EPC 3903 Mentor College observation form

Mentor College Assessment Report First observation B.Ed Teaching Practice

Year3 Semester2

Name of the student: Nahla ID#: H00271615

Name of the School: Wellspring Grade: 3
Grade level: level 6 student Date of the observations: 20Mar17
Unit / lesson title: Stages of Plant Growth Number of students: 23 students
Competency Area E G S M US

A- Commitment to the Profession x

B- Planning for Learning x
C- Managing Learning x
D- Implementing Learning x
E- Assessment x
F- Reflection on Practice (Nahla demonstrated excellent reflection-on-action (Schon, x
1983)
Strengths of the lesson:

Engagement:
good bridge from last class into todays by briefly reviewing what had been done
previously. Moreover, good review of the 3 core terms for the day (seed coat,
cotyledon, embryo) using a well-appointed ppt, and the students dictionary of words in
their notebooks that was attached to the topic.
Exploration:
Instructions are clear, expectations were well modelled. Exploration supported the
engagement and helped to develop the LOs. Good facilitation of seat work during this
time towards the promotion of the LOs. Students were excited and engaged and did get
a bit noisy but candidate utilized a variety of repair strategies including thecountdown
and class, class strategies.
Explanation
Students demonstrated a good understanding of the material (e.g. one student remarks
that a cotyledon is like a fridge as it stores food). There was a review in plenary
session regarding the core terms of the lesson.
Elaboration
The subject matter extends well from the days LOs and talks about how seeds are
dispersed. The sticky note activity was useful and showed how seeds disperse in
different places. Good review of types of seeds : hitch-hiking, airborne, floating,
exploding seeds
Evaluation The days LOs were well considered as well as all other learning (e.g. how
seeds are dispersed). Students were excited and well-acquainted with the LOs which
demonstrated the candidates success in achieving the days LOs.

Areas for development:

EPC 3903 Mentor College observation form

A diagram of the seed and its parts on the OHP would have helped to present the
activity to the group. This diagram would have been useful too in the plenary
explanation session where the form and function of seeds could have been made
clearer. For example, the cotyledons are fat because they store food; the seed coat is a
thin coat that protects the seed etc. This would have been a more useful discussion as
to the parts of the seed.
Elaboration
A link was needed to the days LOs that the seed is used to grow new plants: that the
embryo eats the food in the cotyledons, breaks through the seed coat and grows into a
plant. Hitch-hiking seeds are trying to find a place where it can fall and grow into a
plant without being stifled. This needed to be made clear. The elaboration took up too
much of the days lesson (so much so that it overshadowed the stated LOs for the
lesson and the material covered in the elaborate section seed dispersal- was not
represented in the LOs of the lesson)

General comments:
The candidate is to be highly commended for a noted improvement over the last lesson.
The candidate has shown deep reflection on her practice and targeted the main areas in which
she was challenged for the last lesson. There is a marked improvement in the articulation of
the parts of the lesson. The LOs support each other very strongly and all the activities and
assessment in the lesson work towards their achievement.
A generally strong understanding of the 5Es and the utility of each. Some review though
is needed as to the purpose and function of elaborate.
Strong planning; the lesson plan is clear in its intent and has sufficient details and
instructions.
Continue to work on developing higher order questioning.

Students reflection on the feedback: