Elementary Education Program

Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

Formal Observation Reflection

Directions: Complete the reflection questions and submit your response to your observer prior to
having a post-conference to discuss the observation. If a conference is held immediately after the
observation, you will submit your responses to the observer the following day via email.

Name: Rachel Bland Date: April 11th, 2019

1. How effective were your instructional strategies? What changes would you make in your
instructional approaches if you taught this lesson again? Why?

My instructional strategies were intentional but could use improvement. I had students discussing
ideas with each other and activating background knowledge. However, I was not as quick to get
students back on task who had left the room and came back. If I was teaching this lesson again and
this situation repeated itself, I would act with more immediacy to rejoin the class.

2. Compare students actually responded to the lesson verses the way you anticipated they would
respond. Explain how you scaffolded or extended students’ thinking.

Students were more invested in our city council assessment than I would have initially anticipated.
They were thoughtful in their responses, and they had differing opinions and reasoning.
Additionally, students’ conversation about their sort was more animated than I anticipated. I was
nervous that students wouldn’t have background knowledge about certain cards.

3. Describe how you assessed whether your students achieved the objective of the lesson. Was
this effective? If not, what would you change about your assessment?

We assessed whether the students achieved the objective of the lesson by walking around and
listening to the discussion of the sort, listening to student discourse during turn-and-talk, and by
reading their responses in their social studies journal. If I changed this lesson, I would extend the
amount of time students had to discuss their law as a city council. Their talk was animated, and
they were invested. I wish I had had more time to listen to more talk.

4. How effectively did you motivate your students, set and enforce expectations, and handle
transitions? Would you change anything and if so, why?

Because we had to split the lesson, the transitions were often Katie and I switching. This made the
lesson choppier, but I feel like we handled the initial transition into the lesson relatively well.
Students got their notebooks out and followed instruction. Voice level did get elevated at times, but
I used “3, 2, 1, talking is done” and students responded. I would again change how I handled the
situation where students didn’t have their notebooks working on anything.
 Elementary Education Program
Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

5. Did you make modifications to your lesson plan during the lesson? If so, what were they and
what motivated these changes?

I modified my lesson plan during the lesson to create more student discourse. My teaching
behavior focus was to promote student collaboration, but I hadn’t adequately represented this goal
in my lesson plan. During the lesson I had students turn and talk and share their understanding of
the various branches of government. I also modified the order of the lesson. I decided we should
talk and write about the levels of the government prior to the branches of the government. This
seemed more natural. We also chose our specific law we wanted students to discuss shortly before
the lesson.

6. How did you meet your Teaching Behavior Focus? If you did not meet it, what would help
you to meet it next time?

I met my teaching behavior focus by encouraging student discourse and student collaboration. We
had students working on their sort in the beginning which Katie and I facilitated together
promoting collaboration. If I was repeating this lesson, as mentioned earlier, I would have students
discussing and collaborating on how they decided their vote on the law. Allowing more time for
the assessment would promote collaboration.