Self-Evaluation of Classroom Instruction
Student Name: Rylie Krause
Date: 03/31/24
Lesson Observed: Evaluating Perspectives About GMOs
Competency
Connecting with Students
Were you ready for instruction?
Did you:
· know your content?
· use familiar analogies?
· practice what you asked students to do?
· prepare varied instruction at an appropriate level?
Did you help the students engage in the content?
Did you:
· gain student interest and attention before beginning
(contextual set)?
· pause when attention was interrupted?
· maintain students' attention?
Processing Content (Designing/Delivering Instruction)
Essential Question
Did you use an essential question or bell ringer to establish
the focus of the lesson? Did you:
· know the language of the learners?
· USE the question through the lesson to gain feedback
from students?
· use clear and concise language?
Objectives presented
Did you state/present the lesson objectives? Did you:
· communicate a clear objective, using verbs, for what
students should be able to do at the end of the lesson?
· assess/summarize with students based on the objective?
Student Engagement in Learning
Did you clearly define the activity and excite the learner to
engage in the learning process?
· could students connect to the learning?
· did you activate students’ thinking and encourage
students to do the work of learning?
Summary/Closure
Did you summarize all key elements of the lesson? Did
you:
· assess/summarize with students based on the objective?
Engaging & Adjusting to Students (Facilitating Learning)
Checking for understanding
Did you confirm students knew essential concepts from the
lesson? Did they:
· use questions to confirm learning?
· solicit specific feedback to help students self-assess? this, I also made sure to ask questions while students were
· can students reproduce what was taught?
Lab Section: 003 – Dan Husmann
Reflection Notes
I felt that I was ready for instruction as I knew my content
on the lesson especially pertaining to GMOs. Along with
this I felt I was prepared to facilitate a discussion with
students on this topic as well. I also tried to make the
lesson intriguing and applicable to all students.
At the start of the lesson, I gained the students’ interest
and attention with a bell ringer where students identified if
they had seen pictures of different food label
identifications. Along with this I maintained students’
attention by frequently asking if they understood the
content being covered and having them interact in a small
group as well.
Throughout the lesson I used my essential question by
having students circle back to the why behind each part.
Along with this, through the use of the discussion I was
able to ask students’ questions and topics pertaining to the
content and then gauge their understanding of it as well. A
common language was also established and used with
students especially throughout the discussion.
Within the lesson I presented and stated the objectives
while also trying to refer back to them multiple times. I
potentially could have done a better job of circling back to
them, but they were not lost completely.
Many times, throughout the lesson I engaged the learners
while also providing factual information in the learning
process. Along with this, students were able to discuss
and debate different prompts and topics pertaining to
GMOs and non-GMOs.
At the end of the lesson, I used a think-pair-share to
summarize the key concepts on GMOs and the reasoning
for the discussion. Along with this I had students
acknowledge both sides of the debate and discussion.
Throughout the lesson I made sure to confirm students
knew essential concepts related to GMOs and non-GMOs
while also being able to discussion both sides. Along with
discussing to deepen the knowledge and learning.
 Smooth transitions
Did you plan and implement transitions within the lesson to I planned and implemented transitions with the lesson, and
connect within and between ideas? they went smoothly while also connecting to the next idea.
Instructional adjustments
Did you adjust to instructional disruptions? Did you: Throughout the lesson there was not a lot of student
behavior while allowed for more discussion of GMOs to
· adjust to student behavior? occur. Additionally, student understanding was also
· vary timing/methods in relation to student understanding? adjusted as needed.
Questioning I used question to effectively check for understanding from
Did you use questions to effectively check for students. I also tried to implement effective discussion
understanding and encourage students to think? between students while pertaining to GMOs and non-
GMOs.
Reflection Summary (~250 words, with specific references to reflection notes)
Using the space below and your reflection notes above, please reflect on:
1. What went well?
2. How did the teaching methods used positively or negatively impact instructional outcomes?
3. What changes will you make based on this reflection of your teaching?

Throughout this lesson on GMOs and non-GMOs, I thought it went really well. To start the bell ringer, I
went wells as students were able to observe mul<ple different pictures of food adver<sings like “whole wheat”
and recall if they had ever seen this on food packaging before. I also provided a small lecture within this lesson
where students were able to remember and understand the differences between GMOs and non-GMOs and how
they were also regulated between the EPA, FDA, and USDA. From here I thought the discussion when fairly well
also as students were able to discussion between their peers on different prompts pertaining to the topic.
Keeping this in mind, the centric circles or “speed da<ng” discussion I thought had a posi<ve impact on the
instruc<onal outcomes within the topic. Along with this, I thought it was a liLle bit difficult to have a discussion
with students using this method as there was only three students and typically this type of discussion needs
more students. I did make it work for the lesson as I filled in as a student and then I paired the students up
whiles making sure to allow students to switch when ready. Technically this discussion should have had two lines
or circles where students would have a partner to talk with and then switch aOer each prompt, but this was not
possible with such liLle number of students. On the other hand, some changes that I would make based on this
reflec<on of my teaching would probably be to not have this type of discussion with such few students. Other
than this, there really would not be much I would change as I thought this lesson was overall successful.