Elementary Education Program

Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

Formal Observation Reflection

Directions: Complete the reflection questions and submit your response to your observer prior to
having a post-conference to discuss the observation. If a conference is held immediately after the
observation, you will submit your responses to the observer the following day via email.

Name: Kailee Storie, Hamdi Hashi and Mary Horton Date: November 23, 2021

1. How effective were your instructional strategies? What changes would you make in your
instructional approaches if you taught this lesson again? Why?
Our instructional strategies worked regarding our observed 2nd grade class. Our mentor
teacher has this saying that allows the students to focus on the speaker and we used it
whenever the students were off task. Our mentor teacher says, “class, class, class” and the
students say, “yes, yes, yes” in response. We split the students up into small groups and each
of us took a small group to assist them with the worksheet we provided. Some changes that
we could have made were to have better classroom management. While students were
presenting their findings, other students did not do their best job observing. If we were to
complete this lesson again, we would make sure to teach the importance of respect and how it
plays a role in paying attention to others while they are speaking.

2. Compare how students actually responded to the lesson verses the way you anticipated they would
respond. Explain how you scaffolded or extended students’ thinking.
Prior to the lesson, we predicted that the students would struggle with the given
vocabulary. The students seemed unaware of the term’s “continent” and “population,” so we
helped elaborate on the student’s prior knowledge. For example, one student claimed that
China was a continent, but we clarified that China is a country within the continent Asia. We
scaffold the assignment by making worksheets with fill in the blanks and written questions.
We also worked in the groups with the students to help with the research.

3. Describe how you assessed whether your students achieved the objective of the lesson. Was this
effective? If not, what would you change about your assessment?
To assess our students, we asked for them as a group, to present their findings to the class.
This tactic was effective because it showed us that the students took time to research their
given continent, increasing their understanding of the three continents discussed.

4. How effectively did you motivate your students, set and enforce expectations, and handle
transitions? Would you change anything and if so, why?
We effectively engaged and motivated our students by giving them room to explore their
clothing and their continent, while also conducting meaningful research. Students were able
to work in groups to look up facts about their continents, also motivating them. We enforced
expectations by going over what the students had to complete on the worksheets. We used the
same transition that our mentor teacher uses, as mentioned in Question #1.
 Elementary Education Program
Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

5. Did you make modifications to your lesson plan during the lesson? If so, what were they and what
motivated these changes?
We did not make any modifications to our lesson plan during the lesson.

6. How did you meet your Teaching Behavior Focus? If you did not meet it, what would help you to
meet it next time?
We focused primarily on Promoting Collaboration while Attending to Equity.
Students were put in groups to collaborate and research their given continent. We
recognize that every student has different learning needs, and we directly with students to
ensure that their needs were met. We used positive reinforcement to ensure that the
students stayed motivated and engaged during the lesson.