An Example Of Classroom Observation

Classroom Observation As teachers, we would never consider teaching an entire unit to our students without frequently checking on their understanding, monitoring their progress, providing additional support, and finally evaluating their performance. It is important to hold ourselves to the same level of accountability. Leadership teams are responsible and accountable for the progress that the students make under their supervision and care. Administration teams must carefully monitor the progress of their teachers to ensure professional growth and ultimately student achievement. There are many methods that can be used to effectively and reliably measure the performance of teachers in a nonthreatening and growth encouraging way. …show more content…
The curricular objective being taught was comparing units of measure in standard and metric form. The teacher, Kristen Franz, was using a hands-on approach to teaching the lesson, so the students could more accurately visualize the comparison. No safety issues were noted during the observation. When considering Julie Jackson’s list for most frequently used effective action steps, it was easy to see some very positive instructional strategies being used in the classroom and also one or two growth …show more content…
The most uncomfortable aspect of the feedback session was having it recorded. I need to practice being videotaped to increase my own comfort level in front of the camera. My body language conveyed that I was nervous. I need to talk less with my hands and monitor my eye contact. While having the above notes available for our discussion was very productive, I need to rely on them less and provide more one-on-one communication. Because of the areas I was looking at, it was easy to start the feedback with a celebration. I was able to tell Kristen that she used very effective methods for keeping her student in question focussed and on-task. I was able to point out all of her successes, and it felt very genuine. Kristen was able to ask questions and think about some of the things that she is doing very well in the classroom. When it came time to make recommendations, Kristen was excited to have a growth area. I told her that she might want to allow for opportunities to have the students show-what-they-know, so that she has a better pulse on the students’ comprehension of the task. She agreed and together we brainstormed and decided that using a quick question-and-check on the whiteboards could be effective and time friendly. Kristen would also like to use start using an exit-ticket strategy for the students when the lesson is finished. She asked if I would come back next week to check on the