Class: ELA
Teacher:
Observation: Selective Verbatim- Area of focus: Teacher questions and
response to student responses.
List of teacher questions:
● What was the theme?
● Let’s start with Helen and Tom. They have similar fears, right?
● What do you think Helen and Tom are afraid of?
● What is Tom afraid of?
● What else is he afraid of?
● What do we know about Tom? What does he look like in the book?
(one student answers, then another, but teacher starts talking over
the student still answering to reinforce what the first student said)
● So why are they afraid of him?
● Why does he have more power?
● Why are the people afraid of Tom Robinson?
● What would the fear be?
● What would that do to the social system in Maycomb county?
● What are they afraid of?
● Who else is afraid of change?
● What is his fear for his children?
● What is the usual disease of Maycomb county?
List of responses to student responses:
● Fear. Good. There are lots of people in this book who have fear.
● Mom. Good. (students listing other names)
● Good. Helen. Tom
● Good. So persecution….
● Good (response to Tom fear)
● He’s a cripple. He’s a crippled black man (response to student
response using the same verbiage)
● Good, because it’s a sin to kill a….
● Good. That a black man could humiliate a while man….
● Change.
● Good. he wants society to be changed.
● Good. He says there’s a disease.
● Racism. Good.
● He doesn’t want his children to be racist.
Reflection for ELA Teacher:
Thank you Ms. _______ for allowing me to observe your class today.
Your students are very engaged and you keep the discussion lively by
asking a great deal of questions about the text. This ensures that the
students have read the book and can actively participate in class
discussion. Keeping the conversation lively and engaged can prevent
students from “zoning out” and getting into off-task behavior. Asking them
questions throughout the lesson is a great way to keep the energy high in
class, and you can work your way up the Bloom’s ladder by starting with
recall questions and work your way into those deeper, analytical/application
questions to ensure they are thinking about ideas and themes and not just
fictional people, places, or events.
My main suggestion would be how students answer questions in
class, and how you give immediate feedback when they do so. First,
students in class were randomly answering questions a few at a time, but
as the conversation continued, more were answering questions and it
became a bit confusing on who you were taking answers from. Perhaps
you can reinforce hand-raising and be selective and thorough with waiting
for a full answer. Also, while your responses are reinforcing that they have
answered the questions correctly, I would love to see your responses be a
bit more diverse than simply saying “good” whenever they answer in a way
that you are pleased with. This will ensure that they can feel a level of
confidence in their responses.
Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to sit in your class
today. I look forward to visiting again soon!