Running head: PROJECT TWO DESCRIPTION

Project Two Description

Danielle Suhr
Admin 591C
February 2, 2016
Mary E Carley

PROJECT TWO DESCRIPTION

2
Project Two Description

During this internship, the author was able to observe over 10 classrooms with teachers
giving instruction in various subject areas including band, physical education, computers, math,
reading, writing, and social studies. The author was also able to observe three classrooms with
the Brian Smith, the Principal at Falcon Middle School, and discuss their observations together.
They were also able to discuss various aspects of teacher evaluations and how observations
played a role in the evaluation system at Falcon Middle School. The author was also able to
teach two professional development classes, one was centered on active engagement and the
other was centered on Culturally Responsive Teaching. The three in depth observations and the
professional development classes are written in detail below.
7th Grade Math. Observation. The 7th grade math teacher is new to the building and it is
her first year teaching. Her classroom is made up of about 25 students of various ability levels.
When the author entered the classroom a classroom ambassador met her and the Principal to
discuss what the students were doing that day. The ambassador explained that they were going to
have a test the next day so they were going over their review sheet and practicing for the test.
The students were completing a warm-up ticket where they were writing down the
names of students they wanted to sit by for the next unit. Once they had completed the warm-up
ticket students were asked to get out their review sheets and checking their answers with the
others at their table groups.
Once the warm-up ticket was done, the teacher gave each group of students a group of
questions from their review sheets to put up on the boards. The students were to check their
answers first and write up the correct answers on the board so they could all go over them. Some
groups were given very lengthy problems while others were given easy to answer shorter

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problems. This caused some groups to be finished rather quickly with nothing else to do but wait
for the other groups to finish.
Debrief with Brian Smith. While the author and Brian Smith were debriefing about the
class they both noticed that some students didnt have much to do and were causing distractions
for other students. They also noticed that some students were not on task at all and had their
group complete the work for them. It was clear that the teacher needed to have more things for
the students to do or needed to better divide the questions so all groups were working for the
same amount of time. The author and Smith also noted that the objectives were very well written
and specific so all students knew their expectations and what they were going to do during that
day.
Debrief with Teacher. When an administrator comes to observe a teacher at Falcon
Middle School, the teacher receives feedback in an email with a brief description of what the
administrator saw, some positives from the lesson, and some things to work on. The email
debrief that the author sent to the teacher is included below.
[Teacher],
Thank you for allowing me to come observe you last Wednesday!
I really enjoyed how you got students engaged right away with your warm-up ticket and
you had clear expectations for what you wanted them to accomplish. I also liked how
rigorous and specific your objectives were, while being student friendly.
I noticed how your student groups were working together to make sure their answers
were correct and that they all agreed with what they wanted to write on the board.
Some things to consider for future lessons would be to think about what students are
doing while their groups are writing on the board. For example, groups could be working
on another problem or could be fact checking other groups. Also, there was a wide
variety of difficulty in the problems for each group; perhaps think about combining easier
problems so that all groups take the same amount of time to complete their problems. The
students seemed well prepared and knowledgeable about the content and classroom
expectations, great job!

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Please let me know if you have any questions,

Danielle Suhr
7th Grade Reading. Observation. A new teacher also teaches this class, but this teacher
served as a long-term substitute for an 8th grade-writing teacher the year before. When the author
and Smith entered the classroom they were met by a classroom ambassador who said the
students were working on a warm-up but she could not explain what the students were going to
do that day or why they were doing the warm-up. The warm-up had students creating a hash
tag about personification and comparing Finding Nemo to Cars. The students were all
working to complete the warm-up and when the teacher saw most students were done she asked
for some examples. The examples the students were giving showed they did not fully understand
what personification was and how to apply it to the comparison of personification in either
movie. They were simply creating a hash tag based on what movie they liked better.
The teacher then moved on to the lesson and asked the students to turn to the handout
they were going to complete about Chapter 10 in last nights reading. Most of the students got
the handout and began working through it with the teacher but some of the students were still
working on their warm-up.
The handout was focusing on vocabulary used in Lydia (the book they were reading). The
teacher had them pair share what they though strenuous meant. All students were talking to their
partner, then the teacher called on students with their hands raised to tell the class what they
thought strenuous meant. The teacher then asked them to find context clues to help them define
strenuous. The teacher typed the definition on the board as they searched. They then moved on
to the word laden.

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Debrief with Smith. After this lesson, the author and Smith had a lot of questions about
student engagement and understanding of the lesson. They were concerned that students did not
fully understand what personification was and that some students were not engaged in the pair
share activity or finding answers and context clues throughout the lesson. They decided it would
be best to ask to meet with the teacher to clarify these questions.
Debrief with teacher. Smith, the author, and teacher met in Smiths office to go over what
they had observed in the lesson and find goals for the teacher on the next lesson. They discussed
the warm-up question and the teacher explained that it was the first day they were working on
personification after they had discussed it in class and the next day she had them come up with
their examples of personification. They also spent more time on the definition and the exemplars
and non-examples.
Next, they moved on to active engagement in the classroom and strategies to get more
students involved in the discussion. The author developed a few strategies with the teacher that
included a no hands raised policy where she could call on any student to give their example of
the warm-up and making sure she was walking around the room listening to the student
conversations during pair share. They also discussed placing the objective in a different place in
the room so it would be easier for students to find and read. The author also scheduled a followup observation to see the new strategies put in place. At that observation, the author saw the new
strategies and witnessed more student engagement and understanding.
6th Grade Reading. Observation. Upon entering this veteran teachers classroom,
students were actively engaged in a lesson where they were asking questions about various
quotes from their reading. The teacher had placed these quotes around the room on large pieces
of paper so the students had space to ask questions, make inferences, and predict what was going

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to happen next based on these quotes. Students were working on inferences and predicting but
were having meaningful conversations because the teacher hadnt spoken with them yet about
what inferences or predicting were yet. The students were all actively engaged and the teacher
was walking around the room listening to conversations and helping groups get back on track if
they were not. It was also clear that she was using her time wisely and having students work
efficiently through each quote by using a timer.
Debrief with Smith. During the discussion of this observation, the author and Smith
agreed that the lesson was well thought out, all students were actively engaged, and they had a
clear understanding of what they were supposed to be working on. The author suggested that
students also cite where they found information for their inferences and predictions from the
book to make the lesson even more rigorous but that it was a very successful lesson.
Debrief with Teacher. The email sent to the teacher is below.
Carolyn,
Thank you for allowing me to come observe you today!
It was great to see the students so engaged in your lesson! I really liked the conversations
I heard your students having and the questions you were asking about each quote. The
timer was a great way to keep all students engaged and focused. It was clear the students
knew their expectations and what you wanted them to accomplish.
Some things to consider for future lessons would be to have the students comment on
other groups contributions or state evidence for "what they know".
Please let me know if you have any questions,
Danielle Suhr
Professional Development. Over the course of the internship, the author was able to lead
two sessions for professional development. The first was on active engagement strategies. This
session included various games the author plays in her classroom to get students comfortable
with each other and to help get to know her students. It also includes different strategies to

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increase the level of engagement in any classroom. These strategies included using cards to
create groups or to answer questions/discuss in class, using Kagen chips as exit tickets, using I
have who has cards for review, and the use of a no hands raised policy. The author was able
to discuss these strategies and give out instructions for different games that teachers have used
throughout the building.
The second session the author lead was on Culturally Responsive Teaching. In this
session the author co-lead with the instructional coach to develop an understanding of what
Culturally Responsive Teaching was besides focusing on gender, race, and ethnicity. The author
created an active that got teachers trying to convince other teachers to join their side and buyin to why their side was better. This activity lead to a deeper discussion of why it is important to
get to know your students and how it can increase the level of engagement in the classroom. The
instructional coach had the teachers reading and discussing an article on active engagement,
which gave strategies to increase the level of internal motivation in students and it tied to
culturally responsive teaching.
Additional Observations. Along with three formal observations, the author has been
able to observe the exploratory team teaching and give feedback through a series of emails to
each teacher. During an observation in PE the author was observed the PE department teaching
as a team of three teachers to a very large group of students. The students were to complete a
series of obstacles and stations as they were working on strength and conditioning. It was clear
that the PE teachers had high expectations for students at each station but were also showing
ways to accommodate for those who are not as athletically gifted as others. During their lesson
they had two students demonstrating each station while the others watched, a suggestion for the

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lesson was create cards for each station so the students would be reading as well as recreating
and there would be less time spent on demonstrations.
In the band classroom, the author observed the teacher during warm-ups. It was clear that
students were begin challenged with the chromatic scales and that the teacher was giving them
time to look up notes they did not remember how to play and was challenging them to play in 6
time. This is difficult time signature but the students were working together to figure out
how long to hold each note. As a music teacher, the author was able to give feedback on
making sure the students fully understood how long a dotted half note was to be held in
that time signature and creating a mini math lesson out of the warm-up.

The last two classes were very quick observations of the computer and art rooms. In

art the students were working on a graphic design assignment using pictures and editing
software to make alter the photos. After walking around the room, it became apparent that
the students did not understand the lesson and were struggling to complete the task
because the directions and objectives were not clear and not posted. This required a
meeting with the art teacher after class to discuss some of his planning techniques. The
author suggested that he work with the Instructional Coach to determine better ways to
structure his planning for each class and how to utilize the UBDs used at Falcon Middle
School. They spent one day in another district with another art teacher to observe how she
taught and what skills he could bring back to Falcon to make his classroom more effective.

The computer teacher was working on a project with students to create

commercials where they were filming and editing their videos. This was a group project
and some groups were not effectively working together. The author suggested the use of

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evaluations for team members so they could honestly say what they did and how each
member contributed that would be a part of their final grade.
Conclusion. Through various observations the author was able to create positive
communication with teachers about classroom observations. This communication included
positive things observed and strategies to improve instruction. The author was also able to take
data from her observations to lead two professional development sessions on active engagement
and culturally responsive teaching. Falcon Middle Schools vision is Falcon Middle School will
rise to a new level of excellence by enhancing student achievement, promoting the Firebird
Spirit, and collaborating effectively with parents and community members. Their mission is
Falcon Middle School is committed to offering a variety of opportunities for all students to
explore. Together we are committed to graduation and preparing all children for success in
college and career. Teachers utilize their evaluation and observation data to create their yearly
goals for the following year. During end of the year, and middle of the year observations,
administrators talk to teachers about their goals and how to tie them to their observation data.

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A.

B.

C.

D.

7th Grade Math

1.

Observation during class

2.

Debrief with Brian

3.

Debrief with Gemma

7th Grade Reading

1.

Observation during class

2.

Debrief with Brian

3.

Debrief and meeting with Caitlin

6th Grade Reading

1.

Observation during class

2.

Debrief with Brian

3.

Debrief with Carolyn

Additional Observations
1.

PE

2.

Band

3.

Art

10

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4.

E.

Computers

Professional Development Classes

11