Description of the Class

My class is a fourth-grade class at Pathways Elementary in Ormond Beach, Florida. The class

consists of eleven girls and ten boys around the age of ten. The overall ability level of the class is

very mixed; there are different ability groups: low, average, and high, based off of different

subject areas and skills. Each group meets a different number of times each week based on their

needs. My class consists of one ELL student, Nicole, who is classified as Asian and her first

language is Chinese. I have one ESE student, Tucker, who receives support during ELA and

math. He leaves to another room during ELA and a facilitator comes in to work with him on

math during that time. None of my students have allergies or take medication. Three students

have glasses: Ar’niyah, Xavier, and Carmen. None of my students have hearing aids.

Assessment C- Self

Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy- DEVELOPING

I knew the content well in that I could describe what a gist statement is and why they are

important but was not able to go into more detail or elaborate as much as I would like to. I used

terms or phrases that the students might have been familiar with to help me explain what a gist is

and tried to connect it to what they have learned previously. By explaining gist statements using

the 5 W’s, they should have already known what the 5 W’s are and been able to identify them in

a text.

Designing Coherent Instruction- DEVELOPING

I tried to use an activity that would engage the students more by including examples from things

they are familiar with or might enjoy. The order of instruction was good, other than the video not

working when it should have and went in a logical order. The classroom is already set up into
groups, so I like to allow them to work together on certain tasks that they could benefit from

talking or discussing with their table.

Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport- DEVELOPING

My rapport with the students improves every day and with this being the first lesson I taught to

the class, it was difficult for me to find those connections so quickly. I am always respectful

towards the students and let them know that they need to be respectful towards me as well, and

their classmates. With this lesson, I tried to make sure that I was smiling and relaxing more and

the students were able to see that and enjoyed me messing around or joking with them.

Managing Classroom Procedures- NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

There were not many transitions or materials that were used during this lesson; however, I did

utilize classroom jobs when appropriate and made sure students knew what they were doing. I

was still learning classroom procedures and when they can/can’t go to the bathroom or get water.

Managing Student Behavior- NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

With this particular lesson, managing student behavior was pretty much nonexistent. The class is

fairly well-behaved to begin with and does not have too many behavior issues, but when there

are, my teacher tends to jump in and take care of it before I get the chance. Students were talking

and arguing about something and my CT has to talk to them multiple times before they stop.

Communicating with Students- NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

While I did explain to them what they were going to do at all times, I could have been more

direct with my instructions and made sure they understood before moving on. I thought I did a

good job explaining the task and what they were to do, but my CT had to ask for clarification on

some of it, which communicated to me that I should have explained it better.

Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques- NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

My questioning has been a definite struggle for a while now. I find it so hard to think about

higher-order questions and how to relate them back to the lesson. Coming up with the questions

is pretty hard, but I do enjoy asking them to see what the students really understood or see how

they can show me what they learned. I do plan a good amount of comprehension questions and

try to make sure I do not forget to ask them.

Engaging Students in Learning- DEVELOPING

I do a good job planning engaging lessons and thinking about what activities they would enjoy

doing to help them learn better. I used Frozen as the example when writing my gist that way they

would pay attention and know what movie I was talking about. I also had them write on their

desks with dry-erase boards and they always enjoy doing that.

Using Assessment in Instruction-NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

I need more variation in my assessment and need to keep in mind the best ways to assess the

students that will give me the best data. My assessments are pretty basic and mostly consist of

simple activities done throughout the lesson that will show me whether or not they understood

the content being taught; however, I could be more creative in the types of assessment I give. For

this lesson in particular, the assessment was not as strong because I did not have a written sample

of their gist statements and went mostly by my observation while they were writing on their

desks.

Showing Professonialism- DEVELOPING

I always dress nicely and appropriately and make sure I am acting professional within the school

at all times. I treat my CT with respect and always make decisions that will benefit my students

the most.
Assessment C- Peers

My scores were pretty balanced between those that scored me. My lowest scores were given to

me in managing classroom behavior/procedures, communicating with students, assessment, and

questioning techniques. Two classmates rated me as “needs improvement” in classroom

management/procedure and communicating with students, two rated me as “need improvement”

in questioning techniques, and only one rated me as “needs improvement” in assessment. I think

these scores are mostly due to the fact that my video showed my CT taking over a bit towards the

end and handling the classroom management; however, I do believe that my management was

good throughout the rest of the video. My highest scores were given to me in demonstrating

knowledge of content and pedagogy and creating an environment of respect and rapport, which I

was rated as proficient. I believe this is due to how I interact with the kids and try to

relate/connect with them, specifically while I was telling one of my students that she had to have

seen Frozen, because I was being friendly with her.

Commendations and Recommendations

Comments

“You seemed more comfortable and confident in this class compared to videos from last

semester.”

“Feedback to Fatima was good! All feedback was good, actually.”

“Love writing on the desks!”

Recommendations

“Work on saying umm and alright.”

“Fairly lower level questions, but a good amount!”

“Maybe provide a small handout on Frozen for student reference.”

I think my classmates were very thorough in my evaluations and gave me some really great

feedback. I do think all of these commendations and recommendations are valid because my

classmates saw things in my lesson that I may not have noticed. I really enjoyed reading their

comments and recommendations and would try to implement all of them in my classroom. I do

say “umm” and “okay?” a lot and I have already been told this many time, but it is so difficult

for me to try and refrain from saying it. Questioning is something I am definitely working on

getting better at and improving in difficulty and relevance. I believe all of their comments and

feedback is valid because they are rating me based off of what they saw and what they noticed I

did well or could have improved with.

Reflection

1. Were your teaching objectives appropriate? Did you meet your objectives? How do

you know?

I do believe that my teaching objective was appropriate to the lesson and requirements

were met. The standard was main idea and summarizing the text and I decided to teach

the students how to create gist statements because they really summarize the main idea of

a text without adding too any details. I chose this standard and objective because the

students are often tested on picking a sentence that summarizing a text. I know that my

objective was met by observing their work as they were creating their gists and they all

understood the concept of a gist statement and how they are ten words or less.

2. Were your teaching strategies effective or ineffective? Explain.

 The strategies I used were mostly effective because I think I used strategies that engaged

the students and tried to use examples that interested them, which helped overall with

their understanding of summarizing with gists. The way my strategies were used could

use some improvement because I had some students who were still confused during the

writing portion and had to go around and help many of them/explain what they were

supposed to be doing.

3. Were your assessment strategies effective or ineffective? Explain.

I would say ineffective only because there really was not an adequate assessment that

could have been collected that would tell me how well they understood the lesson. I did

collect their graphic organizers but did not have any written form of their gist statements

that I could have gone over and analyzed.

4. How did you differentiate your lesson for diverse learners? Were the differentiation

strategies effective? Explain.

I allowed them to work with their table member or individually depending on whether

they wanted to discuss ideas or not and I allowed them to write their gist statements on

their desks with dry-erase marker. I do think allowing them to work individually or with

their group was effective because I could tell that some of the students who were

struggling enjoyed being able to discuss their ideas with their team before creating their

gist statements. By allowing them to write on their desks with the dry-erase marker, they

were more engaged in the activity and motivated to complete the task.

5. Were your questions high quality and higher-order? Explain. How did you facilitate

students’ responses?
 I do not think I had very many higher-order questions during this lesson. Most of the

questions were simple comprehension questions; however, I did ask them why gist

statements would be important for summarizing. Asking them to think about the

importance of gist statements required them to think about how gist statements and

summaries and different and how smaller summaries would be used/why they would be

used. I like to call on students who are not raising their hands just to see their thought

process and my CT always says “it is okay to admit that you don’t know, but it’s not

okay to not try”, which I love because it communicates to the students that they should

always be trying and giving their best, even if they do not know the answer. I try to make

sure I call on students equally and not put too much attention on the same students.

6. Explain the impact your teaching strategies had on student learning. What evidence

proves the impact on student learning?

I think the students listened very well during the lesson and were able to identify what a

gist statement is and when they should be used/why they are important. I tried to make

sure I really explained how a gist statement should look and I can tell that they listened

and remembered because whenever I ask them to summarize or write a summary, they

always ask me if they should write a paragraph summary or a gist statement. They are

able to recognize the difference between the two and know that a gist statement is shorter.

7. How will you reteach any part of this lesson, if needed?

If I were to re-teach the lesson, I would focus on being more specific and explicit in the

instruction and giving them more time to practice. I believe their gist statements were

very good from it only being the first lesson; however, to make them better, I would go
 into more detail about what information to look at and how to form the gist statements,

specifically, how to find the 5 W’s.

8. How would you change your lesson if you were to teach it again?

I would have given Frozen as my example and walked them through the process of

creating the gist statements (I do), then I would have them walk me through finding the

information for another example (we do), and I would have ended by having them work

independently to create their own gist statements about the book. I would have kept my

idea of allowing them to write on their desks with dry-erase marker but would have had

them record their final gist statements on the paper that I collected that way I would have

had their written samples.

Summary

I enjoyed the experience of the microteach critique and being able to see how my classmates

responded to my lesson, especially since I generally believe my lessons always go terribly.

However, being able to re-watch my lesson and see how my classmates rated me, I was able to

see specific area of my lesson that went well and could have gone better. I think I do well with

planning lessons and attempting to make them more engaging for the students, but sometimes

actually teaching the lessons goes differently; either because of time management, things go

differently than expected, or I forget to do parts of the lesson. I do think that my teaching has

gotten a lot better over time and I am more comfortable teaching and being flexible than I used to

be. Aside from classroom management (PGP), I think the Danielson components that I need to

focus on most would be assessment and questioning. I try to plan different types of assessment to
make sure that they are not always the same, but sometimes the assessments I plan are not

assessments that can provide me data or information I need to move on. With questioning, I think

I am good at asking questions for comprehension, but I struggle more when it comes to creating

higher-order questions that support the lesson. In order to improve, I can be more careful during

my planning and make sure I am using assessments that will give me adequate information and

data and plan plenty of questioning throughout the lesson. I will also ask my peers or CT for any

ideas on assessment or questioning techniques that could improve my performance.