TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report Form

Name of Observer: Maria Maciel Observation #: 2

Observation
Date Environment Class Skill/Content Level Teacher
8/30/17 Online* Beginner Vocabulary/Science Elementary Not Identified
* https://youtu.be/PDtzJau_QlI

WRITE THE OBJECTIVES ACCORDING TO THE OBSERVATION GUIDELINES:

STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY AND DESCRIBE NEW VOCABULARY WORDS BY
LOOKING AT PICTURES.
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH A PARTNER USING THE
VOCABULARY WORDS THEY HAVE LEARNED.
STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO REPEAT A NEW VOCABULARY WORD AND IDENTIFY HOW
MANY SYLLABLES IT HAS.

Notes while observing:

0:10 Warm Up
T plays a song and Ss sing along while also using gestures for some of the words.
T encourages them to sing by saying, Let me hear your voices.

4:30 Activity Free Play

Jose are you ready to call names? T hands basket filled with colored papers with names
on them to S and he stands in front of class. S calls Ss who are sitting quietly and they
each choose a paper before going to an activity area.

There are various different activity areas that the Ss can go to. Theres a table for
drawing, another has play dough. There is also an area with dinosaurs, one with building
blocks, a computer area, a reading area, etc. Work board (at 12:50) shows the different
activity centers that Ss can go to. They can put their paper that they chose at the
beginning of class on an empty spot to choose where they want to go.

9:15 Student Assessment

T calls a S over to sit next to her. T has a large picture on the table and asks S, Can you
tell me about this? What do you know about this? T writes down some things while the
S describes the picture.

13:40 Student Assessments

T does an assessment with another student. T: What do you know? S: Thats a seed.
T: What do you know about seeds? S: That they grow in the earth. T: What else?

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Observation Notebook
S: They make vegetables and fruits that we eat the stem. T: We eat the stem. Like
what? Do you remember whats a plant that we can eat? S: Celery. T: Yeah. Very
good. Good job, Jason. Thank you. T dismisses S and calls another S over. T continues
this process for several Ss.

19:00 Clean Up
Ok, boys and girls give me five. Ss: Raise a hand. T: Thank you. Its time for clean
up. Ss start cleaning up and T walks around to monitor. T thanks the Ss that are cleaning
and if Ss seem to be getting distracted, she gives them a gentle reminder that its time to
clean up.

22:05 Presentation
T starts counting down from 10. Ss sit on the carpet. T: Ok. So, today were going to do
science instead of math. Im going to wait until everyone is sitting to learn. Im looking at
your bodies and Im wondering, are you ready? So, what are we learning about in
science? Remember you gotta raise a hand. Ss: Raise hands and provide answers
(Theyve learned about seeds and how plants grow). T: Repeats their responses and then
elicits answers about what they learned yesterday.

24:35 Activity Singing

T plays a song about fruits and seeds. As certain words (root, stem, leaves, flower, fruit,
and seeds) come up in the song she points to their picture on a paper easel. She also
gestures other words and Ss follow. T encourages Ss to sing if they arent participating.

28:10 Presentation
T: Good singing everybody For science today Im going to draw a few things and see
if you can remember them. T draws a wavy line across the paper and says, Heres the
earth. T draws a few root shapes and asks, What is this? S: Roots. T: Raise your
hands. S: Raises hand and provides answer. T: Does anyone remember what the root
does? S: It helps the plant stay up straight. T: Right. What else do roots do that is
really important? S: They suck up water so itll go up to the stem. T: Right! So, the
roots help keep the plant up straight and when water goes into the earth, they suck up the
water like a straw. T continues the drawing, question, and explanation process for the
stem, leaf, pollen, and flower.

32:50 Communicative Exercise

T: Share with your friend something you learned about flowers. After one and a half
minutes T stops Ss and asks, Who can share with me what their friend said? Ss raise
hands and share responses. T compliments them after sharing and says, Good listening.

35:50 Presentation
T: Ok, put your eyes up here. (Points to paper easel) This is the word of the day
(Photosynthesis). Its a long word and Im going to say it first and then were going to
clap it out. So, put your listening ears on.
T says word slowly and then has Ss repeat the word as they clap each syllable.

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Observation Notebook
T asks, Does anybody have a guess? Hmm, lets think. What could it mean?
Photosynthesis. I know what it sounds like. It reminds me of another word. Ok, raise your
hands when youre ready.
Ss: Raise their hands and guess what the word means. One S says its like taking pictures.
T says, I like that you made a connection. T writes take pictures on the easel and
draws a small camera. Another S says she thinks its a type of plant or flower so teacher
writes her response down.
T has Ss follow her to a chart about plants and they sing the words that are shown. Then
they look at a picture of a seed and review the different parts and how seeds travel.
T has Ss go back to the carpet and instructs them to do a few stretches.

42:45 Wrap-Up
T: Ok, were going to end our science with a song that we learned. T plays a song
about plants and Ss sing along.

Great notes! Excellent work.

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Observation Notebook
What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson as it relates to the
theory you have studied in your TESOL classes? Include at least one reference (with
an in-text citation) to support your response. (250-500 words)

During this observation, I focused on classroom management. This was a Shaping

the Way We Teach English video showing a beginner English class given to young
learners approximately 5-6 years old. Many of the learners appeared to be ESL students
since they spoke Spanish periodically. The lesson was centered around science,
specifically how plants grow and the different plant structures.
According to Nation and Newton, when teaching English to beginners, five
principles should be followed; focus on meaningful and relevant language, maintain
interest through a variety of activities, avoid overloading learners with too much new
language, provide plenty of comprehensible input, and create a friendly, safe, cooperative
classroom environment (Nation & Newton, 2009, p. 19). Most people would agree that a
variety of activities is especially important for young children since they tend to lose
focus rather quickly and this lesson definitely followed that principle.
During the beginning of the video, the students had several activity areas that they
could go to. Even throughout the various presentations, the teacher used different
elements in her lesson such as singing, body movement, pictures, and communicative
practice. The teacher also managed the classroom by using rules that the students were
already familiar with like give me five or counting down from 10. Was this effective?
Were all students following these instructions?
Although I think the teacher could have been a little more enthusiastic,
considering the age of the children, I think the lesson was great overall. There was a lot
of variety for the students which really kept their attention. The teacher also had several
established rules and procedure that ensured she could maintain control of the classroom
which Im sure can be quite the task with young learners.

Nice work Maria. Now that you have all of these tools for observation and critical
assessment of instruction and in this case, specifically classroom management, I hope you
are/have been beginning to utilize them if/when you have the chance to observe your
daughters DLI classes. I know those may be somewhat different from ESL classes, but
the classroom management principles should be roughly the same.

Grade: 94/100

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Observation Notebook

References

Nation, I. S., & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking. New York,
NY: Routledge.

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 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook

Last Updated: 9/8/2017 9:31 AM