Case Study - Mr.

Roth

Jasmine Tolbert

Grand Canyon University

EAD 530 Improving Teacher Performance and Self- Efficacy

Dr. Gary McDaniel

November 11, 2020

 From the start of his lesson, Mr. Roth took intentional steps to establish a positive

relationship with his students. The first example of this is him greeting each scholar by name and

chatting with them about their lives as they entered the class. “Learning requires effective

communication between the teacher and each student. A teacher forms an interpersonal

relationship with each student… [and] teaching must be viewed as an interpersonal

communication process”, (Werthamer-Larsson, 2013). Another example of this is the political

cartoons that were created by the students to show their interpretations of the Bill of Rights.

When describing the classroom environment, I would say that it is warm and collaborative along

with structured and intentional. The students felt comfortable being themselves and voicing their

opinions but also reacted positively to redirection and critique. “Classroom management is

defined as a collection of noninstructional classroom procedures implemented by teachers in

classroom settings with all students for the purposes of teaching pro-social behavior and

preventing and reducing inappropriate behavior”, (Herman, 2020). 

The first instructional strategy that was used is ‘stop and jot’. That was used at the

beginning of the class period when scholars were given a phrase to review and then given time to

write about what came to mind. Another instructional strategy that was utilized was ‘think, pair,

share’. That was used when students were working through the summary and guided

questions. When looking at student engagement strategies the first one that stood out to me was

the use of proximity. By simply standing by suitors that were off task, Mr. Roth was able to help

them get back on track non verbally. An additional effective strategy was the ‘turn and

talk’. He was able to keep the lesson energy and student engagement up by allowing students the

opportunity to share with their peers. As for differentiation, I did not see many opportunities. He

did allow individual groups an opportunity to gather their thoughts before

sharing out. “Differentiated instruction allows all students to access the same classroom

curriculum by providing entry points, learning tasks, and outcomes tailored to students’ learning

needs”, (Watts-Taffe, 2012). Higher-order thinking was required first with the bell ringer. 

It pushed the students to conceptualize the phrase and create a related response. The next

opportunity came when students had to agree or disagree with other groups' responses and justify

their answers during the guided question portion of the lesson. The last example of high order

thinking came once scholars had to predict the Supreme Court ruling. During this lesson

technology use was minimal. Students utilized technology with the bell ringer. 

In our post-conference, my first question would be about his thoughts on

the lesson. I would like to know how he thought the lesson went. I would then ask him what

adjustments he would make if he were to teach the lesson again. My last question would be if he

received the expected data points from his exit ticket. For positive feedback, I would

tell Mr. Roth that his classroom culture and management are both strong. It is important for me

some point this out because, without strong student relationships and management, it will be

extremely difficult to ensure that all students are accessing the content. In the vein of

constructive feedback, I would push Mr. Roth to plan more intentional exit tickets to better

gauge student growth and progress. This is a very important part of the lesson because it allows

him to know how many students grasped the information and how many needs to be retaught. 

To enhance student’s engagement and better-utilize technology, I would suggest

that Mr. Roth create opportunities for students to use technology to make their presentations on a

particular topic. Overall, I believe that Mr. Roth had a great lesson that was informative

and interactive. He has invested time in building relationships with his students. 

Reference

Herman, K. C., Reinke, W. M., Dong, N., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2020). Can effective classroom

behavior management increase student achievement in middle school? Findings from a

group-randomized trial. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi-

org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/edu0000641

Watts-Taffe, S., Laster, B. P. (Barbara), Broach, L., Marinak, B., McDonald Connor, C., &

Walker-Dalhouse, D. (2012). Differentiated Instruction: Making Informed Teacher

Decisions. Reading Teacher, 66(4), 303–314. https://doi-

org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/TRTR.01126

Werthamer-Larsson, L., Kellam, S., Wheeler, L., & Yiu, H. L. (2013). Teacher Observation of

Classroom Adaptation--Revised. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 4(2), 126–135.