TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook
Observation Report Form

Name of Observer ____Tian Yu____ Observation # ____1____

Date Observation Class Skill/Content Level Teacher

Environment*
10/06/2016 Face-to-face 322 Reading &Writing 300 Karen Lindwell

*Include the URL if the class was online

WRITE THE OBJECTIVES ACCORDING TO THE OBSERVATION GUIDELINES:

STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO APPLY READING STRATEGIES TO UNIT1 PRACTICE
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO USE NEW VOCABULARIES LIKE ADVICE, CAREER, POSTING,
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO INDENTIFY COUNTABLE NOUNS AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Notes while observing:

9:00 Class begins (The first half of the class)

The teacher informed students who needs to register for the next days unit test
online.
The teacher explains the schedule on the white board.

9.03 Give out students homework

The teacher gives more requirements on the homework and asks students to finish
final draft.

9.06 The teacher hands out the practice of Unit 1

9.07 The teacher gives instructions on the practice.

The teacher asks Any questions? but nobody answers.

9.09 The practice starts

The teacher uses computer, getting seated.

9.21 The teacher stands up and walks around to check the progress
The teacher answers two students question about the practice

9.27 The teacher gives out the order 4 more minutes

9.29 The teacher walks around, checks again and gives the order one last minute

9.30 The practice ends

Last Updated: 6/16/2017 12:37 PM

 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook
The teacher groups 3 students in one group to discuss the answers.

9.33 The teacher walks around to support students in each group

The teacher gives the instruction Think about the unit we talked about

9.36 One students asked the question and the teacher gives the instruction

9.41 The teacher gives the order one last minute

9.42 Give out the answers

The teacher asks students for the answer one by one and then give out the correct
answers

9.48 Class ends

Last Updated: 6/16/2017 12:37 PM

 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook
What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson as it relates to the
theory you have studied in your TESOL classes? Include at least one reference (with
an in-text citation) to support your response. (250-500 words)

During the observation, I noticed two aspects which are closely related to the
what I have read before and inspired me a lot.
The first point is that, during the period of checking the answers of the practice,
the teacher made students few small groups. The discussion was undertaken among only
three students. Therefore, each student had opportunities to express their own opinions
and to persuade their classmates by giving supporting ideas, which made the plain and
boring practice class more energetic and students more active. When the discussions are
underway, the teacher was monitoring the students. She walked among each group and
tried to give instructions when students cannot achieve the agreement on the questions.
This acquainted the teacher with the weaknesses of every group of students and allowed
the teacher to have a clear teaching focus during the following whole class answers
check and even future teaching.
The other point is that, I noticed that the practice was a perfect efficient reading
material sample. The vocabularies of reading material was comprehensible to 300 level
students and most of the new vocabularies in the textbook were included in the passage
which allowed students to apply reading strategies to guess meaning from the
surrounding text, or ignores it and manages without. Besides, the passage is about an
interesting story about marathon athlete which is also within students background
knowledge. The purpose of reading is also very clear, which serves the review of
unit1reading skills, vocabularies and grammar knowledge.
However, I observed some shortcomings of this class. For example, the teacher
failed to apply communication question. Instead, a lot of questions like Any questions?
or Do you understand were frequently asked. Besides, the teacher failed to control the
progress of class well. It is apparently that less time was left for the whole class answers
checking. The teacher spoke at a really quick speed, managing to finish the class on time.

Reading & writing (2007). Language Teaching, 40(03), 263.

doi:10.1017/s0261444807004399

Last Updated: 6/16/2017 12:37 PM