Practice Teaching Session/ Lesson Plan Feedback Form

UTTP, Fall 2017

Name of Instructor: Megan Wilson

1. Comments on the strengths of the instructor:

Overall Megan you did a great job in rather challenging circumstances. Even though the class
arrived late from the icebreaker, your technology failed through issues beyond your control and the
material you had to present was factual rather than entertaining, you handled it all with grace and
enthusiasm.

You started to debrief the class without the activity being your lesson to debrief. You tied the
breakout session to your lesson seamlessly.

You are excellent on your feet and responsive to the students even when your presentation was not
going as planned. Those are incredible skills to have as an instructor.

You are friendly, warm and approachable in your classroom style.

2. Comments on the instructors method of delivery throughout the lesson (i.e.

communication of learning outcomes, organization, clarity, eye contact,
enthusiasm):

It was clear that you were enjoying yourself in this role and that comes through to those who are
watching and learning. Your presentation was well sequenced to start at the bigger issues and then
move into detail.

Your eye contact was incredible and you seldom broke the connection with your students. Your
enthusiasm for the subject, despite its factual nature was obvious and contagious.

3. Comments on instructors engagement of students (i.e. encouraged

questions/discussion, assessed understanding, appropriately facilitated
discussion, level of student engagement, rapport):

When you discussed things with the students you moved around the classroom with ease. When
nobody responded to one of your questions, you rephrased and they responded. When the class
discussion went on a tangent, as it will, you brought it back easily and without embarrassing the
student.

Your gestures and facial expressions supported the students when they were speaking. You nod
when they are speaking and this encourages additional participation. Your style makes it safe for
the students to participate.

You summarized the information periodically when presenting which is important when they are
not as familiar with the information. Students were taking notes and paying attention to your
presentation indicating interest and support.

When unexpectedly debriefing another instructors exercise, you asked probing relevant questions
and reinforced their answers both verbally and with your body language.
4. Comments on instructors use of space, technology, materials, and mediums (i.e.
media/handouts, legibility):

You worked through the technology issue publicly trying alternatives and calmly and when it
proved unsolvable, you moved to the second part of her lesson plan.

Your movement across the front of the classroom was optimal. Your movement encourages
connection with students in varying proximity to you and keeps them engaged.

You wrote an important web address on the board for the students who could not read it on the
screen. This varied medium keeps them interested - From the screen to the blackboard to your
questioning, the students remained engaged.

5. Comments on the instructors selected area of development:

Vulnerability in teaching requires a willingness not to know and to reduce defensive responses
when things dont go as they were planned to go. Vulnerability was your area that you wished to
work on and this class let you practice that throughout. You were comfortable with that
vulnerability even though I know that you had not planned to explore it that deeply.

You reached the edge of her technical knowledge and gracefully moved on. The class supported you
when you were nervous which is a good indication that they felt and supported that you were in a
vulnerable place.

This is not an area that needs a lot of work for you. Having been pushed to the limit of your
vulnerability in a session where you were being evaluated demonstrated your innate ability in this
area.

6. Feedback on instructors lesson plan (lesson elements, outcome activity alignment,

appropriateness and effectiveness of instructional methods and activities, assessment of student
learning):

Your lesson plan was well detailed. Your objectives were clear and concise. It may be useful to
detail how your plan moves between direct instruction and guided practice so you can predict a
flow when actually teaching in the classroom.

Allocating timing by task is a good idea to keep yourself on target for time. When teaching a long
class with an established curriculum you can easily lose sight of timing when you are not
measuring yourself against a time-based plan.

7. Opportunities and Avenues for Development:

You are remarkably approachable when addressing individual students. Your respect for them
comes through very clearly. One thing that helps students to identify with you is if you ask them
their names before they speak. Just another level of connection.

It would be worthwhile when reinforcing to develop their thoughts rather than just say good or
thats great. These would be questions like when they said walking quietly was awkward, you might
ask why they think that is so. That being said, this was not your debrief to do and yet you did an
amazing job of thinking on your feet.
When presenting technology steps it might be useful to have them on the screen so if a student gets
left behind they can continue to catch up.

For your lesson begin with a PPT slide which shows them what you will cover. Several times
throughout the presentation return to that slide to contextualize the current information. It gives
them a structure that helps them to see how the new information fits into the overview.

When speaking in front of a group, it is important that the use of idioms be appropriate for the
entire audience. As it impossible to know the entire group it is important that your use of language
is inclusive and acceptable to all.

8. Additional Observations:

Overall, you were excellent in the role as instructor and I can foresee you being in this role and
doing very well. You are responsive, enthusiastic and committed to excellence.

Not all classes are going to be so challenging and I hope that you get the opportunity to teach a
normal classroom experience.

Interesting that you wanted to explore your ability to be vulnerable and this first class actually put
you in an extremely vulnerable position. It showed you how you are easily able to deal with it when
it arises spontaneously.

9. Comments on instructors reflections in Blog Post 2:

Megan what a genuinely great blog post this is. I have to say that as an objective observer, this went
far better than you would have indicated above. You had a series of setbacks and you handled them
gracefully and gave no indication externally of the chaos you may have been experiencing.

Your students remained engaged in your presentation and they did that out of respect for you as
the instructor. I watched them and could easily tell that they were with you despite numerous
unexpected events. I was impressed by how smoothly you handled all the things that came up. You
looked like an experienced instructor!