Department of Teacher Education & Learning Sciences

Elementary Education Program

Pre-Observation Form

Directions: This form is to be completed prior to every lesson that will be observed by the mentor
teacher or university supervisor. It is to be submitted no later than 3 business days prior to the actual
observation along with your lesson plans.

Name:Kathryn Moore Date:2/21/2017

1. What is the topic of your lesson?

a. My ELA lesson study topic is main idea and supporting details with a con-
tent focus on African American heroes. Students will learn how to deter-
mine main idea and supporting details using the main idea tree lesson
structure. The content of the articles they will be reading is of the informa-
tional genre- biographies of African American heroes and their accom-
plishments.

2. Why are you teaching this lesson? What is your rationale for teaching it?
a. This lesson is designed to have students reflect on the importance and
relevance of Black History Month and make connections to the black
leaders addressed in the lesson. Students will be able to challenge and
think critically about the fact there is a limited time frame- one month- ded-
icated to the important legacy and part of history created by African Ameri-
cans. Through intentional heterogenous grouping, all students will be held
to high expectations while maintaining an educational equity standpoint by
individualizing student learning plans when necessary.

3. What is your Teaching Behavior Focus? Why did you choose this?
a. I am focusing on creating groups that benefit each individual included
within the group. I am grouping loosely by preference of which African
American leader students are interested in learning about. I want to
include an element of choice in the lesson so students feel they have a
say in their learning and are invested in the discussion and activities.
While choice is important, its essential that groups also be
heterogeneously created based on current achievement levels. There
should not be low groups and high groups, but rather groups that have
mixed performance levels. There should be a strong reader in each group
to help support readers who are still working toward grade level standards
of fluency and comprehension. Heterogenous groups also apply to
students varying personality traits, backgrounds, and lived experiences.
In order for there to be rich, productive conversation pertaining to Black
 History and the leaders that contributed, there should be a variety of
opinions and views being shared within each group. Heterogenous
grouping ensures the entire class is being held to the same high
expectations, while offering differentiation and extra support where it is
necessary. Each group is expected to complete the same assignment
relating to African American leaders, but grouping is done intentionally so
that students who are proficient in certain areas can collaborate with
students are are currently working to meet those standards. Students who
are currently working on proficiency in a standard benefit from hearing an
additional point of view from their peer, and students who are already
proficient in the standard further their understanding by explaining in their
own words in multiple ways.

4. Why did you design your instruction in this lesson the way that you did? Why did
you choose this way of teaching the lesson (e.g., Was the idea from a methods
course? From your mentor teacher? Another source?)
a. The structure of the ELA portion of the lesson was from the Common Core
Lesson Plan book that includes plans pertaining to different aspects and
levels of reading comprehension. I chose to incorporate cultural relevance
by discussing connection students can make between their own lives,
Black History Month, and the texts about African American heroes. We
hold a discussion about why black history in America matters, and why
Carter G. Woodson hoped that one day it would not exist anymore. There
is both small group (turn and talk) discussion and whole class discussion
on the topic. This lesson will help develop students critical consciousness
by modeling how we can ask difficult questions about why Black History
Month was created and why many important black leaders are still not
widely known. Student discourse is a excellent vehicle for surveying stu-
dents knowledge and opinions and then building off of them as we dive
into the lives and history of African American heroes.

5. As you are thinking through this lesson, what do you believe will be the most
challenging part of this lesson for you when you teach it? Why?
a. I think a challenging part of the lesson will include being expected to know
the answers to hard questions that are complex or may not even have an
answer. When incorporating cultural relevance and critical consciousness
relating to race, conversation topics can touch on issues like why does
racism exist? or why isnt Black History treated as a normal part of
American history? While I do not have right, concrete answers for those
questions, I can challenge students to think critically about possible con-
tributing factors and lasting effects of concepts such a racism and discrim-
ination.

6. How will you know if your learning outcomes for the students are met successful-
ly?
a. I will be able to assess classroom comprehension of Black History Month
and African American heroes based on small group and whole class dis-
cussion. Are students able to apply these concepts to ideas or events that
 our relevant to their own prior knowledge or lived experiences? Are stu-
dents able to collaborate and build off their peers ideas in a way that ac-
knowledges an respects their peers opinions, even if it differs from their
own? Informal conferences have the ability to give me insight to what a
student is thinking on an individual level and whether or not her or she is
absorbing the content and building upon it.

7. How will your classroom management support the learning outcomes?

a. Clear expectations of classroom discussion will be set prior to the start of
the lesson. An environment of mutual respect will be modeled and en-
forced. When children feel they are able to share their opinions without
being put down or ridiculed, they are much more likely to open up. This
contributes to overall student discourse, enriching the variety of responses
collected for a given topic or question. The more input that is received
from students, the more chances are available for students to think critical-
ly about responses from their peers, which helps students form their own
ideas.

8. List 1-3 areas which you would like for your observer to pay particular attention.
Why do you want your observer to focus on these areas?
a. Please pay attention to my wait time- do I use it appropriately? Too long/
short?
b. Do I see (somewhat) confident in front of the class? What does my body
language and tone of voice convey?

9. Is there anything else you would like your observer to know before the observa-
tion?