Critical Event Reflection

A. This event took place at Manatee Cove Elementary on May 26th, 2017 in a 4th grade general education
classroom.

B. The teacher has 10 years experience
- The observation was conducted on the last day
of school
- The teacher was facilitating a Socratic
discussion
- Students were seated in a circle
- Students were discussing a poem about goals
and aspirations
- Students had annotated the text, created three
questions on their own, and were answering
students questions citing evidence form the text
- All students were engaged in the lesson and
participating
- During the post conference the teacher stated
she learned about Socratic seminars through a
professional development offered at the school
- The teacher stated Socratic discussions have
been implemented throughout the year and have
increased engagement and questioning skills in
her classroom
- The teacher pulled the lyrics from a popular
song How Far Ill Go which integrated
student interest with literary elements
C. I was very pleased that the teacher allowed me to
observe her on the last day of school. This
demonstrated her experience and flexibility.
-Socratic discussions had students collaborating,
discussing, and defending their answered. I was
shocked at the amount of higher order thinking
happening in the classroom.
- The circle seating was a great way for students to
face one another and discuss the text.
- I was interested in the complexity of the poem
for a fourth grade classroom
- I was impressed with the well developed
questions from the students and the attention and
respect from each student.
- I was happy to see teachers implementing some
of the professional learning we attended this year
-I liked how the teacher integrated the students
interest into the lesson.

D. This experience demonstrated to me the power of class discussion and the importance of the teacher
taking a role of a facilitator rather than feeding students information. When looking at student
engagement, Martin states to look at Note the locus of control for classroom activity. Who is doing all
the talking? Who is doing most of the work? Student input. Suggest ways for students to have input into
the lessons (Martin, 2010). This classroom demonstrated a classroom full of student lead discussion,
learning, and student input.

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E. This experience leads me to focus on engagement and discussion strategies in professional developments
for my own staff. As an administrator, I would encourage teachers to use engagement strategies that
promote student leadership like Socratic Seminars. This was also a great example of how to highlight
teachers that are doing a great job. As an administrator, I would share this teachers practice with the rest
of the staff at a staff meeting or PLC.

F. This event correlated to ISLLC standard 3 which states An education leader promotes the success of
every student by ensuring management of the organization, operation, and resources for a safe, efficient,
and effective learning environment. This class observation displayed what a efficient learning
environment looks like and demonstrated strategies that can be used to create this environment.
G. This event relates to the school vision by creating a positive classroom environment that promotes
collaboration and higher order thinking through class discussion. This ensures each student reaches their
personal best which is the school vision.

H. Notes/comments

2015. Grand Canyon University. All rights reserved.