for every class that you are going to teach. You may describe these
objectives to the students when they enter your class or during the class.

Standard 4: Content Knowledge

Connections with the content knowledge: You may talk about other scenarios where your taught content can be
applied.
Extend thinking: Applying concepts to real world scenarios
Clear learning goals and instructional procedures: Related to setting up objectives for each class or a weekly
agenda
Make content comprehensible: Especially to English language learners and special education students

Standard 5: Assessment

Evaluation strategies: Some form of assessment that informs you that you accomplished the objectives set out at
the start of the class. Examples: exit tickets, KWLA charts
Monitor understanding of content: Related to evaluation strategies in domain A. Examples: asking questions while
working on problems, asking students to work on additional problems, asking students to complete the problem,
using exit tickets and KWLA charts to monitor understanding.
Reflection: Keeping in mind the questions raised by your students and your instructional style, think about ways
you would want to change the lesson both within the context of the lesson and if you plan to teach it in the future.
A sense of efficacy: What are you beliefs regarding students potential? How are these beliefs manifest?
Communication with parents or guardians: Convey student performance to parents/caregivers. May be
accomplished through phone calls, conferences notes home, community participation.

Standard 6: Instructional Planning

Learning Goals: Set up content and language objectives for every class. Describe these objectives at the beginning
of class.
Make content comprehensible: Focus specifically on the needs of English language learners and students receiving
special education support.
Clear learning goals and instructional procedures: Related to setting up objectives for each class or a weekly
agenda

Standard 7: Instructional Strategies

Teaching methods and learning activities: Include a range of pedagogical approaches (e.g., Think-Pair-Share, group
activities, inquiry-based learning) that inculcate understanding/reinforcing of concepts to students.
Evaluation strategies: Varied forms of assessment that inform whether you have accomplished daily objectives
(e.g., exit tickets, KWLA charts)

Standard 8: Reflection and Continuous Growth

Reflection: Keeping in mind the questions raised by your students and your instructional style, think about ways
you would change the lesson in the future
A sense of efficacy: What are you beliefs regarding students potential? How are these beliefs manifest?

Standard 9: Leadership and Collaboration

Professional relationships: Discussing teaching with your site teacher; asking and receiving feedback.

Communication with parents or guardians Convey student performance to parents/caregivers. May be

accomplished through phone calls, conferences notes home, community participation.

Standard 10: Professional and Ethical Behavior

Professional relationships: Discussing teaching with your site teacher; asking and receiving feedback.