ALVERNO COLLEGE

SUPERVISORS OBSERVATION
OF ED 215-R Field Student
Candidate: Alyssa Toetz

Check One:
1stObservation __X

Assessor: Robin Gleason

2nd Observation __

Date: 11/24/14

Cooperating Teacher: Logan Zwaska

Number of Students: 17

School: Canterbury - Greendale

Planning and Preparation (AEA: Conceptualization, Diagnosis

Grade: 2

WTS: 1,2,3,4,5,7 DISP: Respect)

Plans instruction that addresses the range of the students stages of literacy
development.
Plans instruction that is coordinated with the prior and future learning
experiences of the students.
Plan includes an introduction that clearly connects the lesson objective with
prior learning experiences.
Materials are well chosen for meeting the lesson objective and the
developmental needs of the students.
Plan reflects use of an effective theoretical model, such as Holdaway,
Cambourne, Vygotsky, etc.
Plan includes the teacher think aloud and questions/prompts to engage the
children in the thinking.
Plan reflects the gradual release of responsibility of the learning to the
students.
Plan includes adaptations for students with specific needs and learning
styles.
A meaningful closure that restates the lesson objective and sets
expectations for the learning concludes planning process.
____Inadequate

____Emerging

__X__Proficient

Subject(s): Reading Workshop

Evidence (Candidate)

You carefully planned this lesson by collaborating with your CT to determine a

lesson objective that would coordinate with their current unit of study in
reading focused on understanding non-fiction text. You were mindful of the
lesson objective and the range of developmental stages of readers in your
classroom as you selected the materials you would use to teach to your
lesson objective. Using the anchor chart that was previously prepared and
used by your CT for earlier mini-lessons was a good choice for this lesson.
You clearly demonstrated that theory guided your plan as you intentionally
incorporated think alouds, social interaction, and the gradual release of
responsibility into the Procedures part of your lesson. The plan also included
your methods for assessing student learning as well as appropriate strategies
for meeting the range of readers in your classroom. The plan was detailed
and showed thoughtful preparation throughout. You submitted your plan in
plenty of time to receive and incorporate feedback from your field supervisor.

____Distinctive

Copyright 2014. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under U.S., International
and Universal Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in part or whole by any method is prohibited by law.

ED FORM 708
0210 ED

School: Canterbury - Greendale

Grade: 2

Subject(s): Reading Workshop

Classroom Environment

(AEA: Coordination, Integrative Interaction WTS: 1,2,3,4,5,6

DISP: Respect, Responsibility, Collaboration, Communication)

Clearly communicates expectations and procedures for behavior and

learning experiences.
Focuses student attention by engaging them productively in learning
experiences.
Offers explicit praise to students.
Teachers and students connect to one another by smiling, sharing and
helping.
Respects each child as an individual, addressing the children by name.
Supports students as they work independently and collaboratively.
Manages transitions efficiently.
Effectively uses resources and curriculum materials to develop the ideas
being taught.

____Inadequate

____Emerging

__X__Proficient

Evidence (Candidate and Student)

You easily followed your cooperating teachers routines for reading
workshop to establish and maintain student engagement throughout the
lesson. Throughout the entire workshop, you connected easily with the
children by smiling often, maintaining strong eye contact, and by calling
on them by name. You engaged the children in their learning by keeping
your lesson focused on the objective, modeling your thinking, including
turn and talks and partner shares, and conferring with individual children
during their independent reading where they were reading books of their
choice at their own instructional reading levels. You easily transitioned
the children to whole group, partner shares, independent reading, and
back to whole group. When bringing the children back to whole group,
you set specific expectations by saying, Eyes back up to the front
very effective. You also praised specific children when you saw that they
were ready to listen.
You clearly set the expectations for the childrens independent reading
and circulated around the room to make sure that the children were on
task and had the materials they needed before you settled in to confer
with individual children. (Nice work.)
As you conferred, you bent down to converse with each child at their own
levels and provided additional support, as needed.
Overall, this was a productive and positive learning environment. For
further growth, as you confer, position your body to make sure to keep
an eye on all of the children and scan the room after each conference to
assure that the children are on task.

____Distinctive

Copyright 2014. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under U.S., International
and Universal Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in part or whole by any method is prohibited by law.

ED FORM 708
0210 ED

Instruction (AEA: Communication, Coordination, Diagnosis,

Integrative Interaction WTS: 1,2,4,5,6,7,10
DISP: Respect, Communication)
Relates learning to students previous learning and/or to students
personal experiences.
Focuses student attention on lesson objectives throughout the lesson.
Demonstrates knowledge of content throughout delivery.
Presents content in developmentally appropriate ways.
Explicitly teaches the lesson objective through modeling the thinking of
the lesson objective using the think aloud approach.
Actively engages students in the thinking and keeps them on task.
Consistently demonstrates enthusiasm.
Models and supports active listening, discussion and thoughtful
responses.
Challenges and supports student thinking by using:
o different types of explanations
o various levels of questioning and/or prompts
o techniques that repeat and/or extend student responses
o a variety of modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic)
Adapts plans as needed.
Varies role in instructional process (instructor, facilitator, coach,
audience) in relation to content, purposes of instruction and needs of
learners to gradually release the responsibility of the learning to the
students.
Respects cultural and gender differences.

____Inadequate

____Emerging

___X_Proficient

Evidence (Candidate and Student)

You began by connecting this lesson to previous learning and clearly stated the
lesson objective for the day. (Could have briefly gone over the previous ways to
respond to the text using the anchor chart.) You then quickly launched into
modeling how to react to the text using the inner voice by responding to the
prompt, This surprises me because. Nice job of thinking loud what surprised
you and why by comparing what you read to your own background knowledge.
How could you also have shared why reacting to the text was important for you
to do as a reader? This is the heart of the teaching, so slow down the reading
and the think aloud a bit to explicitly teach to the lesson objective.) You then read
the text aloud and asked the children to use their inner voices to react to the text
using the prompt, This surprises me because You asked the children to put
up their thumbs when they heard their inner voice go off in their heads and
invited them to do a turn and talk with their partners. (It would have been helpful
to ask them to think about what surprised them before you started to read the
text so that the children would have had a bit of a warning of what to think about
as you read.) You circulated around the partners to listen in and give feedback.
(Nice work.)
After the turn and talk, you reported what you heard some children say and
called on one child to share her thinking. (Could you have also asked them to
explain their thinking? After settling the children into their independent reading,
you began conferring with individuals. The children were spread out around the
room and were engaged in their reading, using their post-its to respond to the
text.
After a time, you called the children back to the rug with their books and post-its.
Once they were gathered, you then shared the thinking from one of the children
as another model and proceeded to invite all of them to share with their partners.
(It would be a good idea to restate the lesson objective before you give an
example of one childs thinking before you start this part of the lesson.) You
listened in again to some of the groups, getting up to circulate around the room.
You called the children back together and told them they did a good job and
restated the lesson objective. You shared what they should do next and asked
them to share their post-its with you as they went off to read to self and read to
someone.
Throughout the workshop, you clearly kept the focus of the learning on the
lesson objective. You were confident in what you were teaching as you varied
your role in the instructional process from instructor, to guide, to audience. You
did a great job of varying your level of support to adjust to the needs of individual
children as you conferred, showing that you really understood your lesson
objective. You certainly have internalized the structure of the workshop, Alyssa.
With more experience, you will gain even more confidence and show a bit more
sparkle as you are teaching. Enthusiasm is catching.

____Distinctive

Copyright 2014. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under U.S., International
and Universal Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in part or whole by any method is prohibited by law.

ED FORM 708
0210 ED

Assessment (AEA: Diagnosis, Integrative Interaction WTS: 1,2,3,7,8,9

DISP: Reflection)
Focuses the students attention on the process of learning rather than
just getting the correct answer or finishing an activity.
Provides specific feedback to learners (oral and/or written).
Assessment relates directly and is appropriate to the lesson objective
and the levels of development of the students.
Students self assess (oral and/or written).
Evidence of student learning is gathered and used along with
additional information/ feedback from lesson to plan future lessons.
Reflects on own performance in relation to student learning and WI
teacher standards and the Alverno Education Abilities.

____Inadequate

____Emerging

_X___Proficient

Evidence (Candidate and Student)

You had planned to use a checklist to record the students thinking during
the turn and talk and practice parts of the lesson. You also planned to
collect the childrens post-its as evidence of their learning. You did follow
up on your plan with the post-its, although it appeared that you did not
record your interactions with the children as you conferred with them.
As I observed you as you conferred, you checked in with each child to see
How it was going. I heard you listen carefully to the childrens thinking
and give specific feedback to them. For one child, you supported his
learning by discussing what he could write on his post-it. For another child,
you asked why what she selected surprised her. You confirmed her
thinking and moved on to the next child. You made sure to connect their
thinking to what they already knew in their background knowledge. (Did
you also use the inner voice language as you conferred with the
children?)
What did you find out about their learning as you conferred with the
children? As we discussed in the debriefing, recording your observations
of the childrens thinking and behaviors is important even if you take a
few minutes right after the lesson so that you can use this information
along with the post-its as evidence of their learning. Both sources of
information can be used to determine next steps for instruction as well.
(Why are both sources of information important?)
Your self-assessments demonstrate a strong ability to reflect on your
practice in relation to the theory, student learning, and the WTS and AEA.

____Distinctive

Copyright 2014. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under U.S., International
and Universal Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in part or whole by any method is prohibited by law.

ED FORM 708
0210 ED

Professional Responsibilities (AEA: Communication, Integrative Interaction WTS:

1,2,6,7,9,10 DISP: Respect, Responsibility, Reflection, Collaboration, Communication)
Demonstrates professionalism through timely completion of quality work for field
classroom and seminar.
Demonstrates professionalism through appropriate dress and regular attendance,
arriving on time to the field classroom and seminar.
Relates professionally and effectively with students, cooperating teacher, staff, and
supervisor (including initiating conversation, and problem solving). (Social Interaction at
Level 4)
Completes self -assessments, reflecting on planning and implementing of lessons in
relation to student learning and the theory.
Is willing to give and receive help.
Demonstrates Effective Citizenship by attending a school/parent event and thoughtfully
completing an accompanying log.
Actively participates in seminar by coming prepared and offering ideas, sharing
materials and supporting peers. (Social Interaction at Level 4)
____Inadequate

____Emerging

____Proficient

Evidence (Candidate)
You consistently demonstrate strong professional practices,
Alyssa. You came prepared to seminar and easily shared your
thinking with your colleagues. Your written assignments were
submitted on time and with quality. You developed and maintained
a strong professional working relationship with your CT and the
children in your classroom.

__X__Distinctive

Additional Comments: This was a fine literacy lesson, Alyssa. You clearly have taken full advantage of this field experience to
grow as a teacher. I challenge you to apply what youve learned about effective literacy teaching and learning this semester
to your middle school placement in your next field. It was a pleasure working with you this semester and I wish you well as
you continue on your journey to becoming a truly effective teacher!

Overall Performance: ____Inadequate ____Emerging _X___Proficient ____Distinctive

Copyright 2014. Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved under U.S., International
and Universal Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in part or whole by any method is prohibited by law.

ED FORM 708
0210 ED