Observation 1

Grade: 11
Subject: English Language Arts
Date 3/10/15
Demography:
I observed a public high school 11th grade AP Language and
Composition class. There were twelve girls and seven boys for a total
of 19 students. This high school is located in a lower-income
neighborhood and most students come from lower-income families.
This class was comprised of mostly bilingual students with English
being their first and primary language.
Class Focus:
The class is reading Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose. The class is
reading the play out loud during class as well as individually at home
for homework. On the day that I observed, the class spent the majority
of the period reading aloud.
Observation:
Thirteen of the nineteen students moved their chairs to the center two
tables in the room at the beginning of the lesson. These thirteen
students had been assigned roles at the beginning of the play. The
remaining six students sat on the outskirts of the group. The teacher
asked if anyone had any questions about the homework before they
began reading aloud. They were assigned to read ten pages from the
play. The students didnt have any questions, so they began to read. I
could tell that the students were very excited about the play because
they were very invested in their characters. Some students gave their
characters accents and others got out of their seats to act out parts of
the play. The teacher encouraged this, but did not require it. As the
class read, the teacher would interrupt after certain lines and she
would ask questions such as why do you think Rose made the
characters do/say this? She would ask students to support their
answers with textual evidence. She made sure to call on students who
didnt have a reading role, so as to include them in the discussion as
well. When a student gave an answer that was confusing or off the
mark, instead of saying that it was wrong, she would say, I heard you
say [students response], but I wonder what you would think if I said
[this]. That way, students have the opportunity to correct their
responses or explain their original responses more thoroughly.
After the allotted reading for the day, the teacher asked her students
to take out their character charts. These are charts that all students
have of all the characters in the play. It is meant to track the

development of the characterstheir relationships, motives, defining

moments, etc. After five minutes of updating their charts, the students
each shared what they learned about one character, such as what is
influencing him, how his opinions/ideas have changed, and if the
student agrees or disagrees with those opinions/ideas.
I thought that the literary practice during the playthe teacher guiding
the class with a series of text-dependent questionswas very
effective. Questioning strategies and questioning instruction help with
memory for what was read, can improve students information-finding
abilities, and can lead to more in-depth processing of text. I thought it
was effective because the students were clearly making connections
with the text that they otherwise might not have made without the
guidance of the questions. Furthermore, the questions asked students
to make inferences, make predictions, and draw upon previous
readings in order to analyze what they were reading now. These were
not just literal comprehension questions. They asked students to delve
deeper. This is a literacy practice that I plan to utilize in my classroom.
Additionally, the practice of asking students what they learned at the
end of the reading was a reflection strategy. After reading, students
should think about new information, process ideas, and make sense of
what they have read. The activity of making a chart about the
development of characters certainly does this.
Application to My Teaching:
As I mentioned earlier, this teacher used questioning instruction as well
as reflection as literary practices. I felt they were effective strategies,
especially because of its focus on constructivism. The constructivist
theory of learning emphasizes the important role of the learner in
literacy tasks and requires the teacher to assemble required
resources and act as a guide or facilitator for students to formulate
their own goals and learn by themselves. In other words, this teacher
encouraged students to use higher order thinking skills and to think
more analytically about the text. If I were to alter the lesson in any
way, it would be to have students re-read the parts that they read as a
class. For homework, students just had to pick up where the class left
off and finish the Act. Multiple readings assist with a higher level of
comprehension. Also, I felt that the teachers constant interruption
might have let a few details of the plot slip past the students. I
understand that the teacher was trying to emphasize certain areas in
the reading, but I did notice that sometimes the students would take a
while to get back in the flow of reading aloud. Also, I felt that some of
the students were visual learners and they asked several times for the
teacher or a classmate to repeat what was said. It might have been
beneficial for the class to have the teacher create some sort of graphic
organizer on the board. It could have been a concept map or story

web. I would definitely incorporate a visual depiction of relationships

among concepts or characters in order to help those students who
have difficulty reading and interpreting text.

Observation 2
Grade: 10
Subject: English Language Arts
Date: 2/13/16
Focus:
Students read an article entitled Attacking the Obesity Epidemic by
First Figuring Out Its Cause and discussed it as a class.
Observation:
The teacher began the class by assigning a free writing activity. The
prompt asked students to write at least a page about how they would
change their school lunch program if they had the power to make any
and all changes. They were instructed to explain why [they] are
making the change and reference the article at least once. The
teacher gave them fifteen minutes and emphasized writing in detail
and fleshing out their writing. The classroom was completely silent for
the duration of the writing activity. When they finished, the teacher
collected the papers and began to anonymously read out some of the
essays. She asked students to share their thoughts out loud and asked
follow-up questions to their responses.
After this class discussion, they completed a PAPA Square, which
helps students analyze the rhetorical strategies in their reading. The
PAPA Square (Purpose, Audience, Persona, Argument) activity was
completed as a class. The teacher had a box of popsicle sticks with all
of her students names on them. Using a laptop and a projection
screen, she constructed the PAPA Square and drew popsicle sticks to
determine which students would contribute which information.
After the PAPA Square activity, she divided the class into pairs
and had them work on constructing a prcis. A prcis is a four-sentence
paragraph that records the essential elements of a unit, which in this
case was the article on obesity. The groups then turned in the prcis at
the end of class.

I noticed immediately that my host teacher liked to see physical

evidence of student learning. She certainly incorporated discussions
into her lesson, but she also collected three pieces of written work that
would allow her to gauge her students progress. Burke writes that one
of the ten elements of effective instruction is to integrate assessment
throughout the instructional process. I think the free writing activity
was an effective activity because it provided a meaningful opportunity
for students to practice writing and to generate ideas. Additionally, it
used writing as a tool for learning content material, which is an
element of effective writing instruction.
Another element of effective writing instruction is
summarization, which involves explicitly and systematically teaching
students how to summarize texts. I saw the teacher explore this
element in her prcis activity. She shared a prcis handout with me (I
was unfamiliar with this idea), and it asked students to summarize the
basic information of the article, the thesis, the authors purpose, and
the tone, etc. What a great way for students to practice analysis and
critical thinking skills!
I was reminded of the video we watched in the second week of
class on the shifts in the CCSS. The CCSS calls on students to read
more informational texts and make claims based on the texts they
read. The CCSS also calls on students to analyze, infer, and give
evidence in order to back up those claims. I was pleased to see
students reading an article from the New York Times (an informational
text) and to be engaged in activities that clearly call upon them to
make valid arguments based on their texts. The host teacher is
certainly committed to the CCSS in the lesson plan that I observed this
day.
Application to My Teaching:
It was truly a rewarding experience to be able to witness such a great
instructor at work. I learned many things, but perhaps the greatest
lesson was how to integrate assessment into my instructional process.
The host teacher used three literacy practices that I personally found
great, but will I be able to fit three activities in my lesson all the time?
How do I know which ones will work in my classroom and which ones
wont? What if students are not motivated to do the work? How do I
differentiate my instruction for students who perform below grade
level? What about those who are above grade level? All of these
thoughts ran through my mind as I observed the class.
I spoke with the teacher at the end of a class period and she told me,
You have to know your students. Once you know them, you will be
able to know what will work and what wont. What I took away from
her advice is that I need to be able to know my students in order to
give them what they need. In order for me to do this, I need to be able

to measure student progress. This way, I can provide them with

necessary feedback, refine my instruction, and prepare my students
for future performances. I was a little wary of having so many
assessments in one class period, such as the host teacher did.
However, I now understand how vital it is for teachers to be aware of
how their students are performing in class. My goal for my future
classroom is to always have some form of assessment in each lesson,
whether it is summative or formative. It can be as simple as an exit
slip, a journal entry, or a quiz. It could be more in-depth like a writing
piece or even a one-on-one conversation with the student. I just need
to be able to gauge where my students are.
In addition to integrating frequent assessment into my lessons, I now
know more than ever the importance of discussion and group work in
student understanding. However, in order for the discussion to be
successful, I need to ask authentic questions that encourage analysis,
not questions that ask for literal comprehension. Also, for every
question I ask, I should always have a follow-up question to ensure that
my students take their understanding to the next level. Finally, I have
made it a personal goal to never be intimated by a student saying, I
dont get it. Instead, I will revel in the opportunity to challenge myself
to find a strategy that will help that student get it.