ELA Student Teacher Observation: Strengths and Growth Areas

Observation Findings

The following competencies were observed during the classroom observation of a high school English Language Arts student teacher:

• Incorporates major content components and aids students in applying higher-order thinking skills within learning.
• Demonstrates the ability to relate current content to prior experiences, future learning, practical application, and other disciplines.
• Displays correct knowledge of the topic being taught.
• Demonstrates abilities that are pertinent to the lesson.
• Centers teaching on objectives that reflect high expectations and a strong grasp of the discipline.
• Undertakes realistic time planning in the areas of pacing, transitions, and subject mastery.
• Plans and implements effective differentiated instruction.
• Ensures student involvement and promotes active learning.
• Builds on students' current skills and prior knowledge.
• Uses instructional technology to enhance student learning.
• Communicates clearly and confirms student understanding.
• Applies a variety of valid assessment tools and approaches relevant to the student population and content.
• Employs assessment tools for both summative and formative purposes, using them to inform, adjust, and guide student learning.
• Provides ongoing, constructive feedback to students regarding their academic progress.
• Organizes the classroom layout to maximize student learning and fosters a safe classroom climate.
• Establishes well-defined expectations linked to classroom norms and routines — incorporating student input at the start of the academic year — and applies them consistently and impartially.
• Minimizes disruptions and maximizes instructional time.
• Respects students from diverse linguistic, racial, and cultural backgrounds and treats students with special needs, as well as boys and girls, equitably.
• Listens attentively and responds to students' reactions and needs.
• Maximizes teaching time by engaging in both individual and group-based instruction.
• Integrates learning from professional development opportunities into classroom practice.
• Establishes goals to improve professional skills and knowledge.
• Displays consistent mastery of standard written and oral English in all forms of communication.
• Demonstrates strong classroom management skills.
• Is familiar with current common core key standards.
• Understands the demands of the teaching profession.
• Was well-prepared, with strong communication skills and a sound work ethic.
• Was well aware of the precise expectations placed on her and appeared adequately prepared to teach.
• Was comfortable conversing with students, demonstrated a strong grasp of the significance of English Language Arts for students, and helped them pursue high standards.

Suggestions for Improvement

For educators to be effective, monitoring learning at the individual student level is essential. The universal question of whether any student has doubts is unlikely to yield sufficient information for educators to act on. Instead, a skilled educator develops approaches for determining individual students' levels of comprehension. For example, student responses to carefully constructed questions displayed on a whiteboard — presented before the teacher offers commentary — provide valuable diagnostic information about how well students have understood the lesson. When questions are designed deliberately to glean diagnostic information, educators can develop a fairly specific sense of what they must do to ensure all students understand the material. While not always capable of providing real-time data, exit tickets (i.e., student responses to a well-designed question before leaving the classroom) are another useful tool for gathering information about student learning.

A second key tool for ensuring student success is providing timely, clear, and precise feedback on students' learning efforts. This feedback may come from the teacher, from peers — who can respectfully challenge a student's thinking — or from the instructional activities themselves. For instance, poorly guided revisions to a written text can confuse readers rather than clarify intended meaning. Regardless of the feedback source, students should understand that learning is an iterative process. Structuring instructional time effectively to allow for both group and individual instruction during independent work creates valuable opportunities for immediate feedback and targeted diagnostic questioning, as well as for teaching that is responsive to earlier assessment data.