UCLA Center X Teacher Education Program

MS/SS Observation Form

Novice/Apprentice/Resident Teacher Date

Observer School/Class

TPE 1: Pedagogical Skills Observer Commentary
Elementary Core Practices
Opening move
Questioning and responding
Secondary Core Practices
Engaging students in rigorous content
High Level Tasks, Concept Maps
Engaging students in discourse
Learning Cycle ?s, Think-Pair-Share
Providing Equitable Access to Content
Form. Assessment, Word Bank/Wall
Developing a positive classroom ecology
Opening/Closing Rout, Comm Circle

TPE 2: Monitoring Student Learning
Checking for understanding
Asking & answering relevant questions
Other
TPE 3: Use of Assessments
Use of criteria/rubric
Taking formal assessment
Completing projects
Student presentations
Other
TPE 4: Making Content Accessible
Accessing prior knowledge
Referencing lived experiences
Scaffolding
Other
TPE 5: Student Engagement
Student participation
Culturally relevant materials
Other
TPE 6: Developmentally Appropriate
Differentiation
Use of media & technology
Other
TPE 7: Teaching English Learners
SDAIE methodology
Academic vocabulary
Other
TPE 8: Learning About Students
Community building activities
Other
TPE 9: Instructional Planning
Lesson plans
Agenda communicated to students
Other
TPE 10: Instructional Time
Starting and ending class
Transitions
Other
TPE 11: Social Environment
Inviting and clean; safe
Student work displayed
Caring environment
Other
TPE 12: Professional, Legal, & Ethical
Classroom management
Teacher speech: clear, pace, warm, tone

TPE 13: Professional Growth
TEP portfolio
Daily reflections

Observation Focus:


Sarah Patterson May 19, 2014

Andrea C. Rodriguez-Scheel Thomas Edison Elementary; Kindergarten: Mr. Salazar


Observations/Commentary/Scripting
The lesson begins with students sitting on the rug and Sarah standing
in front of the class. As students settle into their squares on the rug,
Sarah brings up pictures of several birds to display on the Smart
Board. Once the class is ready, Sarah asks the class if they remember
last Thursday, and what Sarah said she was going to do over the
weekend. One student raises his hand and says Birds! and Sarah
says yes, and tells them that they had given her a lot of homework
from their science lesson. Students seem very excited; many raise
their hands and ask questions/make comments about birds that can fly
and cant fly, and ask about whether all birds have wings (some of the
visuals have pictures of birds with wings that are tucked in, and some
students assumed that they didnt have wings).

Sarah builds off of Vartans comment that not all birds can fly, and
switches the display to show four birds that do not fly. One student
sees a kiwi, and names this. Sarah asks him where he learned about a
kiwi, and he mentions his new encyclopedia that he got a TJ Maxx.
He continues to share his knowledge of the kiwi, incorporating the
word measurement a concept that Sarah had gone over with her
math group recently.

The next slide that Sarah puts up is on bird brains (one of the students
had asked about bird brains last Thursday). Sarah tells the class that
birds are very smart, despite the fact that sometimes we call people
bird brains when we think they are being silly. Sarah also tells the
class that birds have feelings.

The next slide shows a drawing of a bird with a heart in his mouth,
and Sarah playfully asks one of the students if that was the kind of
heart he was asking about. The class laughs and says no.
Unfortunately, there are some technological difficulties, so Sarah is
not able to show her slide on actual bird hearts, so she tells the class
that she will bring it in tomorrow.

The next slide focuses on bird livers (another question that the
students had asked about), and Sarah tells the class that the liver helps
keep the inside of the bird healthy and clean. A student raises their
hand and comments that when they grow up, they want to be a
scientist.

The next slide is labeled Arctic and has pictures of puffins on it.
Several students shout out Arctic! and Sarah reminds the class that
they were talking about where animals live on Thursday. A few
students comment/ask questions about where puffins play, and also
ask about whether they are warm blooded or cold blooded.

The next slide is on the rainforest, and shows an image of a toucan.

Questions/Suggestions






TPE 4: Accessing prior
knowledge



TPE 5: Student
engagement; student
participation









This was awesome! I love
hearing how excited he
was! I also love that he
connected what he was
learning in math to this




TPE 6: Developmentally
appropriate. I thought you
explained this figure of
speech well, as well as why
it is incorrect.



TPE 11: Social
environment
I like that it seems like
you are having fun and
enjoying teaching! It
speaks to the repertoire
that you have built with
the class.






Academic/scientific
identity
One student comments that the toucan is in the movie Rio. Sarah smiles and says that she hasnt seen that
movie yet.

The next slide is on the desert, and Sarah asks the students what they know about the desert. One student
comments that it is hot and it never snows there.

The next slide is on the wetlands. Sarah asks them to raise their hand if they have ever heard of wetlands.
Sarah references swamps, and discusses the bird that is up on the Smart Board, and mentions the long
legs on the bird that helps it walk through the mud.

The next slide is on the ocean, and Sarah tells the class that she saw one of the birds that is displayed on
the slide yesterday. She asks the class if they know what it is, and tells them that it starts with a P
(pelican). Sarah tells the class that she saw the bird dive into the ocean and catch a fish.

The next slide shows different types of nests. Sarah discusses how students might not see the next in the
top left corner because it tends to be built in the desert.

The next slide is on birds and dinosaurs. Sarah tells the class that some people think birds and dinosaurs
are related, and points out similarities in their feet. Sarah shares one idea for why birds have wings, which
is that some people think dinosaurs grew shorter legs, and longer arms, which turned into wings, and then
became birds.

Next, Sarah shows a video on why birds fly. She gently reminds the class that they should be sitting like
students, and when everyone is ready, she hits play. Sarah pauses the video at various points to build off
of points in the video. Sarah also parallels air resistance to water resistance that kids might experience
when they are swimming to try to help them understand how birds fly.

At the end of the video, one student asks if the person who made the video was a scientist. Sarah explains
that the person was an artist, who both narrated and drew the pictures. Sarah also says that she thinks he
might have asked a scientist about birds since he knew a lot. Sarah also tells the class that she has a book
to read to them on what makes birds special, but she is going to have to save it and share it with them next
time, because it is time for free choice. Sarah dismisses students from the carpet, and they go to various
centers in the room.

Debrief:
During our debrief, I commended Sarah on her commitment to responding to student interest and
questions. She put in a lot of time learning about birds and putting the information into a beautiful
presentation for the class! Sarah told me that she knows that not everything that she covered was within
the scope of kindergarten standards, but she really wanted to honor the W part of the KWL chart they had
created the previous week. I suggested that when situations like this come up, where Sarah feels pressure
to deliver a large amount of content in a short period of time, that she lets the class vote of one or two
items in the W section of the chart that they are most interested in, which would allow her to go deeper
and (hopefully) help her students retain more information. We also talked about the importance of
communicating lesson objectives/goals to students, as well as assessing what students have learned. In
this particular lesson, Sarah didnt have time to give students opportunities to engage with one another, as
she felt a bit rushed to cover all of her content, and I suggested that a quick TPS she can do at the end
would be to turn and tell their partner what they thought was the most interesting thing they learned about
birds during the lesson. Based on my observations, I feel comfortable saying that I think Sarah has done
well in this placement, and I really appreciate the ongoing reflection she brings to her teaching practice,
as well as her commitment to her students. Good job, Sarah! Keep up the good work!

Questions/Suggestions