EDUC 450 SCHOOL OF EDUCATION CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY

OBSERVATION FIELD NOTES FORM – DAY ONE

Candidate: Latasha Jones Mentor Teacher: Ms. Barnes-Brown Date: January 23, 2018
Content Area: ELA/Reading Lesson Topic: Metaphors

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?

Mrs. Brown expected the students to learn and understand what a metaphor is, how to use and identify
one. She conveyed the purpose and relevance of the lesson to the students by explaining why knowing
what a metaphor is, is important in literature. The relevance that was explained is that they use it socially
in their daily interactions with others. The students demonstrated that they understood what the teacher
expected by completing a reading on “The Haircut”, identifying sentences with metaphors, and
explaining why it is a metaphor.

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?

She expected them to each be attentive, engaged, and listen to her informed them on what a metaphor is
and comparing it to a simile. After the lesson the students were expected to complete another reading
individually. In addition to identifying sentences with metaphors by underlining the sentence and circle
the two things that are being compared. She conveyed expectations by telling them she expected them
all to participate and be actively engaged in what she was teaching. The students demonstrated what she
wanted to do by correctly following the directions she set out.

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 self-assessment and reflection, teaching compensatory strategies when necessary)?

Mrs. Brown helped the students take ownership of the lesson by first reflecting on what a metaphor or
simile is, characteristics, and examples of each. Then each student took an assessment on metaphors and
similes. The students are still struggling with reading, so she did a teacher read assessment and then the
students completed a student read assessment.
 EDUC 450 SCHOOL OF EDUCATION CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY

OBSERVATION FIELD NOTES FORM – DAY TWO

Candidate: Latasha Jones Mentor Teacher: Ms. Barnes-Brown Date: January 24,
2018

Content Area: ELA/Reading Lesson Topic: Words with Ai & Ay

APS 5: USING INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE LEARNING

An effective teacher promotes student learning through the effective use of appropriate instructional strategies.

A. What instructional strategies did the teacher use during the lesson?
Instructional strategies that were used during the lesson are as followed;
 Prior knowledge
 Effective questioning
 Close read
 Review sight words
 Direct instruction
 Read-aloud
 Discovery/Inquiry-based learning
 Guided and Independent practice
 Music and songs
 Word wall

B. In what ways did the teacher vary the instructional strategies during the lesson, and why?

Mrs. Brown used a variety of instructional strategies during the lesson because it was the most effective
way to ensure each student learned. Also, she varied her teaching method because every student learns
differently. After varying her teaching methods she did the following; have students write their own
examples and share their example out loud.

C. What evidence suggests that the instructional strategies were –or were not- effective in terms of
promoting student learning and success?

Evidence that suggested the instructional strategies were effective in terms of promoting student
learning was the student’s ability to correctly respond to questions. For example, students pronounced
sight words on the interactive screen. In addition to that students gave examples of words that have ai
and ay sound. A few of the words were; Train, pair, rain, drain;; way, play, away, may.
 EDUC 450 SCHOOL OF EDUCATION CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY

OBSERVATION FIELD NOTES FORM – DAY THREE

Candidate: Latasha Jones Mentor Teacher: Ms. Barnes-Brown Date: January 25, 2018

Content Area: ELA Lesson Topic: Making words with Ee and Ea

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?

There were no content errors made. Besides the obvious the lesson plan, she was able to give the
students numerous examples, and was able to answer all of their questions pertaining to what was being
taught. Mrs. Brown used background knowledge on the content to explain why the words the students
came up with was correct or incorrect.

B. What was the content of the lesson, and how did the content relate to the learners and their
learning?

The content of the lesson was to make words with the ee and ea sound. The content relates to the
learners because they would be able to identify words from their book reading that have the ee and ea
sound. The content relates to the learning because they have recently learned about alliteration,
onomatopoeia, and identifying words with ai and ay.

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 content was introduced as the students were reviewing the sight words of the week. Following that
they identified the sight words that have the ee and ea sound. After to promote higher level of
knowledge and using cognitive process students was given 2 minutes to write down as many ee words
that they could come up with. The students applied the same instructions for writing down words with
the ea sound. Presenting the content in that manner was good because every morning the students say
their sight words a loud and spell them.
 EDUC 450 SCHOOL OF EDUCATION CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY

OBSERVATION FIELD NOTES FORM – DAY FOUR

Candidate: Latasha Jones Mentor Teacher: Ms. Barnes-Brown Date: January 25,
2018

Content Area: ELA Lesson Topic: Making words with Ee and Ea

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. How did the teacher monitor student engagement, understanding and performance during the
lesson?

She monitored student engagement, understanding, and performance during the lesson by keeping the
students engaged with strategic questioning and active listening by providing pictures and video.
Understanding was monitored by the students’ ability to answer the questions provided on words ending
with ed. The students’ performance was monitored by walking around to ensure the students were
writing the words correctly. She also called on the students whom seemed to be looking elsewhere and
not paying attention so that he/she would focus on the content being taught.

B. What adjustments, if any, did the teacher make during the lesson, and why?

No adjustments were made because the lesson was well prepared in a way that it included every learning
style so each student would learn the subject matter.

C. What types of instructional feedback did the teacher provide to the students, and how effective
was the feedback in terms of enhancing student learning?

Instructional feedback that Mrs. Brown provided to the students was corrective action. The feedback
was very effective because the students understood after the feedback was provided. Subsequently, they
were able to give their own examples to show that they understood.
 EDUC 450 SCHOOL OF EDUCATION CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY

OBSERVATION FIELD NOTES FORM – DAY FIVE

Candidate: Latasha Jones Mentor Teacher: Ms. Barnes-Brown Date: January 25,
2018

Content Area: ELA Lesson Topic: Making words with Ee and E

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. Describe the physical environment of the classroom.

The classroom is very organized, cleaned, and welcoming. It is also a safe learning environment,
because there are no visible safety hazards and the students appear to be eager to learn.

B. What type of affective climate did the teacher create for the students?

The affective climate that was created for the students was to make it safe and conducive for learning.
It’s not too cold or too hot and the students are comfortable. It was created by having rugs, sitting areas,
space feeling inviting, and that no students are being bullied or bothered by a peer.

C. In what ways did the teacher establish a culture of learning in the classroom (e.g., by facilitating
inquisitiveness, motivating to learn, cooperation, teamwork)?

A culture of learning was established by motivating the students to learn and facilitating inquisitiveness
by relating the content to the students. Cooperation is established by using instructional strategies to
engage the students and make them willing to cooperate. She also uses small and whole class
instruction.

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 teacher’s 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 every student to be respectful to all staff as well as peers. To be responsible and
bring back their homework in their folders completed. Other rules are to walk in a line quietly, and on
the right side of the hallways. They were instructed to not run in the hallways, only on grass. They
reviewed the rules in the morning. The students demonstrated that they understood by following the
rules and also telling her the rules when asked. She addressed the inappropriate student behavior by
modeling them herself and reminding them what the rules are.
B. In what ways did the teacher maximize-or fail to maximize- instructional time?

She maximize the classroom time by adhering to the daily schedule. Although there are times when she
fails to maximize instructional time by doing ELA/Reading and Math and don’t always get to science
and social studies,

C. How did the teacher manage non-instructional routines and transitions between activities and/or
classes?

She managed non-instructional routines and transitions between activities by packing them up by
groups, calling them to line up numerically to line up when leaving the classroom. This helps a lot
because students have the routine down pack and there aren’t any confusion about who goes where and
when.