FOCUSED PROFICIENCY OBSERVATION
OBSERVER:
APPRENTICE TEACHER:
FOCUS OF OBSERVATION:
DATE OF THE OBSERVATION:
SUBJECT/GRADE LEVEL/CLASS PERIOD:
PAMELA POWELL
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INSTRUCTION AND DELIVERY
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BIOLOGY/9TH/2ND PERIOD
RECORD OF THE OBSERVATION BELOW
The Apprentice Teacher demonstrates the ability to teach the subject and cognitively engage all students in significant
learning. (P1.1, P2.4)
The Apprentice Teacher is able to explain several examples of words that may or not be scientific words that contain the roots the
students are discussing. These additional examples help the students make the connections to the meaning of the root and the science
word containing the root.
The Apprentice Teacher tells a chemistry joke to help student understand more chemistry and to enjoy it (Two Hydrogen are walking
down the street and one Hydrogen stops and exclaims to the other Hydrogen, “Wait! I lost my electron!” and the second Hydrogen
asks, “Are you sure?” The first Hydrogen responds, “Yes….I’m positive!”)
The Apprentice Teacher also tells the students facts that are engaging and related to science. . (Example – There are no poisonous
snakes in Maine.)
The Apprentice Teacher consistently uses real world examples to help explain the science concepts. She brings in connections to The
Lion King (circle of life) and Finding Nemo (whales eating krill).
The Apprentice Teacher explains that she is an omnivore and asks the students what they are based on what they eat.
The Apprentice Teacher communicates clearly and articulately. (P2.3, P3.1, P3.4)
The Agenda for the day is clearly stated on the front board with the date of the day (1. Warm Up #7, 2. Class Questions, 3. Notes #4,
4. Biome Scavenger Hunt).
The Apprentice Teacher shows an example as well as a diagram on the front board to help explain the steps the students are to take to
prepare their study sheet.
The Apprentice Teacher uses questioning and assessment techniques to enhance students’ participation and learning. (P3.1)
The Apprentice Teacher asked questions of student that extended their answers to a more in depth understanding of the topic.
Examples of such questions include, “Why do you think this data deviates from that of an ideal gas?” and “Why is this important (the
fact that Boyles Law requires a constant temperature)?” and “What kind of proportional relationship is this?”
The Apprentice Teacher calls on student by name as well as allowing students to call out answers. This helps spread the participation
out throughout the classroom and promotes students to be attentive and participate.
In addition to asking student to give the meaning of the “ecology root words” she asks student to come up with an example of a word
they know that contains the root. The Apprentice Teacher also reminds students of experiences they have previously had that relates
to words that contain roots they are discussing (“remember the clown fish?”)
The Apprentice Teacher has magnetic words and meanings on the front board that she mixes up and calls a volunteer to the front of
the room to re-organize. The class helps the volunteer at the front of the classroom as they rearrange the roots and their meanings.
The Apprentice Teacher tells the students that they will do this every other day to help student make the connections.
The Apprentice Teacher gives each student cards (pink, blue, yellow, green) and asks the students questions. She uses PowerPoint to
flip through the questions. An example of a question is “Cleaner fish and sharks live together. When cleaner fish clean sharks skin
they get food. The sharks get bacteria and other microorganisms removed from their skin. What type of symbiotic relationship is this
an example of? (pink=parasitism, blue = mutualism, yellow = commensalisms, green = both parasitism and mutualism) The students
then raise their cards. The Apprentice Teacher says, “I see a lot of pink, why do you say parasitism Ronnie?” She continues asking
questions like this for a total of nine questions. When a student is not holding up her cards, the Apprentice Teacher asks, “Are you
going to participate, because I am really interested in knowing what you think.” The next question (which appears to be less difficult
than some of the other questions) the Apprentice Teacher directs to the nonparticipating student and the Apprentice Teacher asks
“why do you think that is the answer?” and the nonparticipating student responds accurately with guidance.
The Apprentice Teacher demonstrates flexibility and responsiveness to students’ needs during instruction. (P2.4)
While circulating and observing students at their desks working on drawing their 3x2x1, the Apprentice Teacher realizes that some of
the students have made a common mistake and he clarifies this at the front of the board. He shows how a horizontal base is
misleading since the horizontal distance of the graph paper is longer than a slant distance. He then asks all of the students who made a
horizontal base to also draw the prism on the overhead constructed by their peer.
From a previous class experience, the Apprentice Teacher redesigned the lesson so that student had more time to accomplish the task.
She pre-assembled a part (the compass – composed of a plastic cup, straw, and magnets) of the lab that was giving the earlier class
difficulty and led the student in the earlier class to not being able to finish their task.
A student requested for the Apprentice Teacher to complete another problem saying, “Try (-log4),” which allowed the Apprentice
Teacher to show how the negative affects the value within the argument of the logarithm. In response to the student’s request, the
Apprentice Teacher said, “That’s cool” which helped to validate the students contribution to the class.
Throughout the lesson, students who did not understand the concepts requested that the Apprentice Teacher complete problems in
multiple ways and the Apprentice Teacher was able to be flexible and come up with alternative examples to help the students
understand.
When the Apprentice Teacher found a student had the exact answer from the homework, she asked the student to come to the front to
demonstrate how he arrived at his answer. This took a bit more time from the class time, but is was good to validate the student’s
work and show the class an answer and how to use their calculator more effectively to reach a more exact answer.
The students completed a test and the average grade was a 72. The Apprentice Teacher designed a lesson to allow the students to do
“test corrections” in groups of 4 or 5. Each group was assigned a page to be “experts” on for the day. The group was then to work
through all of the problems and make sure they understood all of the problems on that page. This provided students the opportunity to
correct misunderstandings that they might have had.
COMMENTS FOR DEBRIEFING:
Continue to ask students questions that extend their understanding. You might use more student names in your questioning like,
“Good point Veronica. James what else might be said about this law?” and “John has given us one characteristics, Noelle can you tell
us another characteristic?” Also consider being aware of where the majority of your answers are coming from and direct questions to
students who have not had an opportunity to participate by saying something like, “Can some one from the back row tell me a
characteristic?” Continue to use praise when students contribute positively to the learning environment. Refrain from non-questions
like, “This is the temperature, right?”
During the discussion, move away more from the front of the classroom and circulate up and down the rows using your proximity to
promote participation and to reduce off task behavior.
If it is important that every student takes notes, then verify they have done so with a quick check after the discussion. You could
stamp their notes, have a notebook check, give a participation grade, etc.
To make sure students are using their class time wisely, you might require that each student complete a minimum amount of work
prior to being dismissed at the bell. Perhaps you tell the students to complete the first four problems under each of the laws prior to
leaving for the day and that you will check at the time of dismissal that they have accomplished the task. In the last minute before the
bell, you could circulate and check which would reduce the desire of the students to pack up and stand before the bell rings. The
accountability might also cut down on the students “needing” to use the bathroom.
At the end of any lesson, you can use time at the end to bring closure for the day – provide last announcements and also state “what
did we learn today?”
Consider sending students to the front of the room to do problems while you circulate asking questions of their peers.
When at the front of the room on the board, be aware of your volume. A few times you turned toward the board to talk and it was
hard to hear you in the back of the room.
It was nice for you to provide the students with a choice of the last activity (either continue with notes or begin homework on currently
discussed content).
The use of PowerPoint gave you the opportunity to go through several questions and the cards gave you immediate information
feedback from the students. Some students simply held up the same color card as their neighbor. Consider giving a count (one, two,
three) and have all students raise the cards at the same time to help prevent the late responders from simply holding up the color of
card held by their neighbor.
The PowerPoint also allowed for you to cover a large amount of material and demonstrate great illustrations to help the students
visualize the food chain and network of ecosystems
You did an excellent job of following up the response with a question directed to a specific student to explain why they responded in
the way they did. This increased accountability for the students to think about the question.
Consider circulating more in the room while you are covering the notes and asking more questions of the students during the notes.
The circulating will help with using proximity to keep the students on task and talking less.
You talk very fast. Consider slowing down and pausing a bit more in your speech. It may feel overwhelming to students to try and
take in all of the information you are giving them so swiftly. The pace at which the class rolls appears to be effective. The students
are too busy completing tasks and responding to questions to do too much off task behavior. You just keep the students working
constantly which is good.
Your organization helps with students understanding. You are very structured in your lesson and you expect students to be organized
in their notebooks and assignments.
The parenthetical notes, after each question, refer to associated Portfolio Proficiencies.
Make one copy for Cooperating Teacher
Make one copy for University Facilitator
Make one copy for UTeach