ALVERNO COLLEGE

SUPERVISORS OBSERVATION
OF ED 215-R Field Student
Candidate: Sarah Fadness

Check One:
1stObservation _X_

Assessor: Robin Gleason

2nd Observation __

Date: April 29, 2015

Cooperating Teacher: Jodi Erickson

Number of Students: 20

School: Brookfield Elementary

Planning and Preparation (AEA: Conceptualization, Diagnosis

Grade: 2

WTS: 1,2,3,4,5,7 DISP: 1, 5)

Plans instruction that addresses the range of the students stages of literacy
development.
Plans instruction that is coordinated with the prior and future learning
experiences of the students.
Plan includes a list of appropriate academic language tied to the lesson
objective.
Plan includes an introduction that clearly connects the lesson objective with
prior learning experiences.
Materials are well chosen for meeting the lesson objective and the
developmental needs of the students.
Plan reflects use of an effective theoretical model, such as Holdaway,
Cambourne, Vygotsky, etc.
Plan includes the teacher think aloud and questions/prompts to engage the
children in the thinking.
Plan reflects the gradual release of responsibility of the learning to the
students.
Plan includes adaptations for students with specific needs and learning
styles.

A meaningful closure that restates the lesson objective and sets

expectations for the learning concludes planning process.
____Inadequate

____Emerging

__X__Proficient

Subject(s): Reading Workshop

Evidence (Candidate)

You collaborated effectively with your CT to plan the objective for this
lesson, the materials you would use, and how you would handle the
practice part of the instructional procedures. You also submitted your
plan to your field supervisor in plenty of time for you to make several
revisions to strengthen it. One of the key aspects you included in
your revisions based on the feedback was a more detailed script of
your think aloud. (As you prepare to teach, its so important to really
think through your own thinking so that you can provide an excellent
model for your students. This kind of preparation also helps you to
see if you clearly understand what you are teaching and identify the
specific thinking behaviors you will be looking for in your students as
you assess and provide feedback to them.)
Your plan did address all of the aspects listed to the right of this
column.

____Distinctive

Copyright 2015. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under
U.S., International

ED FORM 708
0210 ED

School: Brookfield Elementary

Grade: 2

Subject(s): Reading Workshop

Classroom Environment (AEA: Coordination, Integrative Interaction WTS: 1,2,3,4,5,6

Evidence (Candidate and Student)

DISP: 4,5,9,10)

Clearly communicates expectations and procedures for behavior and

learning experiences.
Focuses student attention by engaging them productively in learning
experiences.
Offers explicit praise to students.
Teachers and students connect to one another by smiling, sharing and
helping.
Respects each child as an individual, addressing the children by name.
Supports students as they work independently and collaboratively.
Manages transitions efficiently.
Effectively uses resources and curriculum materials to develop the ideas
being taught.

Your CT settled the children on the rug in their partnerships for your minilesson and you sat in the rocker waiting for them to focus. You connected
easily with the children through great eye contact, by smiling often, by offering
positive praise and encouragement and by calling on them by name. You
clearly set the lesson objective and continued to focus the learning on that
objective throughout by restating the clues needed to make a prediction. You
had very natural interactions with the children and a strong teaching voice.
You accepted their interjections throughout your minilesson, and, for the most
part, kept them focused. (Sometimes this is a bit tricky to do because they can
drift pretty easily away from the focus of the lesson.) You also incorporated
turn and talks into your mini-lesson to engage the children in the learning.
The children settled down after a bit into their book clubs and independent
reading and you settled into conferring with the children, making sure that you
were at their levels. (Just make sure before you start to confer, to scan the
group to make sure that all are settling in. Scanning the group between
conferences is also a great way to monitor the focus throughout the workshop
to keep the children on task. Most of the time, the children seemed to be
engaged in their reading and thinking.))
After the independent reading/book clubs, your CT transitioned the children
back to the rug and asked them to bring their book boxes with them.
(Transitions like this are something for you to work on in the future.) Once the
children were settled, you set expectations for group sharing time through
doing a role-play with a volunteer. (This was a great way to set expectations!)
You recapped what they needed to do and then set them off to share in their
groups. This was another great way to engage the children in the thinking. You
began to listen in to some of the groups. (Again, check for on task behavior
before you settle in and keep an eye on the whole group even while you are
checking in with one group.)
(You used you guys quite a bit as you taught. What are some other ways to
refer to the children?)
Overall, you set a productive and engaging learning environment for this
lesson by following the well-established routines that were set up in this
classroom. (How will you establish this type of learning environment in your
own classroom someday?)

____Inadequate ____Emerging __X__Proficient ____Distinctive

Instruction (AEA: Communication, Coordination, Diagnosis,
Integrative Interaction WTS: 1,2,4,5,6,7,10
DISP: 4,5,8,9,10)

Evidence (Candidate and Student)

Copyright 2015. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under
U.S., International

ED FORM 708
0210 ED

Relates learning to students previous learning and/or to students

personal experiences.
Focuses student attention on lesson objectives throughout the lesson.
Clearly develops understanding of academic language.
Demonstrates knowledge of content throughout delivery.
Presents content in developmentally appropriate ways.
Explicitly teaches the lesson objective through modeling the thinking of
the lesson objective using the think aloud approach.
Actively engages students in the thinking and keeps them on task.
Consistently demonstrates enthusiasm.
Models and supports active listening, discussion and thoughtful
responses.
Challenges and supports student thinking by using:
o different types of explanations
o various levels of questioning and/or prompts
o techniques that repeat and/or extend student responses
o a variety of modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic)
Adapts plans as needed.
Varies role in instructional process (instructor, facilitator, coach,
audience) in relation to content, purposes of instruction and needs of
learners to gradually release the responsibility of the learning to the
students.
Respects cultural and gender differences.

You started your lesson by making a connection to prior learning and

cited specific examples of the thinking a particular child did to illustrate
your point. You then set the lesson objective and referred to an anchor
chart used in a previous lesson. You engaged the children in activating
their background knowledge about Iris and Walter and in recalling the
events in previous books. Great job using text evidence to support your
thinking about character traits for Iris and Walter. You asked them if they
had made predictions before (might need to check their understanding
further). You then modeled your thinking to make a prediction based on
your own experiences and what you knew about Iris and Walter, and the
clues in the text. (Did you also think about the series?) You checked
once more about what the children should be looking for as you read
(just remember that they are also looking for clues in this text). You
checked their understanding of aquarium and began reading. You held
the book so all could see the pictures and read with appropriate
expression and volume. You paused and then had the children turn and
talk with their partners to make a prediction using the clues in the text,
what they already knew about the characters and the series. You
circulated around to check in with the partner groups nice work. (You
also asked them to explain their thinking when with their partners also
nice work.) You asked for a volunteer to share their thinking in the whole
group. (This is a good teaching strategy. Just make sure that the
children explain why what clues did they use to provide another
model for the children and a way for you to do a quick check on their
thinking. It also helps to keep the focus on the lesson objective.) (How
might the use of anchor chart also serve to keep the focus on the clues
they need to use to make a prediction?) You read on and incorporated
another turn and talk, after which you asked for a volunteer or two to
share their thinking. You read on a bit and then gave the directions for
what the children should be doing during their independent reading in
their book clubs stop and jots on post-its and their goal sheets. (Did
you need to model what you expected on their post-its?) You asked if the
children if they understood and they said yes. (Did you need to do
more checking here? Did you also need to talk about the set up of the
number of books in their book boxes and set the expectation for reading
them? Did you also need to again restate why making predictions is
important to do as readers?) Since they were only into their second day
for their book clubs, your CT clarified a bit and you dismissed them to
their reading spots. You settled in to conferring with the book clubs. You
stopped in to confer with a particular child and did a brief check to see
restated the learning objective and gave the example of how to make a
prediction from your mini-lesson. Nice to see that this level of support
was needed. You made sure to check in and confer with a number of
book clubs during the workshop. After your CT called the children back
to the rug to sit in a puddle with their group, you asked the children if
they were ready to get started. You then recapped what they did last

Copyright 2015. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under
U.S., International

ED FORM 708
0210 ED

week and set expectations for their sharing in their groups. You asked
for a volunteer to role-play with you how to share in their groups. Nice
thought. (Were the children to take turns sharing their thinking or were
they to have a conversation? How might your role-play have been
different if the expectation was to have a conversation?) You also
restated what they should be talking about in their groups. You checked
in with some groups during this time. Your CT jumped in at the end to
monitor where each group was in terms of their at home reading and
dismissed them, so you didnt have a chance to do a closure for this
lesson. (You had to make several adjustments to your lesson plan as
you were teaching based on quick conversations you had with your CT.
This showed great flexibility on your part.)
You were enthusiastic during the mini-lesson and in your interactions
with the children throughout. (Just work toward slowing down your
delivery a bit to really teach to the lesson objective making sure to fully
explain and model all of the clues you are using to make a deep
prediction about what will happen in the story. The use of an anchor
chart might help you as well as the children. You are slowing down your
thinking to explicitly teach the children the thinking they need to do.)

____Inadequate

____Emerging

__X__Proficient

____Distinctive

Copyright 2015. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under
U.S., International

ED FORM 708
0210 ED

Assessment (AEA: Diagnosis, Integrative Interaction WTS: 1,2,3,7,8,9

DISP:7)
Focuses the students attention on the process of learning rather than
just getting the correct answer or finishing an activity.
Provides specific feedback to learners (oral and/or written).
Assessment relates directly and is appropriate to the lesson objective
and the levels of development of the students.
Students self assess (oral and/or written).
Evidence of student learning is gathered and used along with
additional information/ feedback from lesson to plan future lessons.

Reflects on own performance in relation to student learning and WI

teacher standards and the Alverno Education Abilities.

Evidence (Candidate and Student)

Your lesson provided you with several opportunities to assess student
learning. You planned to take anecdotal records of your observations of
student thinking at several points throughout the lesson. You thought in
advance about the thinking behaviors you would be looking for as you
observed and interacted with them. You followed through with your
assessment plan as you taught. For example, during your turn and talks,
you checked in with the partner groups to assess their thinking you even
asked them to explain their thinking. This is so important for you to really
assess how they are making their predictions nice. Conferring provided
you with another chance to assess student learning and to provide
additional support, if needed.
During the whole group mini-lesson, you gave general feedback to the
children who shared their thinking by saying things like, Awesome and, I
like it. Make sure to give specific feedback by saying why it was
awesome (the clues they used to reinforce the thinking they need to do.
You reflect on your practice in relation to student learning, your learning in
ED225, the WTS and AEA.

____Inadequate

____Emerging __X__Proficient ____Distinctive

Professional Responsibilities (AEA: Communication, Integrative Interaction WTS:
1,2,6,7,9,10 DISP: 1-10)
Demonstrates professionalism through timely completion of quality work for field
classroom and seminar.
Demonstrates professionalism through appropriate dress and regular attendance,
arriving on time to the field classroom and seminar.
Relates professionally and effectively with students, cooperating teacher, staff, and
supervisor (including initiating conversation, and problem solving). (Social Interaction at
Level 4)
Completes self -assessments, reflecting on planning and implementing of lessons in
relation to student learning and the theory.
Is willing to give and receive help.
Demonstrates Effective Citizenship by attending a school/parent event and thoughtfully
completing an accompanying log.
Actively participates in seminar by coming prepared and offering ideas, sharing
materials and supporting peers. (Social Interaction at Level 4)
____Inadequate

____Emerging

____Proficient

Evidence (Candidate)
You conduct yourself in a professional manner in many different
contexts. Youve established a strong and respectful collaborative
relationship with your CT and a solid rapport with the children in
your field classroom. You are consistently well prepared and
share your thinking easily in seminar. An area of particular
strength is your seeking out and using feedback to strengthen your
understanding and performance.

__X__Distinctive

Additional Comments: Sarah, this was a solid literacy lesson. Particularly striking was your flexibility in making adjustments
to your plan right before and even during your lesson, based on consultations with your CT. Throughout the semester, youve
Copyright 2015. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under
U.S., International

ED FORM 708
0210 ED

worked to intentionally apply your learning in ED 225 to planning and teaching your lessons in ED 215R. Youve
enthusiastically sought out feedback to strengthen your plans so that you would be well prepared in teaching your lessons.
Continue to work toward understanding the relationships among student learning, your practice, and the theory as you move
forward in your teacher preparation program. It has been a pleasure working and learning with you this semester, Sarah, and
I wish you well as you continue on in your journey to becoming a truly effective teacher.

Overall Performance: ____Inadequate ____Emerging __X__Proficient ____Distinctive

Copyright 2015. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under
U.S., International

ED FORM 708
0210 ED