EDUC 5312/3315-Curriculum and Instructional Design

Classroom Observation Assignment

Observation Form 1
Observation Date: March 7, 2016
Observation Time: Forty-five
Minutes Class Period
Teacher Observed: Ms. Peng Subject/Grade Level: MathGrade 11
School Observed: The Fifty-two High School of Beijing
Observer: Xuesong
Wu
1-What was/were the learning objectives/outcomes of the lesson? (Add state
objectives if known)
The learning objective was that given a plenty of examples from lives, the student
will be able to recognize that the function is a type of corresponding from a nonempty collection to another non-empty collection, and state the three elements of
function with no errors.
2-How did the teacher begin and end the lesson?
At the beginning, Mr. Peng gave some examples of function in junior schools and
reviewed the concept of function in that time about 2 minutes. Then Mr. Peng let
students analyze the graph expression of function to get the concept of function in
high schools about 10 minutes. And Mr. Peng assigned the specific things that the
students discussed in groups and came to the conclusions about the new concept
about 20 minutes. Mr. Peng gave some exercises to the students in order to enhance
the understanding of the new concept about 10 minutes. In the end, Mr. Peng let the
students summarize the contents of this class and think about if there are other
ways of definitions to function about 3 minutes.
3-What did the teacher use for teaching materials or instructional
aids/equipment?
The teacher used computer, PowerPoint, blackboard, worksheet and the Geometer's
Sketchpad.
4-Which instructional methods and strategies did the teacher use? ( lecture,
inquiry, discovery learning, discussions, games or simulations, demonstrations,
cooperative learning, integration of technology, socrative questioning, etc)
The teacher used lecture, inquiry, discussion, and cooperative learning.
5-How did the teacher assess learning? (informal, formal, formative, summative,
oral, open-ended, quiz, feedback etc) See Chapter 8 for more information on
assessment methods
The teacher used informal, oral, and feedback methods to assess learning.
6- What can you say about the teachers philosophy/beliefs and style?
(Traditional, progressive, behaviorist, student-centered vs. teacher centered,
authoritative etc)
The teacher's style mostly liked traditional and student-centered because this class
is a new concept's instructional.
7-How does the teacher manage classroom? Can you identify classroom
management techniques used?
Because most of students focused on their tasks, the teacher didn't utilize more
management techniques. Only a student was reminded to go back to the task during
the discussion.
8-Observe in the classroom setting and determine types of behavior
students play when off-task. What do they do when they are not paying
attention? How does the teacher re-direct them or get them back on task?
The normal things were sleeping and talking about non-classroom contents when
students didn't pay attention. Whereas in this class there weren't above conditions
so much because most of students focused on their assignments and observers
existed. The teacher only stood at the side of a student and continued to lecture a
few seconds to re-direct him on task.
9-How does the teacher communicate with students (verbal, vocal, meta-

verbal or non-verbal communication such as facial, body language, use of space,

motion and time?)
The teacher mostly used verbal communication and walked around the classroom
when students discussed in groups.
10-Who were the students in the class? What did you notice about them?
(Background, diversity, attitude, motivation, interaction, participation, etc)
The students were mostly the same age in the high school. The number of girls was
more than boys'. They were well engaged in their assignments without the help from
the teacher.
11-What did you see that is effective in engaging students? What do you
see that is ineffective in keeping students engaged?
The effective way that I saw was the teacher stood at the side of a student's desk
and lectured several seconds when the student didn't pay attention to his task. The
most ineffective way in keeping students engaged was the teacher lectured all the
time despite of the students' thought, but this class was fine without above this
situation.
12-What are the two instructional strategies you observed and would like
to apply in your classroom?
I would use discussion in groups and summary by students. The discussion can bring
every student's critical thinking. The summary that the students did by themselves
can improve their abilities of analysis and synthesis.
13-What are two important classroom management strategies that you
observed and would like to apply in your classroom?
The one was standing at the side of a student's desk and lecturing several seconds
when the student didn't pay attention. Another one was the rule made into the
responsibilities of students at the beginning the curriculum such as the order of
materials placed on the desk.