College of Arts and Sciences

Education Department
Candidate Assessment of Performance (CAP) Observation Form

Candidate Name: Madeline Fowler Date: 12/3/2021

Observation #: 4 Type (Announced/Unannounced): Unannounced

Observed By: Christopher Rea

1.A.1: Subject Matter Knowledge 2.B.1 Safe Learning Environment

X (#1 Announced, #2 Unannounced) X (#1 Unannounced)
1.A.3: Well Structured Units and
2.E.1 High Expectations
Lessons
Focus Elements: X (#1 Announced, #1 Unannounced) X (#1 Announced)

1.B.2: Adjustments to Practice

4.A.1 Reflective Practice
X (#2 Announced, #2 Unannounced) X
2.A.3: Meeting Diverse Needs
X (#2 Announced)

Date of Lesson:
Time (start/end): Period 7 (1:08-1:55)
12/6/2021
Content Topic/Lesson Objective:

Whole Group Small Group One-on-One Other

X X

Active Evidence Collection occurred during the observation and is synthesized and categorized below.

Element Evidence
1.A.1
Madeline's use of the HABIT approach for writing introductions and her outline for
Subject Matter
evidence gathering and body paragraph organization were effective in getting
Knowledge
students to be productive. Due to her clear explanations of the elements of strong
literary analysis, students were able to begin quickly and with confidence.

Madeline's individual conferences with students revealed her strengths as a writing

teacher: active listening; clear, concise feedback; positive framing of the discussion,
and a clear step-by-step process to follow.
1.A.3 The focus of today's lesson was to guide students as they outlined their Of Mice
 and Men essays and began writing.

As an activator, Madeline had students write in response to two prompts on the

board: 1) what writing skills would you like to focus on next week as you continue
working on your essays? 2) What fun activities would you like to do on my last day
next Friday?

Madeline delivered a ten minute mini-lesson on how to organize an analytical

essay. She emphasized that the goal of the introduction is to go from broad to
specific, with the thesis statement located at the end of the paragraph in 1-2
sentences. She then proceeded to go through the elements of a body paragraph
including topic sentence, evidence, explanation, and concluding sentence. Next,
Well Structured Units and
Madeline asked for volunteers to list the elements of a strong conclusion, which
Lessons
she listed on the outline on the board for students to follow along with.

Madeline distributed a handout laying out the HABIT approach to introductions,

and she modeled for students how to apply this approach to their Of Mice and Men
essay introductions.

Before providing writing workshop time for the remainder of the period, Madeline
clearly stated her priorities for this portion of class, and these priorities were listed
on the board: finding evidence, completing the thesis and outline, working on the
HABIT introduction, and beginning to draft.

The remainder of the class was a writing workshop, during which Madeline met
with individuals to conference on their progress.

1.B.2

Adjustments to In one-on-one conferences, Madeline frequently demonstrated her flexibility

Practice in using language to meet students where they are at. She interchangeably
discussed the "reasoning," "commentary," "analysis," and "explanation" in
her students' writing, aiming to use words that worked for individual
students.

Madeline broke the parts of the task down for individual students in order to
guide them toward success. Madeline frequently reminded individuals that
there are many ways to write effectively, honoring their strengths and
redirecting weaknesses where needed.
2.A.3 Madeline began the class by having students write about the skills they
Meeting Diverse would like to focus on next week as they continue drafting their Of Mice and
Needs Men analytical essays.

While acknowledging that there are multiple paths to success in writing,

Madeline provided a formula for the introduction called HABIT, as well as a
model introduction that follows this organizational method.

In one-on-one conferences Madeline took time to focus on those students

most in need.

2.B.1 During the mini-lesson, numerous students shared their thinking and asked
clarifying questions. Madeline honored each student's contributions and
Safe Learning offered helpful guidance where necessary. Students are clearly comfortable
Environment participating in Madeline's class and willing to take risks.

Acknowledging that writing can be intimidating for students, Madeline offers

encouragement and a reminder that "writing can be subjective," stressing
the point that there are multiple paths to success.

Madeline complimented students routinely throughout the lesson on their

contributions and their intelligence.
2.E.1 Madeline emphasized that students have the option to write more than
High Expectations three body paragraphs if they require more paragraphs to expand their
thinking. While three paragraphs is the expectation, Madeline made it clear
that some arguments may require more to be fully developed, depending on
the thesis.

Madeline was careful to point out that, while the HABIT approach to writing
an introduction is helpful, it is certainly not the only way to write a strong
introduction. More advanced students were given room to be creative and
write according to their strengths.

Madeline encouraged students to move beyond the overused, simplistic

"hooks" of asking the reader a question or providing a dictionary definition of
a key term. Instead, she pointed out that they would be pursuing a more
sophisticated opening, beginning with the expression of a human truth.

Madeline's list of priorities for the writing workshop offered clear

instructions to the whole class, and the list offered all students the
opportunity to work productively for the rest of class, even those students
who were ahead of others in the process.
4.A.1 In our debrief after the lesson, Madeline expressed her enthusiasm about
Reflective Practice the progress made by many students. She also thought about ways to reach
those students who were getting hung up on smaller details. In our
conversation, she shared her desire to continue challenging those students
who were ahead while also being thoughtful about continued support for
those having difficulty.
Candidate Name: Madeline Fowler
Focused Feedback
Reinforcement Area/Action:
(strengths)
Refinement Area/Action:
(areas for improvement)
Date: 12/3/2021
Well structured units and lessons
The lesson was well-designed and engaging for students. Student voices
were honored throughout, beginning with the opening writing activity. There
was a balance of whole group instruction/discussion and one-on-one
conferencing.
High expectations
Madeline's lesson offered all students a way into the task but also kept the
bar set high in terms of rigor and sophistication. Madeline repeatedly
acknowledged the complexity of the writing process, never oversimplifying it
or suggesting that there is any one-size-fits-all approach. All students were
given clear goals to reach for, and the more advanced students were
afforded the freedom to take their own approach, even create an original
topic if they chose.