Chapter 2: Observation and Recording Sheet

Observing teachers in action is an important part of understanding what it means to be a teacher. Watch the videos listed
for this module and review all of the written materials that accompany them. Choose one of the videos to reflect on. Use
this form to respond to the prompts as they relate to your chosen video. Connect our chapter reading to your
observation reflection.

Chapter 2 Focus: Teaching Stories

This week’s focus is on the individual paths people take in becoming a teacher. We are asked to examine more deeply the
decision-making process in choosing a career in education. Teachers share “who they are” in the classroom, and we
explore both the challenges and rewards in teaching.

This week’s video cases:

Using Images to Build Speaking, Listening, and Descriptive Language Skills

Engaging in Discussion About the Causes of Earthquakes

Deepening Understanding of the EM Spectrum Through Scientific Discourse

Reflection Questions Your Response

Create a thoughtful response with complete sentences. Provide specific examples
from the video and written commentary to fully answer each reflection question.

Which video did you choose to I chose to reflect on the first of the three videos which was titled, “Using Images to
reflect on? Build Speaking, Listening, and Descriptive Language Skills”

Describe a part of the lesson From my observation, it appears that the toughest part of this lesson was simply
that appeared challenging for getting the children to all focus and cooperate towards the beginning of the lesson.
the teacher. Once they were in the swing of things, it seemed like a class that was prepared and
happy to be participating in the activity. Every time a question was asked by the

Describe a part of the lesson
that appeared exciting or
rewarding for the teacher
and/or students.
Our book shares 5 qualities of being a good teacher (pg. 8). Share evidence of each quality that you noticed from the
video and written teacher description.
Commitment to student learning.
Caring towards students.
teacher, the students were prepared with an answer. The students also appear to be
quite engaged with their study of marine life and the vocabulary words that go along
with it.
The part of the video where I noticed the most enjoyment from the students is around
the 10 minute mark, where the video changes from the group gathering to the
students being dispersed around the room. I feel that this was the most exciting for
the students for multiple reasons. Firstly, as a kid it was always exciting when the
class was allowed to break up and roam free around the room. This allows the
children to meet up with their friends and do the lesson with each other. On top of
that, the students were given recording devices to talk into. This is yet another aspect
that I feel is especially exciting for children at that age, due to the fact that the
recorder is a toy-like object which brings more stimulation to their learning.
I believe that this teachers commitment to her student learning can best be
expressed by the student’s preparedness when it came to this lesson. As I stated
earlier, whenever the teacher had a question for their students, they seemed ready
with an answer immediately. Not only were they answering the questions correctly,
but they were answering in terms of vocabulary words. This is more effort than I see
from most of my peers in college, and I feel that pays solid tribute to her students
understanding of the material.
To teach students at the particular age, I believe that a teacher must already have a
strong sense of compassion for children. 2nd & 3rd grade is a critical time of
development for these kids, not only academically but in all other regards as well. I’d
say that this particular teacher possesses the character necessary for this certain
job. My favorite example of this can be found in the video around 5:00, when one of
her students wishes to make a clarifying statement. After being given permission, the
boy asks his question, but has a little bit of trouble arranging his thoughts completely.
This resulted in some decently long pauses, and the question ended up taking a rather
long time. Instead of rushing the student and trying to get on with the lesson, the
 teacher sat there patiently waiting throughout the entire question. I think it’s small
instances such as this that show if a teacher is really compassionate for their
students.

Conscious about what is going on You can tell that this teacher is conscious of the conditions that her students are
with students. learning under by reading her commentary on the video. In this, she explains how this
class is a combination of 2nd and 3rd graders where 13 of them speak fluent English and
the other 8 are still learning English as a second language. She then explains how
those fluent students serve as role models and inspiration for the others who may be
struggling. After reading this, and then seeing the way in which her class operates, it’s
clear to me that this teacher is understanding of the challenges the come with
learning a second language, and her class is conducted in a way that mitigates some
of those challenges for her students.

Centered and calm in the The calmness and clear-headedness of this teacher can be observed early into the
classroom. video, when the students started getting a little disruptive. By simply speaking in a soft
voice and asking the children nicely, she was able to get their cooperation. I can only
imagine that disruptive 2nd graders are not too rare of an occurrence, and that type
of rowdy behavior may build irritation in a teacher over time. This does not appear to
be the case in this example, as she handled the situation very professionally.

Courageous in terms of sticking
with the planned learning activity.
(We can’t really know about this
teacher over time.
Based on reading the teacher’s commentary, you can tell that this was a lesson that
she committed to. The entire unit took 10-days and consisted of multi-modal learning
techniques. The thoroughness of the plan shows me that this lesson had been deeply
considered by the teacher, and based on the reading it appears that this tactic was
successful.

Our text discusses school climate and culture. We can also apply this to the climate and culture a teacher creates within
their own classroom.

What do you notice about From my observations, this class setting appears to be a very healthy one to learn in.
classroom culture and climate in I noticed a sense of unity and mutual respect from all the students. They all appeared
this teacher’s room? as if they were excited to be there, and not one student appeared to be slacking
during the activity. Also, even though 40% of the class are ESL students, it appeared
 that not one of them was afraid to speak up or answer a question. My favorite part
from this video is after the students were working in groups, I heard one of them
politely say, “Thank you for being my partner.” Small moments like this are huge for
building comradery amongst children and I was happy to see a wholesome example of
it.

Teachers are always learning from each other. Classroom observations are an important part of developing a rich,
reflective, and effective practice.

Share three questions that you
have about teaching as it relates
to this observation.
1. How major is the difference between ESL students at the elementary school
age vs. the high school age?
2. How effective are tools such as recording devices?
3. Do students learn better in stagnant settings (such as the first part of the
video), or more active settings (the second part of the video)?

Share three things you have 1. Working in groups at a young age can instill confidence in individual speaking.
learned from this observation. 2. Visual components can play a massive role in a student’s understanding of a
topic.
3. Engagement is essential for a student’s growth in an academic setting.

Name: Brennan Dillard