Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

Elementary Education Program

Formal Observation Reflection

Directions: Complete the reflection questions and submit your response to your observer prior to having a post-
conference to discuss the observation. If a conference is held immediately after the observation you will submit
your responses to the observer the following day via email.

Name: Paige Christianson Date: 11/6/17

1. To what extent were learning outcomes appropriate and achievable to your

students?
The learning outcomes were both appropriate and achievable to my students. They
will be studying culture in a few weeks, and discussing flags and what they represent
around the world relates to the idea of culture. They were achievable because
students were given ample examples and explanation at the beginning of the lesson to
describe what flags are and what they do. They could use both this instruction and
their prior knowledge to create a flag that represented their classroom community.
2. How effective were your instructional strategies? What changes would you
make in your instructional approaches if you taught this lesson again? Why?
My instructional strategies were effective. I think the students were given enough
modeling at the beginning of the lesson with introducing flags and scaffolding
throughout the lesson with the use of the color meanings slide to succeed in their own
way in creating a class flag. Next time, I would use flags that are from countries that
students are from or have family in. I did the United States flag, but including flags
from students home cultures or family backgrounds could add another level of
personal connection to the lesson.
3. Evaluate the effectiveness of your oral and written communication with
students. (Consider how well you communicated learning objectives, clarity of directions, use of
standard English, quality of questions and effectiveness of discussion techniques.)
I think that, overall, my communication with students was effective. There were
moments during the flag mini lesson at the beginning that I felt I was unable to
communicate an idea at the level of language the students needed to understand. For
example, I used the word literally and symbolically which may have been confusing
for students to understand. Besides this, though, I thought my directions and
expectations were clear. I allowed students to ask clarifying questions if they did not
understand something from the lesson, which led to less confusion throughout the
activity.
4. Evaluate the level of student engagement in your lesson . (Consider how you presented
the content/skills, the activities and assignments for students, grouping of students, and structure and
pacing of the lesson.)
I was very pleased with the level of student engagement in the class. The combination
of my expectations set at the beginning of the lesson with the students being
interested in artistic activities created a focused environment in which students were
working the whole time and were engaged in the activity. I created groups beforehand
that I thought would work well together and stay focused. They loved to share their
creations, and almost all students finished both the flag and the description in the
amount of time given to them.
5. How effectively did you use instructional materials, resources, and/or
technology?
The PowerPoint presentation was very helpful in getting students to think about flags
and what they represent. The examples of different world flags, student-made flags,
and an example class flag that I made were effective in providing enough scaffolding
so that students were able to come up with their own ideas from these different
sources of inspiration. Finally, providing the small pieces of construction paper along
with the color meanings on the PowerPoint helped the students get started quickly and
start brainstorming ideas to create their flag.
6. To what extent were your assessment strategies effective? What changes would
you make in your assessment approach if you taught this lesson again? Why?
My assessment strategies in this lesson consisted of informal checks of understanding
throughout the whole group lesson in which I asked students clarifying questions
and/or asked for students to tell how well they understood the instructions or material.
I also assessed students as I walked around and listened to groups presenting about
what their flag represents. All students were able to show me how a picture, symbol,
or color on the flag represents an idea of the class. Some were more original in their
ideas than others, because some students used the color meanings or examples I
projected, but they still represented ideas on their flag, which met the learning
objectives. I would do another whole group check for understanding at the end of the
lesson if I were to do it again, just to get a final summative assessment for the lesson
of what the students gained from it.
7. To what extent was your feedback to students accurate, substantive,
constructive, specific, and/or timely?
My feedback to students was limited to in the moment feedback as students
answered questions or as I circulated the room. I created a large class flag consisting
of students flags to bring them all together, so I did not pass each flag out to each
individual student with written feedback. However, I do not think this would be very
necessary because I gave oral feedback to students as they presented their flags, and
the flags were a creative activity that I was just looking for them to be able to represent
ideas on the flag in pictures, symbols, and/or colors. All students could do this, so I did
not see the need for extensive written feedback.
8. To what extent did the classroom management and environment contribute to
student learning? (Consider your classroom procedures, your use of physical space, and the
students conduct.)
My pre-planning prior to this lesson helped me the most in allowing students to gain as
much as possible from this lesson. I had people in groups and where the groups
would sit established beforehand which allowed for limited transition time and
confusion. Also, I used a timer at the end to switch between students presenting.
Overall, this was effective, however, I would use a different alarm sound next time that
is louder and would capture the students attention more easily.
9. Did you make modifications to your lesson plan during the lesson? If so, what
were they and what motivated these changes?
During the lesson, I included students more during the initial presentation to keep them
engaged. Before, I was going to try to get through the presentation quickly, but I did
not want to lecture them for fifteen minutes. So, I asked more questions to involve the
students in the process. Also, I changed the presentation time for students to one
minute because I could see that two minutes would lead to disengagement. Also, it
helped keep the students on task and focused to talk about their flags for the short
minute.
10. Was your Teaching Behavior Focus goal met?
My Teaching Behavior Focus goal of classroom management being appropriate and
positive was met. I used techniques to get student attention that they were familiar
with, so they knew what I expected them to do. I also employed wait time to get to all
students ideas during the direct instruction aspect. I used a timer as a way to get
student attention at the end of the lesson for switching presenters. Overall, I was
pleased with how well the lesson went and how much students were engaged in the
activity.