Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences
Elementary Education Program
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: Bridgette Bryson Date: Nov. 14, 2017
1. To what extent were learning outcomes appropriate and achievable to your students?
The learning outcomes were appropriate and achievable by the students because we
had a lesson prior to this one to discuss three of the five themes of geography. As we
discussed those themes, I asked students for examples from our environment so that
they could make connections with those themes. The short review at the beginning of
the lesson was to activate the students prior knowledge and get their brains ready for
the activity. I also made an anchor chart with the students for the human-environment
interaction to go with the others for a resource that the students could use while
working in their groups.
2. How effective were your instructional strategies? What changes would you make in
your instructional approaches if you taught this lesson again? Why?
Since this lesson evolved more around collaborative learning, my teaching strategy
was going around to the different groups to ask questions about their findings and to
assess their understanding of the content. Before the lesson began, I went over the
directions for each group and even modeled how I would do research, but if I were to
teach this lesson again, I would go over the directions more in depth because 2 of the
6 groups were unsure of what to do. For example, the location group struggled to use
the map to give the relative location of the school in Puerto Rico. After explaining the
directions again and asking probing question, the students knew what to do. Had I
gone more in depth with the directions at the beginning of the lesson, no time would
have been wasted.
3. Evaluate the effectiveness of your oral and written communication with students.
(Consider how well you communicated learning objectives, clarity of directions, use of standard English, quality of
questions and effectiveness of discussion techniques.).
I think my communication with the students was effective. The statements and
questioning I asked when I went to the different groups encouraged students to think
critically about the content. For instance, I went to the group that was trying to explain
the human-environment interaction and they seemed to be stuck. So, I told them that
they are going to have to use some inferencing skills to explain how the humans in
Puerto Rico interact with their environment. That statement turned on the light bulb for
one student and she could tell me how the humans depend on their environment using
the information that she had, which was a list of common items grown in Puerto Rico.
4. Evaluate the level of student engagement in your lesson . (Consider how you presented the
content/skills, the activities and assignments for students, grouping of students, and structure and pacing of the
lesson.)
This was an extension from the previous lesson and it challenged students to apply
their understanding of the content to describe the location, place, and human-
environment interactions in Puerto Rico. Students worked in mixed-ability groups as
geologists to learn more about Puerto Rico. The students were engaged in the lesson
and were seen going to the smartboard, using computers and their notes as resources
to figure out more. For students who seemed unsure of what to do, I first asked them
what they found out about Puerto Rico. Then I challenged the students to use that
information to answer another question related to the concepts. For example, a
student shared that they found that the languages spoken and I asked that student if
they thought that would be a human characteristic or a physical characteristic. Once
that student answered that question, they knew where to write that information on the
poster board.
5. How effectively did you use instructional materials, resources, and/or technology?
I used the smartboard to model how to research, and then put the google image of the
place on the smartboard. Students in the place group used computers to find
information on the human and physical characteristics of Puerto Rico using a student-
friendly search engine, Kidrex.org. Students in the location group were encouraged to
use a laptop to find the absolute location of the school and then to use that information
to find the location on the globe. The computers were used as a means to learn more
about Puerto Rico.
6. To what extent were your assessment strategies effective? What changes would you
make in your assessment approach if you taught this lesson again? Why?
I assessed my students understanding during the lesson while they were working in
their groups. I went to each group to ask about what they had found out and asked
them how it connected to their geography theme. If I were to do this lesson again or
even had more time, I would have the students write about what they learned about
Puerto Rico, connecting it the themes we learned about.
7. To what extent was your feedback to students accurate, substantive, constructive,
specific, and/or timely?
I asked students questions at the beginning of the lesson about what we had learned
during our last lesson. When students responded, I either asked a clarifying question,
asked them to add more, or simply acknowledged their answer. When going around to
the different groups my feedback challenged students to think about how the
information tied into the themes that we talked about.
8. To what extent did the classroom management and environment contribute to student
learning? (Consider your classroom procedures, your use of physical space, and the students conduct.)
To contribute to student learning, I went over the directions and expectations before
students broke into their groups. I encouraged students to plan with their group to get
their work done. The students were free to work where they wanted but had to be on
task. The map on the smartboard encouraged students to engage in talk about the
geography of region.
9. Did you make modifications to your lesson plan during the lesson? If so, what were
they and what motivated these changes?
I did slightly modify my lesson plan at the beginning. Since the weather wasnt in our favor for
the last lesson, we werent able to go outside to connect the concepts to something the students
have personally interacted with, the playground. That experience would have been a scaffold of
sorts to help the students with the collaborative learning activity that they did. To review, I went
over all the terms again and asked for examples to activate students prior understanding. I also
decided to make an anchor chart with the students for human environment interaction to add to
the others that they had previously made for students to reference as they worked in their
groups.
10. Was your Teaching Behavior Focus goal met?
I believe that my teaching behavior focus was met because the students were in
groups, collaborating to apply their understanding of the different themes to find out
more about Puerto Rico.
