Observation
Student Observation
Classroom:
Grade: 4th
Curriculum Area: Science
What I notice:
When the students first walk in, they
grab their science notebooks and sit
down at their assigned tables.
The teacher has a question displayed on
a powerpoint about the three different
types of rocks, and the students need to
answer the question in their science
notebooks using the knowledge they
already have about rocks.
During the Engage portion of the
lesson, the teacher activates prior
knowledge by asking questions and
encouraging students to think about
what they have learned instead of
looking in their notebooks for the
answers.
The teacher has the students identify the
three types of rocks: igneous,
sedimentary, and metamorphic.
The students are given 5 minutes to fill
out a worksheet that asks questions
about the three types of rocks.
After the five minutes, the teacher
explains to the students that they will be
going to stations to explore the different
properties of rocks, such as the type,
color, streakness, hardness, and
cleavage/fracture.
One of the stations has hydrochloric
acid at it, so the teacher is explicit about
explaining that the students need to
wear gloves and only use a little bit on
the rocks and nowhere else.
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Observer: Jasmine Reece
Date: March 15, 2017
Time: 1:10-1:55
Thoughts, Questions, Connections to
Methods Classes:
The teacher starts off the lesson by
activating prior knowledge, which is
something that I learned to do in my
methods courses.
The teacher gives stern warnings to
the students and increases the
volume of his voice to get the
students to stop talking over him, but
it doesnt seem to be effective.
The teacher uses an online timer to
give students 5 minutes to work on
answering questions, and the timer
blows up when time is up. The kids
freaked out about the timer
exploding, so I wonder if using
that kind of a timer is appropriate.
The teacher spent time at each of the
stations, which is something that I
learned to do in my methods
courses.
Some of the students are confused
about what to do and dont look at
the directions clearly, so I wonder if
there is a way to direct them better.
Each station has a set of the
directions for all of the stations, and
the students have to find the
directions for their station, which I
think can be confusing and
frustrating. It would be better if each
station had directions for that
specific station.
The teacher uses a stopwatch to keep
track of wasted time the students
 The students spend the entire class
period at one station, working to
classify rocks and answer questions
about what they observe.
As the students are working, the teacher
walks around to each station and asks
questions about what the students are
doing, and questioning why the students
have determined that certain rocks can
be given a specific classification.
The teacher encourages the students to
explore their thoughts and be hands-on
with their work.
The students at the metamorphic rock
station had a hard time classifying two
of the rocks, so the teacher told them
they could put acid on each of the rocks
to see which one fizzed, which would
allow them to accurately classify them.
At each station, the students are given
characteristics of six rocks, and they
have to use the characteristics as clues
to classify the rocks.
Once the students have classified the
rocks, they have to answer three
questions about their station in their
science notebooks.
The students seem more eager to mess
with the rocks and start manipulating
them to read the instructions carefully.
They would rather learn by doing than
follow step-by-step instructions.
When the students ask the teacher
questions, he never gives away the
answers, but rather asks them questions
in return that will help them find the
answers.
The teacher is very knowledgeable and
enthusiastic about the rock cycle.
The teacher is a bit too concerned with
volume control and behavior
management, which takes time away
from learning.
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will have to make up for at recess,
but the students dont seem bothered
by it.
What would be the best classroom
management strategy to use to get
the students to stop talking?
The instructions for the stations uses
a lot of content-specific vocabulary,
so I wonder if there is a way to
introduce the vocabulary before the
lesson or make it more kid-friendly?
The students only have 45 minutes
for science labs once a week, and
that isnt enough time to cover all of
the material.
What are ways the science concepts
can be integrated into other subjects?
Many of the students either dont
have time to or forget to answer the
three questions about their station,
and the teacher only grades based on
effort, so are the questions really
necessary?
The students only have enough time
for one station, and they only go to
science once a week, so they wont
be able to go to each station.
 Questions to Consider in Your Reflection:

Do you think the teacher you observed established and communicated learning goals,
tracked student progress throughout the lesson, and celebrated success? Explain.
I believe the teacher was successful at making the learning goals for the lesson explicit because
he had the students answer questions at the beginning of class to activate prior knowledge, then
he told the students that they would be working on exploring the different properties of rocks at
stations. When the students correctly answered questions the teacher would get excited and
make sure the whole class knew who gave the correct answer, and he made sure to spend time at
each station to track the learning progress of the students. The students had questions at each
station that they needed to answer in their notebooks, and the teacher uses their answers to guide
future lessons.

Do you think the teacher was effective at managing the classroom during science
instruction? Explain.
The teacher definitely tried to manage the classroom during the lesson, but unfortunately his
efforts werent very effective. He increased the volume of his voice when the students started
talking over him, but instead of that making the students stop talking they just kept on talking.
The teacher also had a stopwatch that he would start and stop when the students were talking
too much, and he used it to track wasted time that the students would have to make up for at
recess. The students seemed unconcerned when he started the stopwatch, and they continued to
talk and waste time. Only when the teacher turned the lights off did the students stop talking and
pay attention.

Do you think the teacher helped students effectively interact with new science concepts
and/or processes? If so, how? If not, why do you think that?
Yes and no. Each station had a set of directions that the students needed to follow, and they were
responsible for independently reading the instructions and interact with the rocks according to
the ways the directions tell them to. The teacher was only able to help one group at a time, so
the rest of the students were on their own and had to figure out what to do. Many of the students
neglected the instructions and just started messing with the rocks, which meant that they werent
learning what they needed to. When the teacher was able to meet with the groups, he would
walk them through the instructions and ask them questions to guide their thinking, but he was
not able to do that with all of the groups, so some of the groups did not effectively interact with
the rocks.

Do you think the teacher helped students deepen their understanding of new science
concepts and/or processes? Explain.
The teacher did help the students deepen their understanding of the new science concepts by
planning a stations lesson that would allow the students to work hands-on with the rocks and
learn new terminology as they are working. Throughout the lesson the teacher would explain
fun facts, such as the word igneous meaning fire, that helped the students further understand the
concepts. Students were able to classify rocks based on their properties, which helped them
explore rock properties and deepen their understanding of the names of certain rocks.

Do you think the teacher effectively engaged the students? Explain.

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 Once the students were able to work with the rocks directly and test their properties they were
fully engaged, but when the teacher asked them to answer questions or when he was trying to
give background knowledge about how rocks are formed many of the students ignored him and
talked amongst themselves. He tried to make the lesson engaging by speaking loudly and asking
a lot of questions, but his efforts didnt pay off, as the students still chose to talk instead of
listen.

Do you think the lesson you observed was an inquiry lesson? Explain.
I think there were many aspects of the lesson I observed that were inquiry-based, but I would
consider the overall lesson as structured. The teacher activated prior knowledge at the beginning
of the lesson, had stations set up that would allow the students to explore concepts for
themselves, but the teacher was the one that explained what the students would learn, and the
teacher already knew the outcomes of the tests the students would perform on the rocks. The
students were able to explore the properties of rocks and find out how to classify rocks at the
stations on their own instead of having the teacher explicitly tell them the classification of each
rock, but the teacher already knew what all of the rocks were, and none of the outcomes were
surprising to him. If the students wanted to test certain properties of rocks on their own and
classify unknown rocks they found outside then the lesson would truly be an inquiry lesson, but
the lesson I observed was definitely more structured.

What aspects of the lesson that you observed would you change? Keep? Explain.
I would spend less time trying to stop the students from talking to their neighbors as they are
answering questions in their notebooks because that takes time away from learning, and I would
not have the students fill out worksheets or answer questions about each of the stations. The
teacher said he only graded the questions on effort, and a lot of time was devoted to answering
the questions, so I would not have the students answer questions in their notebooks, but instead
would ask them verbal questions as they are working. I would also make the instructions more
kid-friendly, and only have the instructions be specific to the station they belong to, instead of
having instructions for all the stations at each station. I would keep the tests for classifying the
rocks the same, but I would have students test rocks they find themselves instead of ones that I
already know the classifications of. Finally, I would have students spend less time at the stations
so that they can get to more than one station in a class period instead of just one station for the
whole class period.