Formal Observation

J.Hanna
10/15/14
SA: Student Answer
8:12
T reads aloud Stone Soup; students follow along, all quiet
Wayne shows facial expression as teacher reads cute.
8:16
Story ends
T: Ok now I want you to grab the worksheet in the middle. I want you to do
that individually. Did you hear the theme of the story? They actually said it a
lot in the story.
I will give you two minutes. You should be pretty quick at this by nowLet
me know if you have any questions. (T circulates.)
S: Can we look back?
T: Yes, you can look back [in the story].
Students start assn immediately.
T: This is a little tricky. Just think about the plot line. What happens?
8:18
T gives 1 min warning, continues to circulate.
1 hand with question; T responds.
8:19
T: All right, Im going to stop you. Im seeing a lot of trouble with the want.
There are lots of things that they wanted, but lets see if we can find the
important one.
T: What did they want? They said this at the very beginning.
SA
T: Youre really really close.
T: They wanted to see what made people happy.
S: So can I leave what I had?
T: But what was the problem? Lets put unwelcoming. Do you know what
that means? (T explains.)
T calls on Bianca.
T writes.
T: And I abbreviate. Is it okay to abbreviate when I take notes? (clarifies that
we dont do this in formal writing)
As T writes, students add/revise their own work.

Tyson rereads aloud what T wrote, providing a summary.

T: Did I do a good job? Yah, awesome!
T has students discuss with groups the conflict/theme.
S to group members: Okay, who votes for man vs man?
Theres some debating among groups (good)
T: Macaroni, cheese
Ss: Everybody freeze.
T asks what each group decided for conflict:
man vs grp, man vs man, man vs group(no right answers; T explains but
students explain their view student contribution to discussion, feel free to
debate with T good)
T: Raise your hand if youre with me. (most)
T: That was a tough one to figure out. Now give me some theme starters.
S: generosity
S: love,
S: Is peace one of them?
T: Um, it could beNow tell me the lesson the story is teaching you.
S: So the theme is the lesson?
T: Yes (and T distinguishes between theme starter and theme)
T: I picked sharing. Who can tell me why I think sharing? Turn to the last
page. (Cues students and has them find the theme that summarizes
perfectly this story)
S: Generous (incorrect)
S: Sharing makes us all richer. (correct)
TQ, GA, TQ, GA
T points out clothing, picture clues contradicting traditional use of rich.
T: How did sharing make them richer? So is being rich having a lot of things
(some yes, some no)
T has students close book, put papers in middle of desk.
T reviews stations, expectations for student helper
SQ for clarification, TA
SQ for clarification, TA
T reminds students to be quiet. Students move to stations.
8:33
T sits with sm group, gets video started, assists another grp and returns to
guided group
8:35
all students on task (about a 2 min transition)

Students discuss book picture; students ask each other questions (for
guidance, clarification, validation), students collaborate on written responses
Jackson/Tyson work independently writing
8:39
sm grp at conclusion of story:
S: He died?!
T: It is kinda sad.
T directs them to do their somebody, wanted, but then socues, directs
students to write response on paper.
T: Who was? Be more specific, AlexI love how Isaac and __ are working. I
can tell that they are having a good discussion about their story.
T to sm grp: Whos they?
8:41
Kelsey completes task, gets book
2 more students complete/submit work.
8:42
2 more complete work, get books
S wanders a bit, approaches a group to ask helper what hes to do.
T sits in position to monitor whole room as she works with sm grp.
T: Are our books always happy endings? So how did the piper solve the
problem? So what was the resolution? So whats the conflict in this story?
Conflict, not the theme. Why man vs group? I agreewhich leads me to my
theme. What do you think would be a good theme starter for this one? Oh,
awesome! Thats exactly what I was thinking. Who thinks the villagers were
being greedy? How?
sm grp discussion open ended, all voices heard, T allows debate.
T: Sum it up. Give me the life lesson about greed. Greed leaves you what?
S: Poor
T: What did they lose thats most important to them? (their children) So
being greedy leaves you empty handed.
S: They could get new kids. (T laughs.)
T: You are being silly again.
8:48
T calls transition, calls out who goes where as students pick up and move.
T: All right, get to where you need to go, quickly and quietly.
8:50
Most students transition quickly (within 2 minutes) but some wandering by
Marcas and Wayne.

T notices groups computer screen has frozen, assists

Isaac wears Ask Me sign. (Good idea and students did rely on him.)
8:52
Marcas settles in and begins his task. (His transition took about 4 minutes.)
T uses polite language please, thank you.
Second guided reading group listens to same story, other station activities
repeated.
Brok and Alex debate
8:55
Wayne goes to Isaac with question.
T begins sm grp discussion, asking probing questions, cueing
T: Write what he wanted. Weve done this so many times
T: Marcas, are you reading? Do you need to go to the restroom?
S: Im done reading. Im trying to think what the theme is. The theme is hard.
(T agrees.)
8:57
Elena to Isaac.
Isaac, what do we do when were done please?
Alex and Brok stop story to complete different parts of the assignment.
T: Andres, you can read that to yourself please. Thanks, though, for trying to
spice it up.
Alex to Brok: The resolution isShe went to her grandma and her grandma
said, You are the
Brok: It made her feel

Alex: She got a teaching job!

T: Alex and Brok are you working? (They actually were.)
Ss: Yes
T: Do I need to split you up?
9:02
Marcas returns to seat, looks around.
S to group members: Whats number 7? Whats number 3? Im done.

S to Isaac: Where do we go? (may need to practice procedures, write out

what they do, where they move?)
Alex and Brok debate on responses but are completely focused, starting and
stopping the story for discussion. (Loved this!)
Two girls visit briefly when work complete
T: This story is telling us that greed can leave us empty-handed.
9:06
Isaac interrupts sm group to ask if he can use the restroom.
9:07
T dismisses sm group and tells others to clean up.
T: You did an excellent job in your centers today. That was probably the best
job youve ever done. (rewards with party point)
T begins to dismiss quiet tables for restroom break.
9:08
Obs ends
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How much actual reading practice are students getting in a typical reading
period? (They are doing a lot of listening to reading which is good too and
works with the strategies, but how much time do they typically get each day
to read on their own?)
Vocab fill-in-blank ws at station, 2 listening stations with response sheet
(summarization), independent work (writing) + sm group
math word wall w/ important terms combine, decrease, remain
Book bags on hangers
Rock and Roll room theme
T is friendly, has good rapport, smiles, low key demeanor
Id like to see students work on the written pieces from this lesson.