Pre- Observation Reflection: Designing Lessons to Meet Student

Learning Needs

Please answer one question in each category (ie: Learning objectives and
goals) below for a total of 5 questions. Use complete sentences and attend to
writing mechanics. Include this sheet as the cover page for your formal
lesson plan.

Learning Objectives and Goals

How do you plan to communicate the learning objectives to students?
Be specific include teacher talk and exact language you might use.
Learning objectives will be communicated to students verbally
and visually. Students have already read the textbook chapter
on arthropods, and have also talked previously about classifying
animals. By displaying the daily essential question on the board,
reviewing previous material at the start of the lesson, and giving
students goals throughout the lesson, students will be able to
understand the lesson objectives.

Using Data (choose one)

What sources of student data did you use to determine student
performance levels? What did you learn from this data?
From previous days and activities using this chapter, I have
become aware of what students know and do not know about
arthropods. By comparing these observations with the unit test
and the content that they need to know, I learned that it will be
very important to review and stress vocabulary during this unit.
This is the first time that students are learning about arthropods,
so making sure that they understand correctly is extremely
important for future activities and lessons within this unit.
How did you become familiar with students background knowledge,
skill levels, experiences, and cultural resources? What did you learn
that you used in this lesson?

Assessment (choose one)

How do you plan to provide feedback to students? Why
How do you expect students to respond to questions? Whole class?
Individual? Why?
At the beginning of the lesson, we will be doing a class
discussion on content that we have already covered. This
content is an introduction to classifying arthropods. We will also
be reviewing, as a class, the definition of arthropod and what it
 means. This is essential to completing this lesson. During the
activity, students will be allowed to talk within their groups about
the observations that they are making on the arthropods.
Although their charts and responses are to be completed
individually, students can talk with their peers to gain a deeper
understanding and compare thoughts.
How will you ensure you call on all students?

Instruction (choose one)

How will you model or explain clear expectations for student learning?
Be specific, include teacher talk and exact language you might use.
How will students be grouped for learning? How is the grouping related
to social and academic goals?
This group of students is the lower of the two blocks. In this
block, there are multiple students with 504 plans, IEPs, and ELL
students as well. Because of this, students need to be grouped
specifically in order to make these groups productive. During this
lesson, students will be grouped based on social patterns and
the observations that I have previously made during group
activities. These students will be grouped with other students
who will ensure that their group is on task. There are also
students in this block who do not enjoy group work, so grouping
these students with others who are kind and willing to work with
all students is very important.
How will you know when it is time to move from one activity to the
next?

Observation Focus
What specific areas would you like me to focus on for my observation
(ie: questioning, teacher movement). It may help to think about a
FEAP or instructional goal
I would like you to focus on engagement. Especially at the end
of the day when students are tired after lunch, it is very
important to deliver engaging lessons so that students stay on
task.