Student Teaching Pre-Conference Observation Post Conference Notes

Student:

Lorna Fraser
School:

Observation Dates:

February 20, 2013 10:00 AM

District:

Grade(s):

Kindergarten
Topic:

Salt Spring Elementary School

Analysis By:

SD 64 Gulf Islands

Language Arts & Social Responsibility

Kevin Vine

Supervising Teacher(s):

Sylvia Louwman

Setting
This is the end of the two week practicum immediately preceding Lornas final six week practicum, working in a Kindergarten class. The general impression throughout the school is that Lorna is being very successful. Sylvia, her sponsor, has nothing but praise for her, citing her as very well prepared flexible spontaneous creativesuch a good student teacher Marie Mullen, the schools principal has also shared with me that Lorna is establishing a very good reputation for herself and her abilities as a teacher. The lesson I observed was a multi-faceted Language Arts/Social Responsibility lesson. The session began with story time; included opportunities to participate and contribute; discussion through a puppet; activity; a song; and closure.

Specific Areas of Strength

Lorna has established a very positive rapport with her students. She has obviously been accepted as the teacher by her students, who respond to her as such. Lorna is creating a strong, positive impression with her colleagues. During the story, Lorna engaged the students by asking them anticipatory what next? questions, and to relate and to empathize with the characters. This Reading Teacher skill is an important one, and I encourage Lorna to continue to strive for excellence in this area. The lesson skillfully wove the general areas of Language Arts and Social Responsibility together, with a variety of: media: picture book, puppets activities: listening, speaking, singing, marching The students, through discussion and activity, were able to connect the Social Responsibility concept modelled in the book to their own their own social and emotional behaviour. This articulation indicates both careful and thoughtful planning, and a clear idea of how to implement the plan in an effective and fun way. It should be pointed out that this lesson was carefully and fully prepared for, complete with choice of a picture book, puppet, activity, and the composition and performance of a song! Lornas ability to anticipate and creatively respond to classroom situations is steadily growing! Always try to stay ahead of a problem in your anticipation of it a solution in place before a problem occurs, is definitely preferable to having to deal with it after the fact! (e.g.: having the kids follow me was a great way to deal with the kids fiddling with their stuffed toys; anticipating that the stuffed toys might cause a problem and having them dealt with before they did is an ideal and this will come with experience!) This two-week practicum has been very successful. Well done!

Areas for Further Development

Heres some suggestions and tips: After the story was finished, Lorna continued with a discussion of some of the story elements, using a puppet (Llama?) to speak through. While this was a creative and interesting approach, the puppet spoke with a curious variety of inflections and accents. I encourage Lorna to speak her own voice through the puppet (ha, ha!) Keep practicing your Literacy teaching skills. Youre on the right track to becoming an expert.

Signature
Student:

VIU Student Teacher Observation Notes Lorna Fraser

Page 1 February 20, 2013