Landmark School Observation

Date: Thur, 10/25/12 Class: Geometry Period: 2nd Instructors Personal Semester Goals:

Teacher: Erin Brewer Supervisor: Adam Craig (Dept. Head)

1. Tracking grades in all categories (preparedness, preparation, etc.) 2. Making more appropriate tests (aligned with homework, etc.)
Strengths: Areas to work on:

Rapport with students and how that influences your classroom management. Structured notes/practice.

Tracking organization/materials?

FOUNDATIONS yes Collects, reviews, and assigns HW Visible lesson plan/Agenda Facilitates maximum independence of students Effective use of time Begins class on time TEACHING PRINCIPLES USED: Provided opportunities for success Used multiple modalities Micro-united and structured tasks Automatized through practice / review Provided models Included students in learning process no

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Comments

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Asking directed questions intentionally Daisy construction I-We-You Do Notes I-We-You Do Notes Discussion

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Class Members:
Henry Casey Brian Fraga Summer Kelley Skylar McClure Max Pastan John Shannon Claire Spaller

Agenda:
Go over Khan practice Review notes DAISY HW = more Khan practice = CP = worksheet

What took place

8:58 I arrived to class. Ms. Brewer was projecting their Khan Academy progress up on the front board. At one point the class erupted in controlled frustration about typing pi in their answer. Ms. Brewer used the word, snowball! to get their attention. 9:01 John shared that he got the rock award yesterday and Ms. Brewer said, One clap for John. Everyone clapped once and said, Yah John. 9:02 Brian asked, Whats snowball? Ms. Brewer asked for a volunteer to explain the meaning of this (snowball effect) and John did an excellent job explaining the phrase. 9:04 Students were directed to take out notes that they took yesterday from the video. Henry said, I love the I do, we do, you do notes! Ms. Brewer projected the next set of notes on the board and passed out templates to the students. 9:07 Ms. Brewer said to Brian, Even though youre going ahead, Im proud of you for showing your work. The class gave Brian one clap. Claire forgot her

Thoughts & Suggestions

Nice job keeping this talkative group engaged. I love this quick way to bring them back to the task at hand. Good class management technique. Great rapport builder classroom community is very positive. Great idea to involve one of the students to explain this.

I love this format for notes! It gives the students such clear expectations.

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materials for class and Ms. Brewer prompted her to ask her table neighbors nicely for some materials. 9:08 Ms. Brewer did the I do section and then she led discussion to complete the We do section. John began getting frustrated and avoided eye contact. Ms. Brewer prompted him to give eye contact and kept him engaged. She then said, Take a deep breath, knock down a wall. She then asked him to help finish the problem and they found the radius together. Ms. Brewer then guided him to understand WHY the pattern he found to find radius was working and encouraged him to not just divide by ______ every time without thinking. 9:17 Multiple off-topic (not related to one another) statements occurred and Ms. Brewer casually brought their attention back to the notes and gave them a heads up that she would soon blow their minds. She then explained how they would see problems of this format on MCAS and SATs, etc. 9:22 Ms. Brewer held up the homework and talked them through the steps to complete it. Next, she projected the worksheet up on the board and gave students the task in class of completing the box of formulas at the top. 9:24 Ms. Brewer said, Now Sky, instead of looking at Henrys, find it in your notes. I want you to get used to finding things in your notes. Sky flipped through a few pages and found what she was looking for. Nice job! There you go.

Do you have a method of recording/tracking a lack of materials

I like this method of visualizing how to work through a difficult task.

The WHY is so important. Good job drawing attention to that process.

Nice job taking time to explain the homework instead of rushing through directions at the very end of class.

Guiding toward independence. Excellent.

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9:26 Ms. Brewer talked to Max multiple times about following directions and listening to instructions instead of working ahead on his homework. 9:30 Students were given their daisy folders and compasses. They were excited to attempt these different constructions. Ms. Brewer put on some background music while they worked. It created a nice atmosphere. John asked, What side of the brain does making daisies use? A light-hearted discussion followed regarding how both sides are used. John shared that the task was too hard and Ms. Brewer reminded him that he had already spent a solid 3 minutes of effort and John got back to work.

Its interesting to see which students prefer this aspect of the class.

John seems to have a low tolerance for challenge. Have you discussed that with him in a one-on-one setting?

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