Teacher Observation Essay

a. Did you (or the teacher you observed) achieve the intended lesson objectives? The teacher that I observed was Mrs. Cynthia Carney. She is the kindergarten teacher at Greystone Elementary school. As my first time in the classroom, I tried to observe as much as possible. I had a great first impression of the classroom, it is a very positive environment, and the teacher has definitely established a clear routine and rules that the students follow. The teacher did a very brief (5-10 minute) science lesson/introduction to the unit on weather. Although the teacher did not inform my partner and I about the exact objectives for the lesson, it was clear that she wanted the students to learn about making observations about weather. Her objective

I can support this claim based on my observations of the lesson, student behavior, and specific questioning from the teacher herself. While the class followed along with their own textbooks, the teacher read a few pages about the sky. She asked the student’s basic questions like “what can you tell about the day from looking at the sky?” She asked the students to look out the window and observe the sky in order to make predictions about upcoming weather conditions. The students responded by saying things like “the sky has no clouds, so it’s not going to rain,” “I don’t think it’s going to snow because the sky is very blue.” The students were extremely attentive and excited to make their own observations and predictions about the weather. As an introduction into the weather unit, the teacher informed the students that they would be tracking the weather daily very soon. The students did not complete any type of assessment or written work, the lesson was rather brief, and the students answered questions verbally. Based on student responses and their behavior during

First, I thought it was nice that the teacher started off by referring to the students as meteorologists. It was a great introduction of vocab and put the students in the proper mindset. During the science lesson, I thought that it was good thing that each of the students were given a copy of the textbook. The students could follow along and look at the great pictures while the teacher read. The students were extremely polite and attentive. I also thought it was effective that the teacher didn’t focus solely on the textbook, she had the students make real observations right from their classroom window. This clearly deepened the students understanding of the connection between the sky and weather. It also allowed students to reflect on other times that they have noticed a connections between the sky and weather in the past. At a few points in the lesson the students got a bit loud and off topic. When this happened, the teacher would simply have the student move a card. It seemed to be very effective. The behavior system in the classroom is having students move cards based on their behavior. The teacher also had a bucket of prizes for “good” behavior displayed by the