EDUC 5312/3315-Curriculum and Instructional Design

Classroom Observation Assignment

Observation Form 1
Observation Date: 3/9/2016 Observation Time: 1 class period
Teacher Observed: Meryem Uzgoren Subject/Grade Level: Turkish/9th grade
School Observed: Harmony Science Academy Houston High
Observer: Fatma Gunonu
1-What was/were the learning objectives/outcomes of the lesson? (Add state objectives if
known, for example, TEKS 111.4. Grade 2.b.)
TEKS 114.21
C) Knowledge
1) Communication
C)Present information using familiar words to listeners.
2-How did the teacher begin and end the lesson?
The teacher started class with a class warmup which includes a questions about the previous
lesson. Meanwhile she wrote the key words, she heard from students, on the board. She pointed
the poster about transportation vehicles (previous lesson topic) and helped them to recall the
vocabulary and sentence structure. At the and of the lesson she called students to form a dialog to
review the topics learned in class.

3-What did the teacher use for teaching materials or instructional aids/equipment?
White board was used effectively, walls were all covered with visual aids such as posters,
pictures, quotes, flags, etc. She used the projector and computer to show a short video.

4-Which instructional methods and strategies did the teacher use? ( lecture, inquiry,
discovery learning, discussions, games or simulations, demonstrations, cooperative learning,
integration of technology, socrative questioning, etc)
It was a revision lesson so she didn't need lecturing too much. Question-answer sessions were
done. It was mostly based on demonstration and cooperative learning integrated with the use of
technology. During the lesson two games were played . Mrs. Uzgoren gave worksheets to fill in
after presenting the new vocabulary and it contained a puzzle.

5-How did the teacher assess learning? (informal, formal, formative, summative, oral, openended, quiz, feedback etc) See Chapter 8 for more information on assessment methods

It was generally oral with both teacher and students participation. She used open-ended questions
with informal language while she presented the subject. The teacher gave a worksheet after
finishing, she asked them to check their answers. Mrs.Uzgoren wanted them to make dialogs two
by two as a feedback.

6- What can you say about the teachers philosophy/beliefs and style?
(Traditional/progressive, behaviorist, student-centered vs. teacher centered, authoritative etc)
Normally, if she is teaching a new subject she prefers lecturing traditionally. But this class was a
revision lesson and it was mostly student-centered to see their learning progress. Students were
active and productive. She was just a facilitator as writing the keywords on the board or giving
clues when they needed.

7-How does the teacher manage classroom? Can you identify classroom management
techniques used?
Generally she was good at classroom management. In whole class activities she was handling
very well. But when it was the small group activity she couldn't see all the students' progress at
the same time while she was busy with a group. I realized some students were busy with
something else. They showed a book to each other. Sometimes their volumes (all the class) was
too high during the group activity. She had to silence them frequently. I think it is also because
the end of class period was near. One student was Turkish and I think he got bored because he
was a native speaker. This class was too easy for him. I saw that she gave him different materials
to work on.

8-Observe in the classroom setting and determine types of behavior students play when offtask. What do they do when they are not paying attention? How does the teacher re-direct
them or get them back on task?
During the lesson it happened only once or twice. By the end of the lesson while doing group
activity two of the students were doing something else instead of forming a dialogue. When she
saw them, she called out their names and asked them to read or perform the dialogue they wrote.
They couldn't answer her so she told them to get ready quickly because they were going to be the
next group.

9-How does the teacher communicate with students (verbal, vocal, meta-verbal or non-verbal
communication such as facial, body language, use of space, motion and time?)
I like the way she called out the students with their names. Sometimes instead of saying a word
in Turkish (the students ask) she pointed to the poster or looked around for somebody who knew
that word. When she wanted attention or when she wanted the class to be quiet she stood in the

middle of the classroom and raised her hand. After a minute or two, the students realize her
gesture and stop talking. So she uses verbal communication as well as body language.

10-Who were the students in the class? What did you notice about them? (Background,
diversity, attitude, motivation, interaction, participation, etc)
There were twenty students in the classroom; eight girls and twelve boys, all ninth grade
students. Mostly Hispanic and the others are asian, a few middle eastern, a few african american
and one turkish student. This class is multicultural. They were highly motivated on the lesson
which was obviously seen by their participation.

11-What did you see that is effective in engaging students? What do you see that is
ineffective in keeping students engaged?
There were games and puzzles involved in the lesson which kept students engaged. The lesson
was mostly fun and they were mostly focused on the subject I didn't see any ineffective method
as well.
12-What are the two instructional strategies you observed and would like to apply in your
classroom?
Although she used lots of effective strategies such as using the projector to show a film, using
the board effectively. The strategy I liked the best was playing games considering the students
age. (14-15) They are still kids and had fun while learning at the same time. Also small group
work let her see the outcome and this can be used as feedback.

13-What are two important classroom management strategies that you observed and would
like to apply in your classroom?
She knew all the students names and it helped her a lot in classroom management and directing
the lesson. Question-answer sessions paired up the students. This lesson has no credit and it is
hard to keep students motivated, the teacher prepared the lessons in a way that students have fun
and learn at the same time. Being well prepared let her have almost no gaps between the
activities also there were lots of activities one after another so they didn't have any space for
boredom and misbehavior. Overall, the teacher 's good lesson management projected her years of
experience.