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: Tyra Kornegay Date:11/14/17

1. To what extent were learning outcomes appropriate and achievable to your students?

My learning outcomes were appropriate and achievable for my students in my lesson. I

was able to see this by hearing students have meaningful conversations about the story
we read (One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Difference) and how the main character
exhibited traits of a successful entrepreneur. I also was able to see the learning outcomes
as achievable by seeing the different collages the students created as well as hearing
their reasoning as to why they chose a certain image or drawing.
2. How effective were your instructional strategies? What changes would you make in
your instructional approaches if you taught this lesson again? Why?
I felt that my instructional strategies were overall effective. I was able to see students
actively listen and engage in conversations about the events that took place in the story
with a peer or multiple peers. I was also able to hear great conversations too. This was
observed as I was walking around and listened to what students were saying. They were
always on task and talking about their opinions and viewpoints on entrepreneurship.

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 believe my communication, both oral and written, were effective for the students. I used a
PowerPoint presentation to help navigate the different talking points and definitions I wanted
the students to focus on throughout the lesson. I also used the presentation to display
requirements and expectations on the assignments and activities the students did that were
reinforced through my verbal communication with the students. this provided two ways that
students could receive instruction as well as refer back to if at any point they were confused
during the lesson.
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.)

I felt that the students were very engaged during my lesson. Because they had a very solid
background knowledge of the topics of business and entrepreneurship, the students were
able to actively engage in conversations with me as the teachers as well with other peers.
They were also able to cite direct examples from the book to back up their claims of how the
character exhibited traits of being a successful entrepreneur. The students really enjoyed
making the art collage as well. A lot of students did not know what a collage was, but after
talking about it and seeing an example, they knew how it should look like. I felt they really
liked how creative and expressive they could make their collage to be.
 5. How effectively did you use instructional materials, resources, and/or technology?
I felt that I used the PowerPoint presentation very effectively. It helped me transition through
the lesson smoothly as well as hit important objectives and main ideas I wanted the students
to discuss and elaborate on. I also felt the magazine was a big success to use too as a
resource. There were a lot of students who did not feel comfortable drawing so instead they
used magazines to find images and ideals. I was very surprised to see the students have
such strong concrete and abstract ideas for their collages.
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?
My assessment strategy of having turn and talks between the students were effective. I say
this was effective because I was able to monitor and drop in on students conversations to
hear if they were making positive connections between the book and entrepreneur traits and
practices and they were. I also was able to give positive affirmations to the students if they
made a great observation or had a great topics of conversations. With the collages, this was
an effective strategy as well because I was able to look at the kinds of images they found or
drew themselves and have them justify to me why the specific image was appropriate for
representing the characters journey of becoming an entrepreneur. The only thing I would
change about the assessment aspect of the lesson, with the collage, is provide more time for
students to really fill the entire paper with ideas and symbols of how the main character had
great entrepreneur-like spirit.
7. To what extent was your feedback to students accurate, substantive, constructive,
specific, and/or timely?
My feedback to the students was very specific and timely because it was direct and
given immediately. This was done during students having their peer to peer
conversations as well as during the students collage creation. My comments were
either expounding on what the student already said or commented on or helped
students think deeper about the topic of the lesson by having them use what they
know.
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.)
For my classroom management, I used the PowerPoint presentation to help me move
through the lesson with the students in a timely manner. I also gave the students lots
of verbal time warnings to make sure they were aware of the working condition they
needed to be in to finish their activity.
9. Did you make modifications to your lesson plan during the lesson? If so, what were
they and what motivated these changes?
I pretty much kept everything in my lesson plan the same. I stuck to the plan and made
sure to talk with the students about the super important aspects of the lesson.
10. Was your Teaching Behavior Focus goal met?
I felt that I had multiple opportunities where students engaged in deeper thinking by
having conversations about the events in the story, what it means to be a successful
entrepreneur, and discussing appropriate images that were to be used for their
collage. I also made sure to include lots of questions, directed to the students, in my
lessons. This was not only just for students to stay engaged in the lesson but also to
have them expound on their own knowledge and have them justify it through citing
evidences from the book. I felt very proud of myself!