Observation Report for Ms Leader’s First Grade Class

Observation Report for Ms Leader’s First Grade Class

November 19, 2009

Tara Giboa

This with out a doubt was one of our best lessons and yet after watching it on film I can see a number of areas for improvement. First for the most positive aspects of the lesson: Not only was 99% of the class involved they were thoroughly excited and interest did not wane because the family game was exiting and you can only get better at it with practice – I think this is due to the fact that we put HOURS of preparation into this lesson, when usually we only put two hours max into a lesson. We had rehearsed this activity, this game we created all by ourselves for a long time. It was an activity more student-centered which was really effective. They got to show us how much they knew and it was fun for the entire class to be working as a team together unlike in around the world when Tierra’s feelings could get hurt easily. It was a little hard selecting kids turns so in the future having the class list with us would make this activity run more smoothly.

I think I do a good job modeling the activity and am loud and clear and keep good eye contact with the students. Frankie does a good job keeping an eye out too for hands I don’t see or for when something needs clarification. I think we need to work on communicating better and sharing the job. Also, I feel like this activity could build up to the kids saying full sentences and not just be a focus on vocabulary. Once they have the names for the articles of clothing under their belts (haha) it would have been a good idea for me to applaud the use of full sentences because they are totally capable of it: La madre se lleva la falda morada.”

When it comes to me listening to Frankie, I need to do a better job of it: It often gets confusing when one of us wants to say something and we speak at once. In the future also it would be better to start with the clothes on the poster board instead of on the bears.

Observation Report for Ms Leader’s First Grade Class

December 10, 2009

Tara Gilboa

On the last day of class one of the activities we did included making a giant tree of all the words we know. The activity overall went pretty well: I liked that it engaged all the students and they all wanted to participate, even Tierra was raising her hand and calling out words. While the tree went on for a little longer than we thought it would we still got to prove to them how much they learned which made them all very proud. We even got to take a picture afterwards of the tree with the kids.

The transition from our TPR activities to the tree could have been smoother à If we had the tree drawn out ahead of time and then just could of “revealed” it, that would have been even more exciting with more of a build. I also did not do a very clear job describing the activity, while most of the kids got it I think it took modeling several times for them to really get into it. The only reason for them to understand what we intend to do off the bat is it will help keep their focus and get them pumped. Also, Frankie and I should have had a better system in which one of us could write the word and then the other tape it up.

Observation Report - Food Preferences ESL

Observation Report: Ray and Alexandra

January 20, 2010

Reading: Food Preferences

Overall, excellent work you two! I have so many praises and my only suggestions/comments in this observation report are rather nit-picky. Any advice I have for you guys is just keeping in mind that some of the great techniques you use in the classroom here might not translate well abroad.

The atmosphere in the classroom was great! Everyone was relaxed and therefore open to new experiences. Ray, you opened up the class in a very amiable manner, asking everybody about their weekend etc. Then you transitioned well to homework review when you instructed them to take out their HW and then share with their classmates. I like how you keep a very laid back attitude but maintained control of the class and stayed in a “teaching role” A+.

            I liked how you made T-charts and wrote up the vocabulary on the board by country. That was a great connection! Then everyone got to present and it was very student-centered activity and it mattered, it was interesting, there was a reason to pay attention and to be involved. I also liked how you incorporated the whole audience by having everybody raise their hands for the foods they liked vs. disliked = this kept everyone involved. Ray, you stayed very animated and kept the class flowing by asking each student to present his or her assigned country.

I think this first half of the class certainly established that there are different food preferences which was a fun/creative pre-reading activity. Speaking, listening, and reading were practiced. It was also a good vocabulary review.

Reviewing the first paragraph was key since there were students who were not present yesterday. It would have been nice if there had been a handout with the reading of the key words that were to come up. I attached one to give you an idea of what I mean. This gives the students a concrete place to apply the new phrases they are learning from the reading. All of the explanations of the new words were very clear and the drawings on the boards really helped. Sometimes I think you guys might have been speaking a little fast. “Franks-like hot dogs-right?” This might have gone over some heads. Drawing the clam-shells vs. oysters was great.  With to be turned on/to be turned off = I’m so glad you brought this up with examples! The Alexandra when you were talking about cultural biases you said, “How did I explain this yesterday, do you remember?” but kind of rhetorically - you should have kept going with this! I love overall how you ask students to explain the words to you before you describe the meanings to them.

            It might be helpful to take notes on each student when they are reading so you know which are the tricky sounds they are mispronouncing. Jeronome’s “raw” was basically incomprehensible. I hope tomorrow they get to practice the new words/phrases in a story of their own and answer comprehension questions about the reading. Maybe they can even respond with their own ideas about what is beyond the tip of the iceberg?

            What won’t translate abroad: Speaking so naturally. You will probably have to slow down a tad and keep instructions far simpler, especially if you have a classroom with 40 students and no ESL teachers. Having a vocab sheet with the reading will be useful in a class with multiple students at different levels because it will help those follow along anyways if they are lost in the reading and it will be something extra and concrete for them to work with if they are having trouble taking notes!

Danielle’s Lesson January 14, 2010

Overall you did a really excellent job today. Class was fun and everyone was involved. There were several areas of MIPA that you did exceedingly well and there are a few places where I have some pointers. I felt that at the begging of the class you did a good job setting up motivation. Leading them on with the dates as you did was fantastic! Having them come up to the board and fill in the dates worked really well! Then allowing Susan to go up to the board and write the whole thing was a great progression. You really have such a stronger command of the classroom it is excellent! They are all really engaged in the lesson and the way you went over the date was totally student-centered.

Then singing together was really cute! It really was effective for lowering their affective filter. You use a lot of hand motions, which is also really key so keep that up! The review at the begging of class was great for boosting their confidence overall. Then when you moved to “simon dice” game with objects around the room it may have been better to stick with “chair, door, window, pencil, pen, etc…” Black board was a slightly ambiguous first choice. Another suggestion: You often said “Do you know this?” I think you should try to avoid this question at all costs and instead ask them to tell you what they do know. So instead, “what is this called?”

            The power point acted as a motivation and information stage. It was exiting and colorful and full of pictures and gave great context for the students.

These people are young vs. old:

“We describe them as young”

“We describe them as old”

It might be more useful to teach simpler versions of the verb to be, such as: He is old, She is old, They are old, I am, You are => then build up to “we describe them as”

By the time you got to the slide with the Clown -  “Do you like clowns? Who is your favorite?” you have transitioned to doing just that: She is/He is. It would keep it simpler to have one goal as you are going through the power point to make it interactive. One or two functional chunks you want the students to be responding with.

Really good job writing on the board! They were all repeating the word for suit! They are so much more comfortable speaking in class it is great!

“They are laughing” Here again you have made the switch from “we describe them as” to the verb to be. You overemphasize the F so they can hear the air blowing out which is really great! Keep being loud!

Good example for the word ‘serious’! You really acted it out and its great how animated you are! Keep it up!

What is he doing? What is he wearing? Try to get full sentences out of them.

Fur vs. animal = good distinction

“We describe them as blonde”

The power point went a little long. There was a lot covered… they were getting kind of tired by brunette. It took over 20 minutes! That’s a lot of new information all at once. I try to stick to ten-minute chunks.

Even though their hair is orange we call them red-head = this was just confusing. They look like red heads to me!

When they get quiet you get quiet. Like when asking are they tall or short, that is exactly when you have to get extra loud. You start whispering. Asking the questions at the end was difficult because they only had gone through

“We are not blonde, we are not brunette, we are not red-heads” = this was a good loud statement.

***Having a handout with the Vocab words with pictures would have been great for them to look down on while they were practicing the new words. I’m sure they won’t remember, “suit” tomorrow.

You described “No one” and “neither” on the board. Try to just stick to one! Remember we can only learn “seven” new things at a time!

***It might be a good idea before your lessons to give yourself a limit of new phrases you are allowed to use.

You tended to quiz them right after the long powerpoint and I think they could have used a little extra time to soak in all the new terms and practice them before application, which was describing themselves. Pictionary, flashcards, connect the pictures to the new vocab word sheet... something along those lines!

English Oral Skills Class: Observation Report

Report for  Joycelyn and Luna

You both did a terrific job yesterday I was very impressed! Your activities were student-centered; everyone was involved 24/7 and all the students seemed to enjoy the projects. Even though the first activity was only writing and it was very quiet that was okay! We were all still busy at work. I’m curious though if you intended for the students to copy everything on the projector or just fill in the blanks? In the future it might be a good idea to write on the board the directions as well:

1)    Copy story, fill in the blanks

2)    Share with a friend (For those students who finish faster, they can turn to a partner and practice reading. That way when it comes time to read for the whole class they have already had practice.)

I think the topic of “The Arts” was excellent. I was really happy that you went to the board and kept writing as you talked. While it might feel unnatural or like stopping to jot a word on the board was interrupting your flow it was in fact very helpful! Especially for those students who are visual learners and might only recognize the word only if they see it or for the struggling student in class who needs the visual to help follow along. Writing the list under “The Arts” was great.

Breaking up into two groups for the reading sections was also really key I thought it was a great idea! The small groups were really intimate and gave everyone a chance to work on their pronunciation. Going around in the circle and reading line by line seemed to work fine. One suggestion I would make is instead of asking, “Do you know what rattles are?” you could pose the question, “Who can tell me what a rattle is, who can tell me what a rattle is??” With new vocabulary you often would just ask, “do you know?” when it might be helpful to fits give them the opportunity to describe to you or try to define the word for you, and then if they really have no clue describe for them.

“I think now I’m going to have each one of you say a sentence.” It is totally appropriate to just cut to the chase and say: “Now everyone will read one sentence. We will go around the circle. Let’s start with ___student name___.”

“Do you understand what it is saying?” To do a comprehensive check in about a passage or sentence ask a specific question about the material to see whether or not they understand.

“Who can tell me what life support or premature baby means?” Here is an example of a word I am certain one of the students could of explained to you if given some hints. Perhaps even with out getting up to go to the board but just writing on a piece of paper with in the group:

PRE MATURE

This would help them figure it out without the students having to listen to the definition. After listening to a list of definitions of new words it is less likely for them to stick unless they are contextualized or they have a hand out to practice them or if they come up with the definitions themselves.

            Maybe it would be a good idea to type up the terms in the reading that you know are going to be tricky so as they are going they can try to write their own definitions/ideas about what the words might mean. Every time you stop and ask “do you know what that means?” and they nod their heads whether they know or are just learning the new definition it is less likely to stick unless they immediately do something concrete with it to make the word their own. Leading them with hints so that they tell you is always a good way.

The Pros and Cons was also an excellent activity. Next time when you do the instructions, you could make a T-chart on the board and do an example!

Overall, you both did a really great job. Their reading skills will undoubtedly improve a lot because you have selected meaningful subject material at the appropriate level and in class each student is getting a lot of attention. Keep up the good work!