FOCUSED PROFICIENCY OBSERVATION #4 SUBJECT MATTER

KNOWLEDGE
APPRENTICE TEACHER: Kyra Farinas
OBSERVER: Taylor Bainter
FOCUS OF OBSERVATION: SUBJECT MATTER KNOWLEDGE
DATE OF THE OBSERVATION: March 30, 2021
SUBJECT/GRADE LEVEL/CLASS PERIOD: 7th/8th/9th - Algebra 1 Honors
RECORD OF THE OBSERVATION BELOW
How does the Apprentice Teacher demonstrate an understanding of the subject?

Kyra demonstrates an understanding of the subject through the way she formats her lessons and explains things in various ways to
students. It’s been really fun to see the way that Kyra introduces and builds upon the material, making sure to adjust when the students
seem to struggle with certain concepts and work through problems in different ways. When students ask a random question pertaining
to higher-level mathematics topics, she can even walk them through that upper-level thinking so that they can have their question
answered and also think a little bit beyond the material.

How does the Apprentice Teacher connect the content with previously learned topics, future topics, and other subjects?

Kyra makes sure to continually loop back around to material that has previously been covered in warm ups and even throughout the
lesson to help students see the connections to concepts they have already worked hard to master. She does set up the material in
buildable increments so that students can end in a place where they can think richly about the mathematics without stressing them too
much.

How does the Apprentice Teacher demonstrate an understanding of the philosophical and historical development of the
subject?

Kyra brings her expertise in her coursework from the philosophical and historical development of the subject in a similar way that she
connects the content. As strange as mathematics conversations turn in a middle school classroom, she always has an answer for them
or an “I’ll check on that and get back with you”, whether it pertains to “why does this exist in mathematics” or “can you have a
sideways parabola”. She’s always able to help students understand connections to the development of mathematics.

How does the Apprentice Teacher demonstrate an understanding of state and national standards and use this knowledge to
enhance student achievement?

Kyra is aware of how the standards are utilized in the curriculum. Luckily, Big Ideas Math does a great job at communicating where
the standards are covered in various ways throughout each unit. Additionally, she is constantly checking in and meeting with me to
make sure that she covers examples similar to what the students would see on the standardized exam at the end of the year, especially
since the Algebra 1 EOC is a graduation requirement.
COMMENTS FOR DEBRIEFING:

Great job staying cool with the constant interruptions and strangeness that seems to occur in 3rd period. I can tell that you’ve grown so
much in your classroom management and have become more comfortable with the students and helping to redirect them.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TIP (TRY THIS!):

The only thing I would add is to perhaps to make sure in choosing the questions for the review to try to condense so that students can
see how the ideas flow together. Just a small thing to try would be to have students complete the problems about finding axis of
symmetry and vertex and use those as the basis for the next concept, graphing the parabolas (instead of new equations). This way, they
can help to solidify what an “axis of symmetry” means and really dive into how they feel about graphing the points found versus
calculating the points of interest.