Julie Anderson

Evaluation Summary
2013/2014

Julie stepped in for one of our 5
th
grade teachers near the end of the 2013/2014 school year while
the teacher was out on a medical leave. This position started off as a short- term situation, but
quickly grew into a much longer stay for a variety of reasons. One of the things that jumped out
to me right away was her calm demeanor and flexibility. She was able to roll with the punches
pretty easily during her time in the building, and she made a substantial impact on the education
of the students in the class.

During my observation I was able to watch how Julie handled the class in a variety of different
situations. During the teacher led section of the lesson, Julie asked the kids to think like a
scientist. This set the tone for the students as she led them through an exercise where they had to
record as a class all of the things that they thought that they knew about hermit crab. While she
was recording the student responses and taking volunteers from the students I was able to witness
some of her abilities to pull out information from the students, and her ability to facilitate. The
result was that the majority of the students were fully engaged in the lesson, sharing ideas that
they thought might help the entire class. As students shared their responses, Julie was quick to
give specific praise to her students or ask follow up questions to clarify. This helped her students
be successful in this section of the lesson, and encouraged others to participate.

Once the students completed their group list on what they thought that they knew about the
hermit crab, Julie asked the group what other resources they could potentially utilize to learn
more on the topic. The students quickly responded with all of their ideas, and Julie was able to
transition nicely to the next section of the lesson. The students were asked to open their science
journals to page 12. She did a nice job of orally reading through the directions and expectations
for the next section of the lesson. During this time she circulated around the room to monitor the
behavior of her students. When students drifted off task she either moved closer to the students
that were off task, or she gave a simple redirection. If the noise in the class became to loud during
her explanations, she would simply state, I will wait and the students were able to correct
themselves. Once Julie finished giving the directions to her students she allowed them to get to
work. The students quickly moved into their science groups and began reading the selection. The
students had to pick out the research based observations about hermit crabs from the reading.
When students struggled with the requirements Julie quickly responded to their questions and
allowed them to move forward. At the end of the time given to complete the task Julie gave a
highly effective prompt to the group to regain their attention. She stated, and a hush went over
the crowd, and the students responded by saying hush and they were ready for the next direction.

Observations

I was very impressed with the control that Julie had over the classroom. She clearly has done a
nice job of establishing a solid set of classroom routines and procedures to assist her in classroom
management. This was also assisted by a nice variety of prompts that she used when she wanted
the full attention of the class. The lesson that I observed had a clear purpose, and the lesson
design allowed for full student participation and had the students engaged with the material. In
addition I was pleased with the pace that she utilized while instructing her students, she didnt
rush the process but instead used the time wisely for her students to develop their own meaning
and connect with the topic. Even though it is difficult to step into another teachers classroom and
develop strong relationships with the students, I saw evidence that Julie has done a nice job of
building community in her classroom and developing connections with the kids.
Overall Julie has done a remarkable job of stepping into a difficult circumstance and making a
true impact for the students. With time Julie will refine her talents, and continue the process of
developing into an outstanding teacher. She already has a firm handle on the basics, and I know
that she will invest the time to learn from her experiences and colleagues to finish the process.


_______________________________ ______________________________________
(Mike Shelton Date) (Julie Anderson Date)