Maja Pehrson

12/03/14
Observation of Imaans Literacy Lesson:
Reviewing world war I, has student lead the review (Good to give students agency by
having them lead the discussion)
Didnt review expectations (They didnt seem to need to review them though- they
know what to do)
Kid interrupts another (The other student didnt get upset, they seem to know how to
have a discussion)
Hands out pencils, one girl rolling hers (Good to have pencils prepared for them,
maybe shouldve told them to leave them be on the table)
Asks student if her comment is relevant (Good way to keep them on task)
Tells student it will be the last comment before moving on (Also good for keeping
them on task)
Tells them to annotate and make inferences (Are they familiar with how to do this?
Do they do tasks like this regularly?)
One girl reads aloud (Good to have them hear it altogether)
Tells them to cite from the text (Good to direct them to the task)
F calling out (Right now not problematic)
They all seem like theyre working and engaged (I like that you asked them to take a
minute, but then you didnt wait)
Asks them to take a minute to think about definition of inference (They seem to know
it well, have they learned about this a lot before? I like that they came up with a
definition after the activity)
Recording ideas on chart paper (Good to have a visual)
Asks them to put up number for inference rating (Good way to see their thinking)
Doesnt spend much time introducing rate scale (Maybe you should have modeled
how to rate inferences or elaborated on each rating level more)
Speaking over each other (Maybe expectations would have been helpful)

Kids confused about whether to draw inferences from whole text or individual lines
(Maybe should have been laid out clearly)
Kids are eagerly raising their hands (Theyre clearly very interested in this lesson)
Asks what speakers frame of mind is (Good way to focus their inferences)
They all raise their hands right after you ask a question (Maybe you should allow for
more wait time, although they all seem to be able to come up with good ideas quickly)
The other three are eagerly raising hands while M talks (Expectations about listening
might have been helpful)
Moves closer to M (Good to move around)
Arguing about a point M missed (They seem to be able to handle arguing, but again
going over ways to disagree while staying positive could have been helpful)
Refers to timeline (Good to have a visual to refer to)
Wanted them to take a minute to write (Kids start raising their hands, dont get think
time)
Redirects them to the poem and drawing inferences, conversation starts up again
(Should be more clear with expectations, cut off questions and comments so they can
write- keep on task)
Hands out highlighters (Good that you have those prepared)
Talking during independent work (Be more assertive with what they should sound
and look like while working independently)
Tells them wants at least three inferences (Good clear expectations)
S asks if theyre just looking at this poem (Need clear directions)
All of them are working (The texts you picked are clearly very engaging for your
students)
Pencil breaks (Might have been good to bring a few extras)
Asks them to write about what the author hoped to accomplish (Good to focus their
inferences)

F & M keep talking- off topic (Theyve already done their work which is good, but
maybe need more of a challenge?)
Pencils down hands up (Good way to transition)
They speak loudly and confidently (Theyre so smart and awesome- Im impressed!)
They all respond to each others comments (They seem to know how to have a
discussion)
Asks them to rate Ms inference (Would have been good to make a routine of silently
putting up fingers to show rating)
Challenges inferences (Good to push them- theyre very smart and can clearly be
pushed to do more)
F stacking highlighters (He seems to need more expectations)
Mouths shut hands up (Good way to bring them back and regroup)
F is very engaged in the discussion (Clearly theyre very engaged in the material, F
must still be listening even when he goofs around)
Theyre disagreeing about the rating (Good- it shows theyre invested and have their
own ideas)
Says running out of time, asks for Fs strongest inference (Good to be aware of time)
F citing a lot of evidence (They clearly understand they need to base their inferences
off of evidence)
Two leave early, run out (Might have wanted to calm them down and say some kind of
wrap up thing before letting them go)
Heading back to class (Would have been nice to wrap up the lesson more clearly)
Tells them what poem actually was (Might have been good to give them the
background information and have them revise their inferences)