Exemplary Teacher Observation Reflection

Teacher: Manar Karaja Exemplary teacher: Susanne Smith

School: East Side Elementary Grade: First

Lesson Topic: Animal groups Date: 5/11/2017

The lesson was for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Whole group: Ms. Smith started the lesson with reviewing the six groups of animals and their
characteristics. She had a large notepad as the visual support. The notepad was available to students to
refer to throughout the lesson.

Small cooperative learning group: students were sent to their tables. Each table had a Ziploc bag with
six unfamiliar animals. The task was to decide the group which each animal belonged to. Ms. Smith was
walking around listening to students discussions, asking questions, and answering questions as needed.
The large visual was very helpful as the students constantly referred to it. One student did his sorting
while standing in front of the visual. Ms. Smith asked questions, such as, how did you do your
grouping?, How did you know that this is a bird?, How do we differentiate between reptiles and
amphibians?

Whole group: Ms. Smith gave a one minute warning to indicate the end of the small group work, gave
the direction to clean up, counted from 10 -1. By the time Ms. Smith counted to 1, all the students had
cleaned up, sat on the rug, and were quiet. She used the Ladybug camera to show her thinking process
on how to sort animal pictures into their groups. She was asking the students questions to elicit answers
and did not give the answers directly. She then read a nonfiction book about eggs called Chickens are
not the Only Ones by Ruth Heller. During reading she asked questions; students raised their hands and
sat properly. Ms. Smith made a connection between the book she read and a previously made project.
She talked about the rule for animals that lay eggs but also introduced exceptions to the rule. When
done reading, Ms. Smith gave the students a chance to ask questions, make connections, or share
information that is related to the topic. Ms. Smith then introduced the next project Create a model of
your own animal by explaining what they are doing and why. The project goes like this: you discovered
a new species and you will make a model of this animal. She shared a sheet (via ladybug) to show steps
of the project. She went over the sheet step by step emphasizing creating a name for the new species
and drawing a picture of it. When the students became too talkative, she did an exercise of clap once,
clap twice, hands on your knees. This exercise helped in managing students behavior and kept them
focused. She then sent the students to their seats to work on their project.

Small group: Although it was an individual assignment, the students were allowed to talk to each other.
Ms. Smith set a timer and was giving them warnings on how much time was left. She walked around
checking on students, supporting, asking questions, answering questions, and listening to discussions
and comments. When time was up, students went back to the rug area.
Whole group: Ms. Smith reviewed the meaning of characteristics as this was one of the vocabulary
words the students struggled with when they were working on their sheet. Ms. Smith explained that the
next step is to build a model of the animal they created. She explained the type of material available for
them and the locations. Some of the material was inside the classroom and other materials were in
boxes outside the classroom.

Small group (20 minutes): Students went around collecting material. Material available was: plastic
plates of different textures and sizes, water bottles, egg cartons, caps, straws, foil, plastic wrap,
feathers, pipe cleaners, eyes, toothpicks, cotton balls, colored tissue paper, and tape. When students
asked Ms. Smith on how to create certain things she would say This is your challenge. Think of a way.
She gave warnings to let the students know how much time was left.

Whole group: Ms. Smith asked questions about the animals they created. She said that they will have
more discussion the next day.

End of Lesson

What went well? What could be tweaked/improved?

The lesson carried out by Ms. Smith meets the 5 E learning cycle

Engage: all students were engaged in the activities (classifying the animals into their animal
groups and making a model of a new creature). Students were discussing the topic together,
asking questions, making comments, and answering questions by teacher or peers. Having the
visual (groups of animals and characteristics) was beneficial for some students which is a form of
differentiation. When Ms. Smith was reading the non-fiction book, all students were listening,
answering questions, and making connections.
Explore: this was noted during the reading of the non-fiction book and during creating the
model of the new creature discovered. During the reading activity of the book Chickens are not
the Only Ones by Ruth Heller, Ms. Smith asked questions; students raised their hands and sat
properly. Ms. Smith made a connection between the book she read and a previously made
project. She talked about the rule for animals that lay eggs but also introduced exceptions to the
rule. When done reading, Ms. Smith gave the students a chance to ask questions, make
connections, or share information that is related to the topic. Another example is the worksheet
activity in which the students thought of a new creature, named it, drew a picture, named group
of animals it belonged to, and wrote characteristics of that creature as evident of its animal
group. Through this activity, students needed their prior knowledge, had to make decisions,
investigate, and test their knowledge.
Explain: this was observed in the activity of classifying the unfamiliar animals into their animal
groups. Ms. Smith asked questions, such as, how did you do your grouping?, How did you
know that this is a bird?, How do we differentiate between reptiles and amphibians? Another
activity is the worksheet. Ms. Smith reviewed the meaning of characteristics as this was one of
the vocabulary words the students struggled with when they were working on their sheet.
Extend: this was noted in creating the model of a new animal and in classifying the unfamiliar
animals into their animal group.
 Evaluate: this was noted in the following activities: classifying unfamiliar animals into their
animal category, the work sheet, and creating the model of a new creature.

What could be improved?:

Ms. Smith gave the sheet to the students to create their own animals and immediately moved to
having the students create the animals. I think students needed more time to work on their
creation and maybe given another chance to think about it and review it before creating it.
Moreover, I think the teacher should have reviewed the sheets beforehand to ensure that the
students had no mistakes and address any misconceptions before building the model.
Ms. Smith shared an empty worksheet with the students. I think having a worksheet with
answers could provide more visual support of what is expected. Having the answers on the
smart board as a reference could help with the visual learners or learners with special needs.

How well were the lessons student performance objectives attained?

The students showed good knowledge of the groups of animals and their characteristics as they worked
in small groups to sort the pictures, as they worked individually on the worksheet, as they created the
model, or as they listened to the reading of the non-fiction book. They used the following skills:
comparing and contrasting, asking questions, answering questions of peers and teacher, finding
resources (looking at the visual created by teacher), and working cooperatively with others.

Other reflections about the lesson.

The lesson was one hour and 20 minutes long, yet the students were fully engaged.
Ms. Smith had clear behavior expectations and good strategies for class management which
made the lesson run smoothly with minimal interruption or wasted learning time.
Ms. Smith asked many questions of How and why. When students asked Ms. Smith on how
to create certain things she would say This is your challenge. Think of a way.