TESOL Certificate Program UCLA Extension

MONITOR & ASSESS

Things to Comprehension check?

Clarity of presentation?
LEARNER/ OK to ask questions?
Notice ENGAGEMENT Informal understanding
Motivated/bored? assessed? Higher order thinking
Enthusiastic? used? Assessments evident?
Group work? Pair Formal or Informal assessment?
work? Ongoing assessments?
Talk encouraged? Rubrics?
TEACHING
Teacher centered?
Student centered? Error
STRATEGIES HIGH QUALITY LESSON correction?
Modeling? Feedback?
Lesson plan evident? Objectives & learning
Clarifying? Enthusiastic?
goals obvious/ stated?
Repetition of words? Quality of student
Clear understandable opening hook?
Clear directions? teacher relationship?
Motivating topic? Phases of lesson
Scaffolding? Gestures?
evident? Direct instruction? Scaffolding of
Building background? Voice?
ideas? Transition between activities?
Making real life connections? Pacing of lesson?
Realia?
Closing review

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Pair work & group work vs. whole class work?
MATERIALS Furniture arrangement & use of walls/space?
Paper? Student centered? Or, teacher centered?
Board & markers? Transition between activities smooth?
Interesting realia? Students move around class? Or, sit?
Visuals? Conversation encouraged?
Posters? Physical comfort (temp., air, lights)?
Technology? Visual support on walls? Low/ High stress environment?
TESOL Certificate Program UCLA Extension
Classroom Observation

Observation Report

Observation Guidelines: An Observation Report from each core class is required. Question #6 on the Observation Sheet will be
specific to each class and provided by the instructor.

 Arrange ahead of time with the school and instructor an observation of your choice and level
 Sit quietly and do not disturb the class while observing
 Bring the “Things to Notice” sheet to help guide your observation
 Final observations must be typed
 Students must complete a minimum of four (4) observations to include in the final portfolio class
 One observation will be done in EACH core class
 One of the four observations may be done observing an online class (these URL’s will be provided by your teacher)
 A recommended observation time is 25 – 50 minutes

 Name: Maria Camila Mejia

 Class: Methods/Linguistics/ Technologies/ Culture

 Date: 11/4/21

 In- person or online (include URL if online): In person

 Class subject observed: 5th grade Designated English Language Development

 Class level: intermediate

 Teacher’s name: Carlos Morales

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Classroom Observation

 Amount of time in observation: 30 minutes

General Notes While Observing

General

Take notes during your observation.

Use the Things to Notice sheet for guidance.
Pay particular attention to:

 Learner Engagement: The English Learners, a total of 5 students, were in a small group with the teacher while the rest of the
class was working independently. All students were very engaged. In the ELD group students were participating in short
discussions, they were taking notes, and they were reading.

 Monitor & Assessment: The teacher checked for understanding throughout the discussion.

 Strategies: The teacher used peer discussions, background knowledge, technology, visuals, sentence frames, and realia.

 High Quality Lesson: This lesson focused on making inferences and it was a pre read of the chapter that they were going to
read during whole group. Therefore, it prepared the students to what they were going to discuss and this preparation helps
students feel empowered and gives them opportunities to continue participating and stay engaged during the whole group
lesson. In addition, this was a high quality lesson because it used technology, background knowledge, sentence frames,
discussions, note taking, and all students participated and were very engaged.

 Teaching: The teacher started the lesson by using background knowledge. He first asked the students about the types of stories
that are told in their own cultures. One student shared about “La Llorona,” this background knowledge prepared the students
for the discussion. When they were done discussing different stories within cultures students were instructed to take notes.
The teacher displayed a slide with an illustration about inferences and students copied it. Then students were ready to read the
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Classroom Observation

chapter in their chapter book. Students read and took turns reading out loud. Then they began making inferences. Before
starting to make inferences, the teacher used realia as a practice and background knowledge, before making inferences from
the text. The teacher showed how he grabbed the remote control and asked students to make an inference while using the
sentence frames. There were several levels of sentence frames, for emerging, expanding, and bridging students. The students
made inferences about what the teacher was going to do with the remote. Then they began making inferences in various parts
of the chapter they had just read. At the end students wrote one of their inferences in their notebooks while using one of the
sentence frames.

 Materials: Smart board, book (was projected on the smart board), student notebooks and pencils.

 Classroom Management: The teacher used a responsive classroom approach when managing his class. He used redirecting,
reenforcing, and reminding language. He used redirecting language when students got of task and needed to be redirected. He
used reenforcing language when he noticed a student doing what he needed them to do to set an example of what he wanted
everyone to be doing. He used reminding language to remind students of what was expected during ELD small group time.

Essay Response

Answer the questions below in essay form. This paper must be typed.

Learning Strategies

1. What did you learn about teaching from this observation? Include at least one in – text citation from the current class readings to
support your response. Is there something that was particularly useful in this lesson? Was there clear evidence of a high quality lesson?
Were the learning goals and objectives clearly reviewed and evident? Please give examples and specific details (150-300 words)
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Classroom Observation

Something I learned about teaching during this observation was the multiple ways in which we can use technology in the
classroom to keep students engaged and how effective it is to manage small groups with technology. In addition, I observed how
different technology tools and programs can assist various types of learners.

Technology is helpful in keeping students engaged and facilitating small groups. While the teacher was teaching English Learners
in a small group, the other students were reading independently in two different computer programs. One group of students was
reading informative text in a program called Achieve 3000, and another group was reading narrative texts on GetEpic.com. The
students were engaged in their independent activities and this helped the teacher teach the small group without interruptions. In the
article, Pros and Cons Technology in the Classroom, it says, “By incorporating technology into lessons, students will become more
engaged in and excited about the subject at hand,” this is what I noticed while observing Mr. Morales.

Moreover, technology engages and helps different types of learners. I observed this through both of the reading programs that the
independent groups were using. One group was using Achieve 3000, which is a close reading program. This program provides
students with leveled informative and relevant articles and activities to help develop reading comprehension skills. In the GetEpic
program students can use an assisted reading tool. In Pros and Cons Technology in the Classroom, it says,

In special needs classrooms, each student is able to go at his or her own pace with the help of technology. This allows the
students get individual instruction directly from the computer, which allows the teacher to accomplish more while feeling
less stretched. Special needs students who are handicapped can also make use of assistive technology, which can allow them
to communicate better.

Through the use of technology in this classroom the teacher helped engage students and helped facilitate learning for various types
of learners, which is evidence of a high quality lesson.

2. What have you learned from this observation that relates to your current TESOL class? Discuss two strategies from your current course
work and readings that were evident in this lesson. Was there a section where learner engagement and student understanding could be
improved? (150-300 words)
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Classroom Observation

The classroom observed used an extensive amount of technology in comparison to other classes observed in the past. The teacher
observed, is the technology expert in the school. Therefore, everything observed in this lesson was in connection to technology, and
since it was the small group time for Designated English Language Development it was also in connection to Teaching English of
Other Languages.

In this observation technology was used to engage students and to help facilitate small groups. In addition, technology was also
used to deliver a lesson to English Learners. This lesson was delivered by projecting Google Slides. Through the projection of
Google Slides, it allows for more flexible teaching, better use of time, and easier note taking.

Projecting slides allows for more flexible teaching because it facilitates going back and forth as needed, instead of having to erase and
rewrite. In the article Pros and Cons Technology in the Classroom it says, “Projectors release teachers from being bound to chalk
and dry-erase boards to present information to their students.” This helps teaching be more versatile.

In addition, the use of slides helps save time. The article says,

Prior to the use of projectors in the classroom, teachers had to spend time writing notes on the board, as well as erasing
information due to limited space. Projectors facilitate the planning process so teachers can decide on lecture content and
important points ahead of time instead of making decisions spontaneously.

Mr. Morales was able to use his time efficiently since he didn’t spend time writing and erasing. By saving this time, he was able to
begin the lesson with a discussion to give background knowledge to the students, the students were able to read a chapter as a
preview of what they were going to do during whole group, and they were able to practice making inferences and taking notes
within 30 minutes. This shows that the use of projectors and slides helps save time.

Furthermore, students were able to easily take notes form the projection. The article says,

Projectors enable teachers to create bulleted PowerPoint presentations or other highly organized notes for the class. With the
use of projectors in the classroom, students can take better notes with the ability to discern what information the teacher
displays is most useful to them. 
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Classroom Observation

This was observed when students were asked to take notes on inferencing from the slides projected. The students took notes from
the slide, which was an image of an equation of inferencing, and this helped the students make sense of inferencing, along with the
rest of the lesson.

Therefore, many of the practices observed in this lesson relate to the current TESOL technology class. The class observed
used technology to engage English Learners in a lesson through a Google Slides projection, and it use technology to help maintain
classroom management and engage students in their small group independent activities.

Connecting to TESOL Classwork

3. Discuss in detail the classroom management of this particular lesson. (100-200 words)

The classroom management in this class was calm, kind, and it used a Responsive Classroom approach. When I arrived to the class students
were already in their small groups. One small group was reading informative articles from a program, Achieve 3000, in their computers.
Another group was reading fiction texts from another computer resource, GetEpic. The students that were in the small group with the teacher
were sitting on the carpet and the teacher was projecting the lesson slides on the Smart board. One way the teacher managed the students who
were in the small groups that were working independently was through a software called Go Guardian, which allows the teacher to see what
everyone is working on, and when someone starts browsing the internet instead of reading, the teacher can temporarily block their computers.

In addition, when students go off task the teacher redirected them by kindly saying “go back to your desk” or “continue reading the article.”
Within the small group that the teacher was working with he used reenforcing language to reenforce the behaviors that he hopped to keep
seeing. When students rose their hand and waited patiently, he said, “I notice how ___ is raising their hand and waiting for their turn.” This type
of language set an example for the students who were not raising their hand and speaking out of turn. The whole time the teacher was kind,
calm, and funny.
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Classroom Observation

In conclusion, it through this teacher’s classroom management it was noticeable that the students were happy in his class and eager to learn
from him.

4. Were there informal assessments during this lesson that prove understanding and clarity on the part of the student? Describe these
assessments in detail. Were they stressful? What additional assessments could you add if you were the teacher? (100-200 words)

The informal assessments that I observed during this lesson were the discussion that the students were participating in, the use of
sentence frames, and the written inference that students made at the end. As students were participating in the discussion students
were required to use sentence frames when making inferences orally, teacher redirected if the sentence frame was not used correctly
and students corrected their mistake. At the end, after having used the sentence frames orally, students wrote an inference while using
the sentence frames provided, and this allowed the teacher to informally assess student’s comprehension of inferences through the
correct use of the sentence frame. This informal assessment kept the affective filter low and it gave students an opportunity to learn
from their mistakes. I would have done an exit ticket in which students would have had to make an inference about something
specific while using one of the sentence frames provided.

Things to Remember

5. Is there something from this observation that really stands out? Give two or more examples and justify your reasoning. (100-250
words)

Something in this lesson that stood out to me was the use of technology to provide the lesson, the use of technology to manage the
class, and the use of technology to facilitate independent small groups. The teacher displayed the entire lesson in the Smart board.
The lesson was a Google Slides presentation, the slides had pictures of the pages of the chapter they were reading along with the
sentence frames. This use of technology is engaging to students because the students can also write on the slides with the Smart
board, which makes it easy to “annotate” on the text, and they can easily write their inferences on the sentence frames. The teacher
can also go back and forth along the slides as needed.
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Classroom Observation

In addition, his use of technology to manage the class was something that I want to do in my class. I have access to the same
program, Go Guardian, but I often forget to use it. But, seeing how Mr. Morales uses it showed me how effective it is to help manage
independent work.

Furthermore, I found it very effective to have everyone be on their computers while he taught his small group because since he
can easily see what they were doing through Go Guardian, it also gives an opportunity for students to use their technology and
practice their reading skills.

Therefore, what stood out the most for me was the various ways in which this teacher uses technology.

Current Classwork- Technology

6. What if any technology did this instructor use in this lesson? What technology would you use to enhance this lesson? Draw upon class
materials and readings. Describe in detail one or more technology resources you could use to teach this lesson. (100- 250 words)

The technology that was used during this lesson was, Smart board, Google Slides, Achieve 3000, GetEpic, and Go Guardian. I
also use my Smart board and Google Slides in my lessons. After distance learning year we learned to provide all of our lessons
through Google Slides because they are easy to share with other teachers and we can easily come back to them and revise for the
future.

In addition, students were using Achieve 3000 to read informative articles. Achieve 3000 is a program of only informative articles
for kids, but the articles are at their level. The students take an assessment on Achieve 3000 three times a year to assess their reading
level, and based on that, the program provides the student with articles at their level. Each article has a set of activities that the student
has to complete with a 70% or better. These activities teach vocabulary, they assess comprehension, and they have to give a final
written response to practice writing. Furthermore, the teacher can assign articles that target the specific content they are working on
and the program will give them same article to all the students, but at their level. I often use this program in my class to help students
continue to develop their informative text reading skills. However, this is not a free program, my district pays for it.
Moreover, GetEpic is a website that has actual chapter books for students to read. The books have a feature in which kids can
listen to the story and as they are listening the words read are highlighted so the student can follow along. At the end of each book
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Classroom Observation

there is a quiz that assesses comprehension. This is a free website if used at school, after school hours students have to pay to have
access to the website. I often also use Get Epic in my class and have found that my students love reading on GetEpic.
Furthermore, Go Guardian is a great use of technology because it allows the teacher to see if students are using the technology
correctly. Go Guardian shows in one page what every student is doing and if someone is off task, the teacher can block their computer
temporarily. This is a very useful piece of technology that I often forget to use and want to use more of after observing Mr. Morales.
In conclusion, based on the many uses of technology that this teacher used in this short 30-minute lesson, I wouldn’t add any more
technology. He used a good amount of technology throughout this lesson.