Fullerton Online Teacher Induction Program

P​re/​O​bservation/​P​ost Cycle Form ​(POP)

Revised 4.20.17
Directions for Preparation for POP Cycle
1. New Teacher (NT) and Mentor (ME) identify date for lesson observation and set dates/times for pre- and post-observation conferences.
2. Minimum three days before lesson delivery, NT prepares POP Cycle Form.
3. NT completes ​Section 1: New Teacher Information​, lesson plan, and ​Section 2, Part A NT Reflection​.
4. NT emails POP Cycle Form and Lesson Plan to ME.
Directions for Pre-Observation
5. Minimum 48 hours before lesson delivery, ME reviews Lesson Plan and Section 2, Part A: New Teacher Reflection; completes ​Section 2, Part B: ME Feedback​.
6. ME shares feedback with NT during pre-observation conference. Lesson plan is adjusted as needed and finalized for delivery.
Directions for Observation and Preparation for Post-Observation Conference
7. During lesson delivery, ME completes ​Section 3A: ME Observation of Lesson Delivery​, noting both ​Teacher Actions​ and ​Student Actions​.
8. Prior to Post-Observation Conference, NT reflects on lesson outcomes and completes ​Part 3B: NT Reflection on Lesson Delivery​.
Post Observation Conference Directions​:
9. Within 48 hours, NT and ME share notes; discuss lesson observations and outcomes; complete Section 4. All parts should be transcribed into one document and submitted to course instructor. Information is used
for ILP.
Section 1: New Teacher Information
New Teacher Email Subject Area Grade Level
Peter Smiley Peterjsmiley1@gmail.com Biology 9-11
Mentor Email School/District Date
South Hills High
Jonathan Dean jdean@c-vusd.org School/Covina-Valley Unified 11/12/20
School District
Content Standard Lesson Objectives Unit Topic Lesson Title
HS-LS4-1 1. Use scientific evidence to
support a claim about an
Part I: Interacting in Meaningful evolutionary relationship
Ways 6b. Reading/viewing between species.
closely 10b. Writing 11a.
Justifying/arguing 2. Describe shared Evolution Examining Evidence of Evolution
characteristics
Part II: Learning About How (homologies) among
English Works 2. Understanding organisms that provide
cohesion evidence for common
ancestry.
CSTP Element(s) Focus for POP Cycle ​(In semesters 2, 3, 4, copy pertinent elements from ILP for POP Cycle focus.)
1 - Emerging 2 - Exploring 3 - Applying 4 - Integrating 5 – Innovating
NT pedagogical skills are newly formed and just Skills are developing as NT investigates Skills are applied as NT makes Skills are refined as NT combines elements Skills are polished as NT expands ability to
coming into prominence and examines pedagogical practices increased relevant and suitable use into a cohesive and unified pedagogical add new methods and strategies into
of pedagogical choices repertoire pedagogical repertoire
CSTP Element Initial Rating Rating Description​ (Identify both teacher and student rating for CSTP 1 and 2.)
Most students are engaged but I can be better at holding that
1 Engaging All Students 3 engagement throughout the lesson and creating lessons that are more
student centered.
I organize subject matter from lesson to lesson well, but can improve
on organizing cohesive lessons across units. I can do a better job of
3 Organizing Subject Matter 3
creating a method for students to track their learning towards unit
objectives.
Section 2: Pre-Observation Conference
Focus Students Focus Student 1: English Learner Focus Student 2: Student w/ILP/504 Focus Student 3: Your Choice
● Summarize critical needs and how
you will address them during this Johan Mejia Gabriel Lopez Suheli Moreno
lesson.

Part A: NT Reflection Part B: ME Feedback

Use questions to guide reflection on the lesson plan. Provide feedback on lesson plan reflection.
● How can we use anatomical structures as scientific evidence to support
the theories of common ancestry and biological evolution.
● I will be going over the “evogram” that shows the students the ● You did a great job presenting the
Inquiry Focus/Special Emphasis anatomical transition of dinosaurs to modern day birds. After I know that
● What is your inquiry focus and/or special emphasis? they know how to read it, they will fill out a table that shows the
lesson content and asking the students
● How will you incorporate the inquiry focus and/or transition of the anatomical features. Finally, using evidence from the probing questions to help them
special emphasis into the lesson? table, they will defend the scientific claim “Archaeopteryx represents an
● What specific feedback do you want from your ME? intermediate link between birds and dinosaurs” comprehend the class material.
● How well (or not well) do you think that the inquiry focus is covered in
the lesson?

POP Cycle, Fullerton Online Teacher Induction Program (FOTIP), 2017​. Adapted from CSU Fullerton Titan EDUCATOR Project, 2017. Page 1 of 6

Inquiry Focus/Students
● What specific feedback regarding your focus students
do you want from your ME?
Specific Feedback
● What additional specific feedback do you want from
your ME regarding lesson implementation?
Instructional Planning
● How is the lesson structured (opening, body, and
closing)?
● What varied teaching strategies and differentiated
instruction will help students meet lesson goals?
● What progress monitoring strategies will be used? How
will results inform instruction?
Student Engagement/Learning
● How will you make the lesson relevant to all the
students?
● How will students show progress towards master of
lesson objectives?
Classroom Management
● How will you maintain a positive learning environment
with a welcoming climate of caring, respect, and
fairness?
● Identify specific classroom procedures and strategies
for preventing/redirecting challenging behaviors.
Closure
● How will you close your lesson?
● How will you assess student learning and prepare them
for the next lesson?
POP Cycle, Fullerton Online Teacher Induction Program (FOTIP), 2017​. Adapted from CSU Fullerton Titan EDUCATOR Project, 2017.
● The methods you used to walk the
students through understanding the
phylogenetic tree provided plenty of
Does my method of explaining the evogram (phylogenetic tree) and checking for supports and visuals for ElD and IEP
understanding work well to help ELD and IEP students understand the concepts? Students. In fact the way you adapted
the lesson to be presented in smaller
sections was really helpful to these
students.
● I feel that the current distance learning
format is the only hindrance to
students full comprehension of the
Is there anything that you would add or take away from the lesson to help with
engagement? subject matter. The questions that
students asked displayed that the class
as a whole was very engaged.
● Opening: The lesson starts with each student making observations and
inferences about 3 structures that they see while looking at an picture of
an archaeopteryx fossil. We will then watch a short 3 min video
introducing how the discovery of feathered dinosaurs opened up the idea
that birds evolved from dinosaurs.
● Body: We will look at the evogram (a phylogenetic tree that includes the
transition of anatomical structures) in peardeck. I will be going through
each of the structural changes and explaining what they are (for example,
it talks about feathers having hooks and barbules, so I have a microscopic
image showing what that looks like). After each structure, in order to
make sure that they understand how to read the evogram, I have them
drag a dot to the correct organisms on the evogram where that structure
was first seen. After they know what the structures are and know how to ● The structure of this lesson was great.
read the evogram, they will complete a table that shows the transition of
structures from early theropod to archaeopteryx to modern day birds. The way you broke the entire lesson
● Closing: The students will use evidence from the tables to help them down into smaller parts and presented
support the claim that the archaeopteryx is an intermediate species
between the theropods and modern-day birds. After the students create the material in different ways really
their arguments, they will be randomly selected to share out one piece of
evidence that supports the argument. After students share out, I will give show that you understand how to
them an opportunity to update their responses based on what they hear differentiate instruction.
(I would normally have them share in partner groups before sharing out
when we are in person)
● Differentiated instruction: Using the dot dragging feature in PearDeck, I
will be able to focus on the students who are not understanding how to
read the evogram by talking directly to them. When students begin to
work on the independent work, I will open a breakout room (distance
learning) that students are able to join to ask questions and have one on
one help in completing the assignment.
● Progress monitoring: PearDeck allows me to actively check for
understanding. While students are working independently, I monitor
progress through google classroom (distance learning) by scrolling
through their individual google documents.
● Many, if not most, of the students will not know what the structures are
in the theropods and birds that the evogram talks about so I show images ● You did a great job making a real word
and talk about each structure to make them more relevant to each of the
students. This method is beneficial to all students.
connection between the class content
● First but showing that they understand how to read the evogram, then by and a family tree. This helped the
showing that they are able to state which structures are found in which
organisms (through completing the table correctly), then by being able to students see how relevant the material
transfer that information into text form by using valid evidence to is and was.
support the claim.
● In the distance learning setting, I work to maintain a positive learning
environment by staying upbeat, being flexible with students on, providing
opportunities outside of class time for students to join a meeting for
extra help, and taking time during class to talk about positive stuff going
on in students’ lives outside of school (like what they are doing over ● You do a great job keeping the class on
weekends and that sort of thing) task an appropriately addressing any
● In the distance learning setting, the biggest challenging behavior that I
have to deal with is lack of participation. During class, utilizing peardeck conflict or off topic discussions or
as a tool allows me to prompt students to participate because it tells me
which students have or have not participated in a particular activity. After
questions.
a reasonable amount of time, if some students have not participated, I
will prompt them to participate, which works to get close to full
participation.
● I feel like this is an area where the
● In closing the lesson, I will use a random name generator to have
students randomly share out one piece of evidence that they found that current education setting of distance
supports the claim and then after calling on 3-5 students, I will go over
any misunderstandings or missing pieces of evidence that I noticed. The
learning is limited. You do a great job
students will then have an opportunity to edit their responses before with using entry tickets to identify
submitting.
● During the lesson, I will use the PearDeck and random sampling of their students' understanding of the
live independent work to assess their understanding. I will then use the previous day's content and follow up
random verbal student responses to assess before closing. And finally, I
will use their full responses to assess their understanding in more depth. with students on google classroom to
To prepare them for the next lesson, I will reteach any misunderstandings
that I notice while reading through their final responses. be sure they are correctly answering
questions pertaining to the material.
Page 2 of 6

EXAMPLE
CSTP 1: Engaging All Students
● In what ways were students
engaged?
Specific Feedback
● What information can you
provide the NT regarding
requested special
feedback?
CSTP 1: Engaging All
Students
● In what ways were
students engaged? How
were students not
engaged?
● How did students
contribute to their
learning?
● How did teacher and/or
students monitor learning?
● How were the focus
students engaged and
supported throughout the
lesson?
POP Cycle, Fullerton Online Teacher Induction Program (FOTIP), 2017​. Adapted from CSU Fullerton Titan EDUCATOR Project, 2017.
Section 3: Observation of Lesson Delivery
Part 3A: ME Observation of Lesson Delivery Part 3B: NT Reflection on
Teacher Actions Student Actions Lesson Delivery
Student groups answered worksheet questions that included all
When teacher reviewed worksheet, she asked additional questions of Students completed the worksheets and were able to ask questions.
levels of Bloom’s (“Identify 6 problem-solving strategies; pick two
analysis and evaluation (“which problem-solving strategy do you Most groups needed revisions for their questions;
strategies and identify at least one similarity and one difference
prefer? How could you create a math problem that could be solved comparison/contrast was the most common analysis question. I
between them”). Groups then selected a strategy and created
with this strategy?”) need to give them a Bloom’s question stems handout next time.
two math problems to exchange tomorrow.
● This was a great lesson that
provided tons of interactive
content that allowed the
students to engage in
multiple ways.
● I would encourage you to
continue researching
different forms of
instruction to see how your ● Students were provided
students respond and the opportunity for one
engage the classroom on one instruction in
material. breakout rooms where
● Continue to try new they received
engagement strategies as individualized instruction.
this will help keep students ● Students that were
engaged. Sometimes it's observed to be struggling
good to cycle different were instructed to come
instructional methods to see into the breakout rooms to
which ones students receive prompting that
respond to best. helped to independently
● You provided plenty of complete the worksheet.
visuals and hands on ● Students were able to
material for the ELD and IEP complete the worksheet
students. The guided after the teacher went
practice throughout the over a few questions with
lesson was very appropriate the class. The teacher did
and allowed for a good job using guided
individualized instruction practice leading into
and correction when independent practice
appropriate.
● The overall presentation of
the lesson was great. You
engaged students
appropriately and the way
you differentiated your
instruction seemed to meet
students needs.
- Students were greeted at the ● The distance learning setting
- Students started class by
beginning of class by the teacher. makes it difficult to gage
logging into the peardeck and
a virtual tutoring resource was engagement, however, I was
the teacher gave them time to
introduced to the class able to see which students
complete a summary that was
(paper.org) were participating by using the
assigned on friday. Students
- As Students joined class they interactive slides in peardeck
who were not participating
were encouraged to join a pear and most shared out when
were reminded to participate.
deck. The announcement was called upon.
- Students had their pre-ap
displayed on the screen. ● Some students did not share
workbooks available for
- Students were asked to out when called upon. It is a
reference.
participate on the interactive hard thing to police when the
- Students who didn’t
slides in peardeck. Peardeck school does not require
participate were reminded
offers the teacher a view that cameras on.
orally and in the class chat
can monitor student’s ● Peardeck also allowed me to
box.
participation. The teacher prompt students who were not
Page 3 of 6

- Students were reminded of the
- The teacher checked for
- The teacher provided guided
- Breakout rooms were provided
CSTP 2: Effective Learning
Environment
● How did students and
teacher contribute to an
effective learning
environment?
CSTP 3: Organizing Subject
Matter
● What actions of the NT
contributed to student
assimilation of subject
matter?
● How did students
construct knowledge of
subject matter?
● What misconceptions did
students have and how
were they addressed by
the teacher?
POP Cycle, Fullerton Online Teacher Induction Program (FOTIP), 2017​. Adapted from CSU Fullerton Titan EDUCATOR Project, 2017.
reminded students to participate
on these slides.
key things to focus on when
writing their short summary that
was referenced in the peardeck.
understanding in the following
ways: oral questions, review of
the interactive slides, and step
by step instruction.
practice to introduce the
worksheet/ chart. He went over
the first two sections in the
worksheet with the class.
for students to get one on one
help.
- Students were provided visuals
via the peardeck and the pre-ap
workbook
- The teacher provided
constructive feedback to
students that wrote their
summary and provided prompts
that provoked students to
provide more details in their
summary.
- The teacher also provided a
digital whiteboard where he
outlined connections between
species of dinosaurs. This
provided students with a great
visual. The Jam board helps
visual learners see how to
interpret a phylogenetic tree. It
also provided EL learners visuals
and a tangible connection to
key vocabulary.
- Students whose computer was
not working properly were
reminded to use a pencil to
follow along in the pre-ap
workbook.
- Students used the draw slides
to circle the correct
information.
- Students were provided a chart
to complete to reinforce what
was taught in the class.
- Students were provided access
to breakout rooms to obtain
one on one help.
-Several students engaged the
teacher in discussion about their
summary.
- Students were invited to ask
questions via a student chat or
orally in the virtual classroom.
- Students logged into the Jam
board and the peardeck. Each
platform logs individual student
engagement and participation.
- Students responded both orally
and in the chat oral questions
asked by the teacher.
- Students were asked to draw on a
slide in the peardeck to identify the
first dinosaur that had hollow
bones.
- Students followed along as the
teacher provided step by step
instruction.
participating or who needed
extra help.
● I was really happy with how the
checking for understanding
worked. Many students were
able to read the evogram fairly
quickly, but I was really able
help the students that were
struggling.
● After reading through student
responses, I realized that I
needed to better explain what
intermediate species were and
probably should have spent
more time on it in the initial
lesson.
● All three of the focus students
were participating throughout
the interactive portions but one
of them did not complete the
associated questions during
independent practice.
● Students contributed to their
learning by using the evidence
in the evogram to fill out their
tables then using the evidence
in their tables to answer the
questions.
● I felt that the organization went
okay. Leading up to the lesson
The students investigated how to
build a phylogenetic tree and
what they represented which this
lesson build on by using a
phylogenetic tree to compare
structures.
● One area that I felt I could have
organized better was the idea of
an intermediate species. I
touched on it, but did not
reinforce or check for
understanding well enough
before asking them to provide the
evidence for why the
archaeopteryx is an intermediate
species.
● Other than the intermediate
species, I felt that progressing
from how to read the evogram, to
filling out the table about what
Page 4 of 6
 - The teacher directed students
CSTP 4: Learning
Experiences
● How were students
supported through
differentiated instruction?
● How did students
participate?
● How did the NT contribute
to student learning?
CSTP 5: Assessing Student
Learning
● How did students
demonstrate achievement
of lesson objectives?
● In what ways did students
struggle or demonstrate
limited understanding?
● What teacher actions
contributed to student
achievement?
To what degree did students
achieve lesson objectives?
To what degree did focus
students achieve lesson
objectives?
POP Cycle, Fullerton Online Teacher Induction Program (FOTIP), 2017​. Adapted from CSU Fullerton Titan EDUCATOR Project, 2017.
structures are found where, to
to interact with the using that information to build
phylogenetic tree on the evidence that they met the
peardeck. learning objectives went smooth.
● Using the jameboard went well. I
felt like it really allowed me to
model how to read the evogram
well.
● At first, many students did not
understand which line to follow
to determine what organism the
traits were associated with.
● Some students struggled to
understand that in order for an
organism to be intermediate
species, it has to have traits that
match just the previous ancestors
and traits that match just the
modern descendant (or
something between the two)
Section 4: Post Observation Conference
Students met the lesson objectives to varying degrees. Most of the students were able to describe shared
characteristics (homologies) among organisms that provide evidence for common ancestry but some struggled
to use scientific evidence to support a claim about an evolutionary relationship between species. In order to
help many of the students understand how to use scientific evidence to support a claim about an evolutionary
relationship between species, I had to reteach what an intermediate link is and, specifically, what is required for
an organism to be considered an intermediate link.
Focus Student 1: English Learner Focus Student 2: Student w/ILP/504 Focus Student 3: Your Choice
Still working on achieving the
Completely. She gave a very
objectives. He was able to fill out
detailed description with
the table that showed which
Partially. He was able to give partial complete evidence to support the
structures when with which
evidence to support the claim about claim about an evolutionary
organisms but was not able to
an evolutionary relationship relationship between species. She
articulate in words how those
between species, but struggled to also was able to describe all of the
structures show evidence of
describe the shared characteristics shared characteristics between
common ancestry nor was he able
between birds and theropods. theropods and modern day
to articulate how the evidence to
dinosaurs that were in the
support the claim about an
evogram.
evolutionary relationship between
Page 5 of 6

What would you do differently
next time?
What were three top Lesson
Strengths?
What were three top areas for
improvement?
What are next steps?
species. I am still working with him
on coming up with these
conclusions
The main thing that I will do differently next time is that I will spend more time making sure that the students
understand what an intermediate species is. That seemed to be the biggest point of confusion. I usually use a
video that shows more examples and talks about what makes them intermediate species, but due to the
distance learning setting, I had them watch the video through edpuzzle since sharing videos on my screen often
leads to laggy feeds on the students end. If we are in a distance learning setting, I could find more examples of
intermediate species as examples. Getting students to answer using peardeck takes more time than I expected
(in the distance learning setting, but in person I believe that I would be able to make sure that the students are
more engaged throughout the lesson
1. I feel like I was able to check for understanding on whether the students were understanding how to
read the evogram really well. Using peardeck allowed me to focus on the students who were having
difficulty and really make sure that they got it down.
2. I feel like my lesson engaged the students well. I had near 100% participation using peardeck because I
was able actively to see which students were working and which weren’t which allowed me to prompt
students that needed it.
3. I thought that the portion of the lesson spent on explaining the evogram and checking for
understanding took longer than I would have liked, I felt that it was necessary and created a
meaningful flow and allowed the students to construct the knowledge that they needed to meet the
lesson objectives.
1. Getting all of the students to respond in a timely manner in peardeck. I struggle with whether I should
prompt and wait for the same students each time, which makes the students who are following
directions wait around, or do I move on when the majority of students have responded. This seems to
be a distance learning issue, so hopefully I will not have to deal with it in the future
2. I think that I could have done a better job of incorporating the lesson objectives into the lesson. I talked
about them at the beginning of the lesson, but the lesson took a few days and I did not talk about them
again.
3. I could improve on student reflection. One way is I could have had them reflect on whether they met
the lesson objectives or not. I could have also had them reflect on what they felt that they learned in
the lesson.
After looking through students' answers, I have decided to reteach what an intermediate species is and further
explain my expectations for using scientific evidence to support the claim about how the archaeopteryx is an
intermediate species between theropods and modern day birds. I will then give them an opportunity to edit
theri answers accordingly. From there we will be moving on to a different evidence of evolution, embryology.
Other Comments/Notes

Overall, I felt that the lesson was well received and contributed to student learning. I have found that the distance learning setting often
makes things take longer than expected, which is what happened with this lesson. The initial peardeck and jamboard parts of the lesson
took longer due to having to wait for students to log in and having to prompt students. I still feel that they were necessary in order to
check for understanding and to track participation.

All parts of this form should be transcribed (typed; not hand-written) into a single document and submitted to course instructor.
Information from this POP Cycle should be summarized on the NT ILP as appropriate.

POP Cycle, Fullerton Online Teacher Induction Program (FOTIP), 2017.​ Adapted from CSU Fullerton Titan EDUCATOR Project, 2017. Page 6 of 6