EDUC 5312-Curriculum and Instructional Design

Classroom Observation Assignment

Observation Form 1

Observation Date: 4/27/2022 Observation Time: 33 min

Teacher Observed: Jason Willoughby

Subject/Grade Level: ELA/ 4th grade

School Observed: Anaheim City School District

Observer: Seviye Duran

1-What was/were the learning objectives/outcomes of the lesson? (Add state objectives if
known)

Standard: Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details

Lesson Objective: Discuss and determine the main idea of an article by asking and answering
questions about the article

2-How did the teacher begin and end the lesson?

He started the lesson by explaining briefly what they were going to do in the lesson and
introducing the guiding question (What can we learn from the past?). He also clearly reviewed
the standard and objectives with the students.

The teacher ended the lesson with an exit ticket, reviewed the class, and introduced the next
lesson agenda.

3-What did the teacher use for teaching materials or instructional aids/equipment?

The teacher used a projector, document camera, sticky posts, a whiteboard, and the article.

4-Which instructional methods and strategies did the teacher use?

Setting the context, working in pairs and discussion, questions and answers, pair-share, ACE
protocol, connection to prior knowledge, set time, scaffolding.
5-How did the teacher assess learning?

He gave instant feedback after the students’ responses during the class discussion time. For this
class period, he only assessed them verbally. However, the students were taking notes on their
packets. The teacher clearly explained his expectations, for instance, what ACE is, and how the
students can use the method. He assisted the students by providing the sentence frames, guiding
them to give complete sentence answers, reading the text and stopping to ask questions, showing
15 seconds pair discussion times, and sharing the answers with the whole class. The teacher
displayed the pre-determined questions before the discussion, sentence frames during the
discussion, and the correct answers after the discussion. He scaffolds the lesson by showing how
to annotate important information in the text.

6- What can you say about the teacher’s philosophy/beliefs and style? (Traditional,
progressive, behaviorist, student-centered vs. teacher-centered, authoritative, etc.)

I only observed one class period. It is hard to comment on the teacher’s philosophy because it
depends on the lesson type; the style could be different too. However, the lesson that I observed
mainly was teacher-centered and authoritative. For instance, the teacher read the article, asked
the questions, decided the time for pair discussions, and gave the correct answers after the
students' responses. Although the students had time to share and discuss with their partners, it
was highly structured and monitored by the teacher.

7-How does the teacher manage classroom? Can you identify classroom management
techniques used?

The teacher constantly walked around the classroom and kept eye contact with the students. He
changes the tone of his voice quiet to different levels. He was active and monitored the students’
participation and engagement. However, I did not have a chance to observe how he could handle
a discipline issue because the students were very well behaved.

8-Observe in the classroom setting and determine the types of behavior students play when
off-task. What do they do when they are not paying attention? How does the teacher re-
direct them or get them back on task?

The desks are set in circles as a group that lets to interact with each other during group work but
also can everyone easily see the board and the teacher. The classroom size was not very big,
which allowed students to focus better. The students were very well behaved that followed the
instructions. The teacher ensured that every student participated and had a chance to share their
ideas.
9-How does the teacher communicate with students (verbal, vocal, meta-verbal or non-verbal
communication such as facial, body language, use of space, motion and time?)

The teacher used most of the communication strategies. He used verbal communication while
changing his voice tone and showing facial expressions and body language. For example, he held
his hands and counted down the last 5 seconds of the given time. At the end of the lesson, they
all made a short move, something like a common dance, to sign the end of the lesson and get
ready for the next. He called the students young lady or young man instead of calling their
names.

10-Who were the students in the class? What did you notice about them? (Background,
diversity, attitude, motivation, interaction, participation, etc.)

The students were 4th-grade elementary students. They were engaged but quiet. Participation
was high, but the interaction was only with the partners during the working in pairs time. Most of
the time, the teacher was more active than the students. It is hard to tell about the diversity, but
most of the students look from a similar cultural background.

11-What did you see that is effective in engaging students? What do you see that is
ineffective in keeping students engaged?
It is effective when the teacher is aware of what is going on in the class as well as the students.
Students engage better when they know where the lesson goes, what they are going to learn, and
what are the expectations of the teacher. It was a good strategy that the teacher did not dump the
whole information at a time; instead, he taught step by step that let the students digest and
internalize the information.
It would not be that effective if the students were not well-behaved because most of the time, the
teacher was active and gave instant directions, and the students would get easily bored. Also, it
would be better and more special if the teacher called students’ actual names rather than a young
lady and young man.

12-What are the two instructional strategies you observed and would like to apply in your
classroom?

I like how the teacher clearly explained the standards and objectives and made students rephrase
them. Also, before he used the ACE method, he made sure that the students understood his
expectations and constantly monitored them. It was also beneficial to summarize the lesson at the
end of the class, and most of the time, I missed this part. I will make sure that I will apply the
closing strategy in my lessons.
13-What are two important classroom management strategies that you observed and would
like to apply in your classroom?

The students did not have time to wander around both mentally and physically, and the teacher
kept them all the time busy. They all have the same material and use it together. Each student
had a chance to say something throughout the lesson. The teacher gave feedback on their
responses and briefly explained the strength and weaknesses of the answer. I believe students get
more motivated when they are criticized positively and learn from their mistakes. I am planning
to give more feedback to my students too.