LTHS Professional Appraisal System

Post-Observation (Formal) Feedback Form

Certified Staff Member    Madeline Morris

Department  LAD     Division Administrator  Karen Raino   

Date of Observation  12.9.22    Class   IPC    Period    4 

LESSON ANALYSIS

I. Brief summary
Maddie greeted students and passed out printed speeches. On the screen, the agenda,
learning intention, and homework were posted. Students would be able to identify
enthusiasm, tone, and volume in a speech and its overall impact on the message by the
end of the lesson. Maddie interacted with students as she passed out the speech.

10:30 - Maddie reviewed that the speeches were in rough draft mode. She mentioned
that they would be able to revise after they practiced vocal inflection. Students were
instructed to put their speech aside. Maddie explained that students would apply vocal
skills to the first 30 seconds of the speech. She explained the homework. “This is a
low-stakes practice. What is that?” Students answered. “I want you to take some risks.”
Maddie took attendance.

10:32 - Maddie reviewed what elements fell under vocal skills. Students were able to
identify the components. Students were to watch a good speech and track volume, tone,
and enthusiasm (also rate and pitch). “Do you remember the speech from yesterday?
Why was it bad?” Students were able to answer with specific feedback.

The classroom was arranged in a herringbone arrangement. Students continued to share

their reflections of the speech from the day before. “Today we’ll watch a good example.
How do his vocal choices help with his message? After you look at the speech, you will
look at yours and annotate for places you will change your volume, etc.”

10:35 - “We will watch this speech. This is a high school student. It is possible to reach
this level if you have confidence.” Maddie explained the activity and how it would work.
Students needed to identify where in the speech the speaker made effective vocal
moves. Maddie arranged students into partners and asked them to introduce
themselves by name. Students complied. She then asked students to read the learning
intention and a definition. “It doesn’t matter how your speech is written; if your delivery
is not intentional, it won’t have impact.” Maddie explained what the oratorical
declamation genre of speech was. The student performing was the Illinois 2020 State
Champion. “Take a look at your chart. Your task is to jot down certain lines in each
category.” As a class, students said the words in the boxes. “What does somber mean?
Passionate? What does that mean? You feel it. Jot down what you hear. I gave you a
transcript of the whole speech so if you miss something, you can use that to help. After
the first chunk, I will stop and do the first one with you.”

10:41 - The video began. Students listened intently. Students immediately started to jot
down moments in the speech on the graphic organizer. Maddie stood at the back,
observing students at work.

10:43 - Maddie paused the video. “I want to go through how I would do this. You are
awesome because you’ve already written stuff down and I bet you have some of the
same things noted.” She identified a moment in which tone was emphasized. Maddie
moved through moments she identified and why. “Should we keep going?” S - Is the
difference between somber and passionate clear? Students put the same moment in
different boxes. They explained their thinking.

10:48 - “We’ll continue to watch the speech. You’ll work with your partner. You only
need to put the things that stand out. Don’t worry if you don’t have enough. Ready?”

10:49 - A student left the room after signing out.

10:51 - Students listened and wrote down intermittently. The video stopped. “Isn’t he
good? I want you to work with your partner. What did you jot down? You can look at the
script.” Students turned and talked. Maddie touched base with the student whose
partner left.

10:53 - “Help me out, what can we add?” A student shared a moment. Another asked,
“Oh, this is the script?” Maddie replied, “I told you you can use that. Anything for
informational?” A male student offered a response. “I have another in informational. A
statistic.” Maddie asked, “Any more in humorous?” A female student responded.
Another female student responded. The student who left returned. Maddie reinforced
their responses. “I love that you talk about volume with tone and are putting that
together.”

10:56 - The video started again. Students watched intently. Maddie circulated.

10:59 - “Work with your partner and I want you to pull out at least one or two examples
for each category.” Students turned and talked and added things to their graphic
organizer.

11:01 - “Wrap up your last thought. Let’s start at the end. Did anyone put down the last
couple of lines?” A student responded. “What made it passionate?” A student left the
room after signing out. “What stood out about tone in the last few lines?” He’s more
serious. He paused between words to make his words more powerful. Students snapped
for his answer. “Was the pausing powerful? Why?” To let the words sink in. “Anything
else?” Was this before COVID? “I will answer all of your questions.” A female student
justified where she would put the last few lines. “Why might it be good to use humor at
the end of the speech?” His tone mirrors his message.

“With your partner, there are a couple of questions I want you to answer. What is the
purpose of the speech? Where do you believe his enthusiasm/tone is the most
effective? Which were louder volumes and which softer volumes? How
entertaining/engaging was this?” Students worked through the questions and Maddie
circulated amongst partners. One student sat, disengaged. All the other students talked
to each other. His partner was also working alone.

“To save time, you can circle the places you thought were the most effective.”

11:10 - “You are doing a good job. Some of you are close to being done.” Students
quieted. “Are any of you thinking of your speech?” A student said, “Essays are boring
and mine is more of an essay.” Maddie said, “Let’s circle back to the first question - What
is the purpose of this speech?” A female student answered. “I love that you blended
those two thoughts together. Alex, can you share your answer?” He did. “Snaps?”
Students snapped. “What was that first part? I really liked that. How did you get to that
message? Did his delivery have anything to do with it? How? The different tones he
used…it’s there…the way he kept us on our toes made us listen to the whole thing. I
think you are trying to say variety. Were you able to check out of his speech? Which of
the four was the most effective?” Somber. Passionate.

11:15 - What were the volumes with each of these tones? Students responded.

“Were you engaged? Do you now know why this is a better speech than yesterday’s? You
have your rough draft in front of you. Take the first ⅓ and annotate for different types of
tones. Think about where your pauses will be. Annotate for vocal delivery. On Monday,
you will present your first 30 seconds, showcasing you can use these different tones.”
Maddie put music back on. A student left to use the washroom and students began to
annotate their speeches. Maddie helped Daniel who thought the whole speech was
serious so only one tone.

11:20 - All students worked. Maddie continued to work with Daniel. The student who
left, returned.

11:21 - “Nice job, Folks. What are you doing on Monday?” Students answered and
packed up. One student asked Maddie a question. Another asked if they would do their
speech in bits. The bell rang and Maddie told students to have a good weekend.
II. Positive Observations
1a. Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy - You have a strong repertoire of pedagogical
moves and you inherently know how to design a lesson that addresses the learning
intention, allows for inquiry and practice, and fits into the broader context of the unit -
in this case, presentation skills, specifically vocal skill.
1d. Designing Coherent Instruction and 1f. Designing Student Assessment - Even though
you feel you are still acclimating to a non-block schedule, your timing and overall
coherence of the lesson was effective. The lesson followed a logical sequence and was a
piece of the longer lesson on vocal inflection and tone. It also was a clear use of
formative assessment, as you showed both weak (the day before) and strong models
and provided opportunity for practice and focused revision (post-lesson).
2a. Creating a Climate of Respect and Rapport - The entire atmosphere in your
classroom is positive from the way you greet students at the beginning and play music
for mood to the way you interact after student responses, affirming their responses.
2b. Establishing a Culture of Learning - “This is a low-stakes practice. What is that?”
Students answered. “I want you to take some risks.” These sentences say it all. You are
providing the expectation that students stretch, take some risks, and accomplish
something that isn’t easy. Additionally, you are providing opportunities for students to
provide feedback to each other, creating learning for both students involved. You used a
strong model to show what they should be shooting for, and students were invested in
learning and applying that learning to their own speeches.
2d. Organizing Physical Space - The herringbone formation was perfect for the content of
this lesson and provided you the space to stand behind them and assess clearly their
level of engagement.
3a. Communicating with Students - The lesson was crystal clear from the learning targets
to the explanations of the tasks and the next steps. Students were not confused.
3b. Questioning and Discussion Techniques - You asked open-ended questions that
caused students to stretch their thinking and the partner work allowed for all students
to engage in accountable talk. All voices were heard.
3c. Engaging Students in Learning - The students were engaged in rigorous thinking the
entire class period. Having them practice the 30 seconds in front of their peers the next
day provided investment in the work. They want to do this well!@
3d. Using Assessment in Instruction - As a part of this unit on delivery, this lesson
showcased the use of models, both strong and weak, practice, and revision.
Furthermore, teacher clarity served as the foundation of it all.

III. Suggestions for improvement:

As we discussed at our meeting, I really don’t think I would change anything about this
lesson. You felt rushed and students would have benefitted from more time with their
own speeches so I agree that shortening the walk-through of the graphic organizer
would carve out more time for the students to work on their own pieces, or not stopping
the video as much would give you more time as well (2c. Managing Classroom
Procedures).     
IV. Other feedback: I appreciate the time you are taking for Speech Team and I
appreciate the positivity in which you approach your work every day. You are an
asset to the division and we couldn’t be happier to have you here!
     

______________
Signature of Certified Staff Member Date

12/16/22
Signature of Division Administrator Date

12/16/22
Signature of Building Administrator Date

The signature of the staff member indicates their awareness of this document and
feedback, not necessarily their agreement.

cc: ∙ Certified Staff Member

● Division Administrator
● Building Administrator
● Human Resources (original)