TESOL Unit 15 Lin Li 1

Observation Statement
Observation Statement
I have seen observing classrooms only as a teacher evaluation
for many years. However, when look back on my completed
observation reports, I realized that observation is an important part of
learning how to teach, which provides me an opportunity to see reallife teachers teach in real-life situations. I would like to share two
observations that I like.

The first one is a writing class, where the T used a hamburger to

symbolize the five-paragraph writing. What attracted me is the
Scaffolding. Scaffolding, as support tailored to meet students needs,
intends to help students achieve their learning goals (Sawyer, 2006, as
quoted in Wiki Instructional Scaffolding). I would use effective
instructional scaffolding in future teaching field. In my opinion, there
are three features in effective instructional scaffolding: first, introduce
new concepts/learning by connecting things that are familiar to
students; second, make use of the learning process, zone of proximal
development, to have students incorporate the new concepts/learning
through interactive activities; last, design activities that can help
students

remove

concepts/learning

the

support/scaffolding

cognitively

and

and

independently.

use
Have

the

new

students

develop new scaffolding. Lets take teaching adjectives as an

example. In order for students to use new adjectives (their meanings

and positions in sentences), I would first have students write simple

sentences on paper, like I like apples, I bought a dress. Then I
would write down new adjectives on the board to let students add
them into their sentences. Students will recall the meaning of new
adjectives. Later, I will ask students to make more complex sentence
by finding nouns in their sentence and modifying them. Students could
discussion in groups. Finally, I will have students use all the new
adjectives to write a small story.
The second class I observed at UCR Extension is a conversation
class. It is of great interests to see how Ts questions and information
gap activity can promote real conversation. I noticed that the T kept
asking students open questions, like What expressions you have
known or heard that we can use in this situation? What is your
personal experience regarding? Would you like and why? Those
questions successfully led Ss to practice and production, while T gave
very minimal instructions and did little talk. I would asking the
right/leading questions. Asking the leading questions or open questions
is a good way to promote student talking, allowing students to learn
from their peers by sharing personal experience.
Though the program study nearly comes to an end, I will
continue to observe classes for personal development. In my future
teaching, I would use scaffolding strategies to build on Ss known
structures and ask more open-ended questions.

TESOL Unit 15 Lin Li 3

Observation Statement

Reference:
Sawyer, R. Keith. (2006). The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning
Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_scaffolding