FOCUSED

PROFICIENCY OBSERVATION #2
Teacher Planning & Instructional Delivery

APPRENTICE TEACHER: CRISTINA GADDIE

OBSERVER: GNEVANS
DATE OF THE OBSERVATION: TUE 23 FEBRUARY 2016
SUBJECT/GRADE LEVEL/CLASS PERIOD: PHYSICAL SCIENCE 4TH PERIOD

RECORD OF THE OBSERVATION BELOW

How does the Apprentice Teacher use subject knowledge to design activities that promote interest,
participation, and learning for all students?
After bellwork, has students get up out of seats & think pair share with a partner. Allows them ability to
move around talk and is more engaging for students.
Excellent use of scales to get students interested in the discussion of force. Uses prediction (asks students
what they expect will happen) then does demo (steps on both scales) and then discusses what happened &
why.

How does the Apprentice Teacher demonstrate an awareness of individual student needs and incorporate
specific accommodations to these needs in the lesson plan?
At beginning of the period, as students work on bellwork CG circulates around the classroom- moves one
student to a new seat (was she disruptive?) and gives same student a folder with what looked like make up
work- spent some time quietly explaining to her what the papers were.
Uses examples that are familiar to students to illustrate the ideas being discussed (canoe in water, bicycle,
pushing a broken down car)
Regularly refers back to previous lessons (remember when I pushed that box on the concrete?)

How does the Apprentice Teacher demonstrate the ability to teach the subject and cognitively engage all
students in significant learning?
After think, pair share, has a whole group discussion in which students argue about the forces involved in
jumping from a canoe to the shore. Students were really engaged in the conversation. Kudos to you for not
stepping in and giving the answer- you did an excellent job in asking questions to guide student thinking
towards understanding the situation.
To further illustrate Newtons 3rd law, does a demo with scales, calculates forces and discusses the meaning
behind the demo in terms of equal & opposite forces.

How does the Apprentice Teacher communicate clearly and articulately?
Good to differentiate kg is a measure of mass not weight (and discuss the difference between mass &
weight).
Shows the forces from the different trials- notes that they are close but not exactly the same- discusses that
in theory they would be the same, but we do the best we can in here (scales are not terribly accurate)

How does the Apprentice Teacher formative assessment techniques to enhance students participation and
learning (evident in lesson planning and classroom instruction)?
Used informal formative assessment during several phases of the lesson: Bellringer- posed a question, had
students record their thoughts, discuss with a partner than share out with the whole class. Later during
scales demo asked several questions and probed students for deeper understanding to get an idea of how
they were thinking about the process.
Did not see evidence of formal formative assessment- remember to be truly valuable Formative
assessments must give you individual information about the thinking of each student in the room. (may
want to try whiteboarding)

How does the Apprentice Teacher demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness to students needs during
instruction?
One student asks what would happen if you spread the scales further apart, CG replies Lets try it and
adds that data to the chart.
One student asks why they dont work out of textbook that often because she likes TB work- answered Ill
take that under advisement when Im planning future lessons.

Comments for Debriefing & Classroom Management Tips (Try This!):
Something is going on with the student you moved at the beginning of the class. She was mumbling as you
moved her that the reason she was in that seat was because she could not see from the side of the room.
And then she basically shut down for most of the remaining class period. A quick conversation with her at
the time might have helped her feel heard- and resulted in a better attitude.
As you circulate, continue to be mindful of not having your back to your students (avoid as much as you
can), park yourself on the perimeter as you speak with groups so you can look in at the rest of the students.
It seemed to take you a little while to warm up to the class today (was third period rough today?)
When converting masses(kg) to forces (N) may want to remind students that Newton is a derived unit that
is equal to (kg)(m/s2)
During round-robin reading- either pace groups together, set a visible timer, or have an organized plan for
what you want students to do if their group finishes faster than others. (once you see groups beginning to
finish up, make a general announcement to all about how much time is left to complete the activity.
Instead of taking the time to go over the worksheet after round robin, try checking them in the small
groups as each group finishes (have them show you their work before starting on other work). That way
you catch errors as students are working and save time in the explanation because you can generally
discuss the concepts without having to go over answers (also holds students accountable- otherwise whats
to keep a student from just waiting for the class discussion to fill in the sheet? (if you record grades as you
go, that keeps you from having to collect & grade the WS later)
Be sure to address off task behaviour & conversations as they occur throughout the lesson. Especially
towards the end of class there was a good bit of non science conversation.