Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

Elementary Education Program

Formal Observation Reflection

Directions: Complete the reflection questions and submit your response to your observer prior to having a
post-conference to discuss the observation. If a conference is held immediately after the observation you will
submit your responses to the observer the following day via email.

Name: Mary Catherine Dobner Date:9/25/17

1. To what extent were learning outcomes appropriate and achievable to your students?
The students had not learned about main idea up to this point. Since we started with a
very basic representation of main idea that they were able to relate to (writing
materials), main idea was an easier concept to grasp than if we had started with
something abstract. After doing the representation, it was good to practice with the first
part of the story so that they would have an idea of what main idea would look like in a
story. Its a tricky concept, so the children definitely needed practice, but for it only
being the first day, I think the learning outcome was appropriate.
2. How effective were your instructional strategies? What changes would you make in
your instructional approaches if you taught this lesson again? Why?
The main idea bag and story went very well. I would definitely use those again
because it made an abstract idea into a concrete physical understanding of main idea.
The only change I would make would be to my assessment strategy. It did not work
well and I would do something much simpler and go with a conversation with the
students to determine if the learning goals had been met.
3. Evaluate the effectiveness of your oral and written communication with students.
(Consider how well you communicated learning objectives, clarity of directions, use of standard English, quality of
questions and effectiveness of discussion techniques.)
Clarity of directions during the assessment was my biggest area of need. Directions
during the rest of the lesson were ok and they understood and answered my questions.
I also should have written down what the students should be talking about during their
turn and talk time. Some of the students were not sure what they were supposed to be
talking about, and that was something that I hadnt thought of until the lesson
happened.
4. Evaluate the level of student engagement in your lesson. (Consider how you presented the
content/skills, the activities and assignments for students, grouping of students, and structure and pacing of the
lesson.)
They were decently engaged during the main idea bag portion of the lesson and during
the story with the questions that I asked. I think they could have been more engaged
and I probably should have presented it in a different way.
5. How effectively did you use instructional materials, resources, and/or technology?
I used the main idea bag, the book, and the smartboard effectively in my lesson. The
students were able to interact with the bag themselves which helped them relate to it
more. The book gave them an interesting way to be engaged and the smartboard
helped us to organize our ideas.
6. To what extent were your assessment strategies effective? What changes would you
make in your assessment approach if you taught this lesson again? Why?
They were not, I tried to do a consensogram, but the students did not fully understand
my directions because they were unclear and it did not work like I had hoped it would.
In the future, I would have done anecdotal notes for this lesson because it would be
difficult to formally assess main idea on the first day.
7. To what extent was your feedback to students accurate, substantive, constructive,
specific, and/or timely?
I honestly do not think that I gave feedback to the students other than during whole
group time when we talked about it all together. I could have provided feedback during
turn and talk or have had the students do some kind of exit ticket before they left the
room for lunch that I could have given them immediate feedback on.
8. To what extent did the classroom management and environment contribute to student
learning? (Consider your classroom procedures, your use of physical space, and the students conduct.)
I used consistent classroom procedures that the students were used to and already
knew the expectations for. I should have anticipated the problems with a few parts of
my lesson which would have helped students to learn. Otherwise, I think the
consistency of classroom procedures contributed to students learning.
9. Did you make modifications to your lesson plan during the lesson? If so, what were
they and what motivated these changes?
I did not make modifications.
10. Was your Teaching Behavior Focus goal met?
Yes I was successful with direct instruction.