POST-OBSERVATION CONFERENCE Classroom Teacher

Teachers may respond to the six questions prior to the post-observation conference. The responses may be used as an artifact of evidence (4a).

Name of Teacher: School: Date of Classroom Observation:

Aleya Shehata Spry Middle School February 6, 2013

I. In general, how successful was the lesson? Did the students learn what you intended for them to learn? How do you know? (1c, 3d, 4a) Right after the lesson, it was really hard to tell if it was successful or not. The activity that I had the students working on spanned over several days asking the students to discover the properties took several days for them to get to the final outcome. The conversations generated throughout that lesson and following lessons, however, were wonderful, and after several days of discovery, the students did learn what I intended them to learn. This was demonstrated through student discussion, homework assignments, quizzes, and tests. 2. If you were able to bring samples of student work, what do those samples reveal about those students levels of engagement and understanding? (3c, 3d) The students were asked to not only discover the properties of circles, but they were also asked to complete proofs to show that they really understood the properties they discovered. The students also completed applied problems that required them to apply the properties they learned for circles. 3. Comment on your classroom environment (i.e. procedures, student behavior, and your use of physical space). To what extent did these contribute to student learning? (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e) After the students were asked to work in groups, they turned their desks so that groups of four could face each other. The students were well behaved as a result of structured classroom procedures that they have practiced since the beginning of the school year and the fact that they are just great kids. The students really took ownership of their learning by working individually on their calculators, working together in their groups and discussing, demonstrating to the whole class their possible ideas, and looking at the board while their classmates presented their ideas. 4. Comment on ways in which your instruction engaged students in learning, (e.g., activities, grouping of students, questioning). To what extent were they effective? (1e, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3e) The students were completed focused and engaged on the task at hand the entire period. They discussed with each other and listened to each other as others presented their solutions. As I listened to students discover the properties, I walked around and questioned the students based

on their needs. The questions were effective because it helped guide the students to discover the properties without being told what the properties are. 5. Comment on the resources you chose for this lesson and the rationale behind those choices. (1d, 1e) I looked at examples on the Texas Instruments website, and was originally going to use a TI nspire document from their website, but after considering the lesson, I decided to give the students a completely blank document on their calculators. I wanted the students to really make their way through this discovery, and by not giving any guidance at first (since the students at this level are capable of it), it really gave the students more autonomy and ownership of their learning. 6. a) Did you depart from your plan? If so, how and why? (3e) Yes. The nspires were a good tool to use to discover the properties of circles, but presenting in front of the class with the TI software was difficult. After the first day, I had the students present their findings using Geometers Sketchpad, which proved to be easier. After letting the students struggle a little, I did give them some papers with a little more information to help them discover the properties, which was a suggestion given by the observer that was extremely helpful. b) If you had a chance to teach this lesson again to the same group of students, what would you do differently, from planning through execution? (4a) I would have the students working on the laptops instead of the nspires so they could use Geometers Sketchpad or Geogebra. They are more user-friendly for the purposes of this lesson activity. If not, once the Navigator is available, Id have the students share their files with me so I can send them back to the students and they can see what their classmates are doing.