Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Observer:__Lluvia Ortiz__________ Mentor: _Paige Parsons___________
Class Date: _1/31/19______________ Room #: _E244__________________
Class Time: _2
nd Period__________ Name of Class: _English IV________
THINGS TO OBSERVE:
1) Describe the structure of the lesson. What did the teacher do? What did the students do?
In today’s class, Ms. Parsons covered memoirs and the writing process, specifically drafting and editing. This
lesson was mostly independent work for students, with the exception that in the beginning of class, Ms. Parsons
addressed everyone together and gave a brief presentation about the expectations for the lesson.
Each week, Ms. Parsons has the “Learning Intention” and “Success Criteria” written on the whiteboard along
with main topics and assignments due each day that week. For today’s lesson, the “Learning Intention” stated
“We will generate a focused thesis, logical reasons, specific evidence, and a call to action in our essays.” For the
“Success Criteria” she wrote, “I will identify the thesis/claim, reasons, and evidence in the argument. I will
generate a focused thesis, logical reasons, specific evidence and call to action. I will brainstorm both sides of the
argument and pick the strongest side to the outline.” Ms. Parsons began the class by reading aloud the goals from
the whiteboard and shared why it was important for students to learn how to revise their writing.
Afterwards, Ms. Parsons provided students with time to complete peer revisions for their memoirs which meant
checking their drafts and making changes with the help of their table partner. If students did finish during the
class period, they had to submit their draft to smore.com which included a title, 3 pictures, and the essay draft.
2) Were the instructions for the lesson clear? How did the teacher communicate these instructions to the
students? How did the teacher check to ensure that all students understood the directions?
The instructions were very clear for the lesson. Before students began working independently, Ms. Parsons asked
for a volunteer and projected their essay draft on the screen. She then demonstrated how to revise the essay by
thinking aloud while physically marking the paper to show what she expected. While editing the essay, she
randomly called on students to respond to what revision was needed or why. Ms. Parsons also made sure to walk
around while students were working in pairs. She listened in on conversations, answered questions or doubts, and
guided students who appeared to be “stuck” by asking them questions.
3) What kinds of questions were the students asked during the lesson? Record at least three specific questions
that you hear during the lesson today. Which questions did you feel were the most successful in uncovering
student ideas and why?
Some the questions Ms. Parsons asked during the lesson today were to check for their understanding and making
sure they were applying what they learned to the assignment. For example, some questions she would aske to
check for understanding include “How would you summarize your interviewee’s
childhood/adolescence/adulthood?” and “Can you give an example of a moment from your interview that
impacted you the most? Why that moment?” She also asked questions about how they applied their learning such
as “What would happen if your interviewee grew up in a different generation? How drastically would their
memoir change?” and “How would you expand on your interviewee’s emotions after (specific situation from
memoir)? What kind of follow up questions can you ask them?”
4) Did all students participate equally in answering questions? Who seemed to answer more? Less? What
strategies, if any, did the teacher use to ensure everyone was given the opportunity to engage?
I’ve noticed that in this specific class period, it is more challenging to get participation/engagement from every
student since the majority are students who need to retake the STAAR and of course, are seniors which adds to
the overall mood of “only here out of obligation.” However, Ms. Parsons does try her best to engage with each
student either when addressing the class as a whole and inviting them to respond in addition to individually while
walking around and checking in on their progress. Since it is the 2nd semester, I feel like she already knows her
students, specifically which ones she can count on for participation and which ones will refuse to participate even
if they know the answer. Students who are more quiet are given an opportunity to show what they know when
Ms. Parsons visits their table to ask the questions in their smaller groups.
5) What classroom procedures did you see in action today? Consider managing paperwork, attendance and
tardies, restroom passes, homework collection, grading, and other common procedures
Classroom procedures I saw in action today included the use of technology, resources, and student
contribution/interaction. Ms. Parsons uses Google Drive frequently in her class so that students have easy
access to class documents and a place to submit work. She is also able to see who actually uses the resources
posted on the drive and who is making edits when working in pairs which is how she grades their contribution
as well.
Other procedures included restroom passes and tardies. When students were tardy, they went straight to her to
turn in a tardy slip and she filled them in on the day’s lesson and what work she expected them to turn in at
the end of the class period. As for restrooms, I noticed that she does not let students leave the room the first 10
minutes nor the last 10 minutes of class. *This is a procedure I would like to include in my own classroom
because I see how it helps students stay focused instead of starting/ending the period distracted.
THINGS TO DO
One of the goals of this observation is to get you to continue building relationships with the students in your class.
Get involved and describe how you interacted with the students during this lesson. Take notes about your
interaction with at least two individual students in the space below. What could you tell about their level of
understanding from your interaction?
Aliyah – Since the first day I met Aliyah in 2nd period, she has always been the kind of student who would walk in
with a smile and say “Hi!” While I can tell she has a positive personality, it seems like she is also shy (or at least
she is in this class) and does not like to ask questions when the whole class is paying attention and instead waits
until she can ask Ms. Parsons individually. As a result of this observation, I was intrigued to find out who she
interviewed for her memoir assignment and how it was going for her. Aliyah interviewed an older cousin for her
assignment and while she had a lot of great information from her interview, she admitted she didn’t know where
to start with how to put that information on “paper”. I was able to interact with her and ask her more about how
the interview went and what moments stood out the most to her. Eventually, we figured out that she really
enjoyed learning about how different her older cousin’s childhood was compared to hers. So together we worked
on helping her develop a stronger draft and reorganizing some sections so that the memoir made more sense and
had a clearer focus instead of trying to cover the interviewee’s entire life in just 2 pages. I think that after
reviewing her draft together, Aliyah felt more confident with her work and interview content.
Dulce – Dulce is a lot more vocal when it comes to questions or doubts, and usually participates in class
discussions. From this lesson, I specifically remember working with her on how to make revisions and figuring
out how far to go when editing. For her memoir assignment, Dulce interviewed someone from her church and she
had no problem writing her essay. When I started working with her, she basically had it done and just needed to
revise. However, she was stuck on trying to understand how much revision to do. She shared that normally she
just uses spell check and that’s the most revision she’s done in her entire writing experience in high school. I
remember feeling shocked about her response and tried to provide examples of how to edit her paper (after spell
check) and actually practicing revising aloud. For example, I would ask her to read some sections aloud, and by
doing so, she quickly caught mistakes that were grammatically correct (skipped by spell check), but didn’t make
sense in the way that she wanted her paper to go.
THINGS TO SHARE
Write at least two interesting things you observed about the students that you worked with or the class as a whole.
This may also include questions you have to bring back and share with the other St. Edward’s students.
One interesting thing I observed about the class as a whole was how much they rely on technology and trust it.
Specifically, I noticed how the majority assumed that just completing the spelling/grammar option on Google
Docs was enough to count for their revision. I was shocked at how they didn’t even question the revisions and
assumed every change was correct, without looking it over to confirm if it made sense with their paper. There
were many instances in which Ms. Parsons and I walked around to remind students that they needed to read their
drafts aloud in order to catch errors that could easily be overlooked by the computer’s spell check.
Another interesting observation about the students I worked with is how many of them lack confidence in their
writing. I wasn’t sure if it was mostly because the students in 2nd period had previously failed the reading STAAR
or because they relied on technology too much in general. I actually had an interesting discussion with a student
(Michael) in which he said that he doesn’t worry about checking for errors because devices do it automatically
such as his Chromebook and even cellphone. He even shared that he felt less comfortable writing with pen and
paper because he has to go back and review his work instead of having the options/suggestions pop up when there
is an error.