Classroom Observation Form

Date: 01/ 17/2023

Time: 2:30pm-4pm
Teacher/Content: Lisa Plank, AP US Government
Goal: Hoping to learn what her teaching style is and what makes her such an effective, and loved, educator. I also want to see how she structures
her class (agendas, lectures and activities…etc.,), and see how it compares or contrasts from my mentor teachers.

Noticings Wonderings
Willing to have moments of fun, mixed with moments How long did it take her to develop this skill? She is
where she is more serious and work driven with her incredibly comfortable doing it, I wonder what her process
students. looked like for finding that balance.
- This is pretty similar to what my mentor teacher
does, depending on ages of the students.

Her agendas are on a google slide that includes:
1. What they are doing that day in class
2. What AP chapters they need to cover
3. What learning/targets goals they are aiming for
4. What homework students have
Her slide agendas go in depth in some areas, especially
when it involves an assignment or something that will help
them prepare for the AP exam. Although the slide can be
cramped sometimes, I wonder why this method has worked
best? Was there a simpler method that didn’t work so well?

Context: The students were giving presentations on

landmark Supreme Court Cases, today was Mcculloch v
Maryland.

She sits in the back of the room with her clipboard, but still How does she multitask like this? I struggle heavily with
takes notes and gives the students constructive feedback on multitasking during student presentations.
their rubric. When students make mistakes, she is quick to
reroute them to the correct answer.

After this particular presentation, she praised students for
what they were doing well and referenced a slide that was
pretty far back, making sure to emphasize a particular
phrase they used that was very related to the Supreme
Court case.
She has SO much knowledge on government and has great
memorization/recall skills. How long does this take to
develop? I wonder if this was something she had to work
on throughout her first few years.

Her classroom (or the classroom she is teaching in) is warm

and inviting. Students know they are safe, but also know
that they are held to a high standard as AP government
students.

Implementations for my practice…..

Multitasking while doing presentations (being an active listener that is also able to give feedback and
push them towards a deeper understanding)

Attempting to have that balance between fun times and more serious, content driven, times in class and
what my preferences are for that balance.
 Classroom Observation Form
Date: 01/26/2023
Time: 2:30pm-4pm
Teacher/Content: Amy Healy, German 5
Goal: To see how her German 5 class is structured, how she approaches classroom management and what her teaching style is as a language
educator. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take German classes in high school and also wanted to compare my high school
teachers classroom and teaching style with hers.

Noticings Wonderings
Her room has the main lights off, with some soft lighting Her classroom is pretty similar to my high school teachers,
to still keep the room alight. She also has a big black book except it feels warmer and more welcoming to all students.
shelf next to her door, where German books can be found. I wonder if she had a thought process for the way her
Her walls are covered with posters that tell students how to classroom is set up? Has it always looked this way?
say certain words, what some commonly used words are
(and their translation in English). She also has various other
posters related to Germany, which help to make the class
inviting, warm and overall safe.

She uses “Meine Leiben” (my dears) instead of “Leute” This use of a warm and inviting term makes me wonder
(people) or “Studenten” (Students). how the students feel about her class? Do they feel as if
they are in a safe place? (I would feel that way)

The students worked on their exam preparation for the AP

German exam, which includes the ability to read, interpret How long ago did she implement using “nature sounds”?
and write a response to an email in german, as well as an Was it a student idea or something she developed over
oral exam with a proctor. As the students were working on time?
reading through the email, Healy came over to me and said
that she prefers to play “calming nature noises” over “lofi
music” because it calms the students' minds.

For her advanced german courses, including this one, she
takes them for breaks to take a short walk around the
school, or to play german number games. The students
seem to really enjoy this, and it also seems to help them
remain on task.
I really like this idea. It gave her students the time to be
silly, to get out their energy and to move around the
classroom. I wonder how this has positively impacted her
students? Does it make independent work time much more
focused?

Implementations for my practice…..

Utilizing brain breaks that get my students to move around the classroom, to hopefully have them focus
in more on their work.

(Not now, as I do not have my own classroom), Trying to make my classroom as inviting as
possible/making it feel homey and a place where my students can feel safe, respected and welcome.
 Classroom Observation Form
Date: 02/16/2023
Time: 2:30pm-3:45pm
Teacher/Content: Amy Healy, German 5
Goal: To see how she structures learning with movie days. I have been wondering how to best implement movie days in my own teaching practice,
but are unsure how to make it educational and still align with the content my students need to learn. Today, her students are engaging in a
Gimkit review and then watching the portion of the beginning of “Goodbye Lenin”

Noticings Wonderings + Questions + Things I find

Important
Healy is incredibly comfortable with her German 5 How long did it take her to be comfortable not only
students, you can tell they feel safe as soon as they walk in speaking in front of a class in German, but feeling
the door and by how they respond to her questions. comfortable with her students?

She is incredibly fluent in German…. Was there ever a point that she didn’t feel comfortable?
How long did it take her to be fluent?

She is more than willing to learn alongside the students,
and more than willing to make mistakes alongside them.
She also does not diminish her personality or who she is to
fit in a box of how someone else views her.
Important to being a teacher: have to be comfortable with
the uncomfortable and making mistakes, even if it means
admitting to them when you don’t want to.
Idea of not diminishing yourself for the benefit of others:
Important because the personalities teachers bring with
them are what can make their classroom great or not so
great. I have a tendency to diminish who I am for other
people/to fit in, and I would like to not do that as much.

Slideshows are simple and easy for students to understand
and learn from.
- Not too many pictures but also not too much
wording…a lot of what she is teaching is coming
from her own knowledge.
These slideshows are different from what I tend to work
on with my content…is this a matter of difference between
Frau Healy’s amount of time teaching and mine? Or has
she always done her slideshows this way?

Gives students brain breaks halfway through the period, I wonder how this would work with my world history
you can tell students really buy into it. students? Would they even buy into it? Or would they just
be “trying to act cool” and “thinking its dumb”

Scaffolds the movie by handing students a sheet with

questions for the to answer/discuss and consider. Also lets
students know what they will need to look for in the film
before she starts it.

Asks them questions periodically throughout the film, and I am always worried about doing this, because I feel like
has them discuss with their peers to check understanding. students will be upset with me interrupting.

Implementations for my practice…..

1. Making my slideshows more simple—having the necessary information and not worrying so
 much about how they look/how pretty they are.
2. Not allowing the judgements of others to change who I am and the personality I bring into the
classroom. That is how I am going to be able to be authentic with my students.
3. Brain breaks! Stretching breaks more specifically. Her students seemed to really appreciate it, so I
think I will try that with my classes sometime before the end of my student teaching.
4. Interrupting films/videos to ask my students questions regardless of how they may “react”.

Classroom Observation Form

Date:
Time:
Teacher/Content:
Goal:

Noticings Wonderings

Implementations for my practice…..

 Classroom Observation Form
Date:
Time:
Teacher/Content:
Goal:

Noticings Wonderings

Implementations for my practice…..

 Classroom Observation Form
Date:
Time:
Teacher/Content:
Goal:

Noticings Wonderings

Implementations for my practice…..