Sarah Smith

UTL 640E Haug

10/15/15
Observation 5
Observation #5: Visual recording and Self-Critique reflection
This was my fourth teach, and my objectives to focus on while
watching the recording of myself were my pacing of instruction, my
use of positive reinforcement and my clarity in giving instructions. My
CT and I filmed most of the class period for both her observations and
for mine, so I excerpted out sections of when I was teaching and
reviewed those.
On pacing of instruction, I was giving them clear time limits for
tasks, but wasnt being very clear with how or when to start those
tasks, which caused some students to be confused and then become
disengaged with the lesson. I also really need to work on chunking
instructions because I was asking too many things of my students at
certain times and that caused me to have to go back and repeat the
instructions a few times. Going along with giving instructions and
setting time limits, I kept trying to talk and give instructions while the
students were already engaged in an activity and they definitely did
not hear me. This is something my CT and I have both talked about,
that we need to set out the time for giving instructions and have that
time be separate from the activity. A visual on the projector screen
would also have helped with keeping them accountable to the
instructions, instead of me having to go back and say them out loud.
Also, I originally planned to have a timer up on the board, but

Sarah Smith
UTL 640E Haug
10/15/15
Observation 5
completely forgot to set it up beforehand, and that would have kept
the students more accountable to my 4 minute time limit, because
I think the best part of my teaching in this lesson was my individual
conversations with students and groups, and while I think I need to do
more positive reinforcement to the whole class, I think I did a good job
of circulating the room and recognizing individual groups who were
doing a good job discussing. And while I was doing a good job of
circulating the room and talking to each group about their progress,
how could I have made sure each group was on task? While the
individual instruction was needed and helpful, how can I make sure the
balance between monitoring the groups and monitoring the class is
even? And while I was doing well at redirecting at the blatant off-task
behavior, after watching the video I noticed so much quiet off-task
behavior, like students on their phones or with their heads down. I do
think all the students contributed to their discussions, how can I work
on getting the students visibly interested and working during the
period?
My last critique for myself is that while I was incredibly glad Ms.
Kelley stepped in with answering students questions, I need to work
on not getting flustered when a student asks a question Im not
completely sure how to answer and then start visibly struggling to
answer. I realized after watching my video that while I have the basics

Sarah Smith
UTL 640E Haug
10/15/15
Observation 5
of classroom management and content and instructional delivery
down, I need to make them transfer better to all students and improve
my quick thinking.