TEACHER OBSERVATION FORM

_____ Formative _____ Summative

(Optional) (Optional)
This column LESSON PLANNING/PRE-OBSERVATION: This column
completed with EVIDENCE OF DOMAINS 1 AND 4 completed with
teacher through (To be completed by the teacher in advance of announced observation and sent to evaluator 2 days in advance) teacher through
rubric (Evidence not required for each Domain 4 component for any single lesson) rubric
comparison. comparison.
DOMAIN 1 DOMAIN 4:
1a. Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy: What See attached
is the content to be taught? What prerequisite learning is required?
o F o F
o NI The content that will being taught is Science. The students o NI
X P will be doing a fall themed sink or float experiment in X P
o D groups of two or three. They will be working together and o D
each member will have their own job that relates to the
group being able to complete their task. One student will be
the recorder and will record the groups predictions and
observations. The other student will be in charge or
dropping and fishing the items out. If there are groups of
three, there will be two recorders. Students will be
dropping a leaf, apple, acorn, pumpkin and pinecone into
the water. They will first cast their prediction with their
group and explain why they think that. They will then test
their prediction and record what they saw.
The prerequisites the students will need to complete the
lesson are knowledge of the vocabulary words sink, float,
experiment, prediction and observation. These terms will
be reviewed before going to their groups to begin working.
We spent the first week of school going over these terms.
The second week of school we conducted experiments
where the students had to use this language, which gave
them a chance to practice the language and learn how
experiments are done in the classroom.

3.3.PK.A.7- Participate in simple investigations of earth

structures, processes, and cycles to answer a question or to
test a prediction.
- Ask questions about objects
- Use five sense and simple equipment to gather
data
- Experiment with different types of earth
materials.
- Make predictions about an outcome.
- Make predictions about outcome
- Compare observations with others.
3.3.PK.A.4- Identify a variety of uses for water.
- Provide opportunities for exploration of water in its
various forms.
16.2PK.C- Engage in reciprocal communication with adults and
peers.
- Communicate using details relate to the topic being
discussed.
 1b. Demonstrating Knowledge of Students: Characterize the 4b. Maintaining Accurate
class. How will you modify this lesson for groups or individual Records: How do you track
o F students? student learning as it relates to this o F
o NI lesson? o NI
X P In my classroom I have 3 girls and 7 boys. They are all 4 or 5 X P
years old and are all going to kindergarten next year. One of my I will have a chart on my clipboard
o D students in nonverbal and he requires me to be with him to help with the following goals and the o D
guide him through activities. For this lesson, I want to have him student’s names on them to record
work with a stronger peer who can also help him with his personal whether they have met the
social goals and his goal related to assimilating to group life in the objective or not.
classroom. I have two students who have speech and language I will be measuring success in
IEP’s but that will not affect their ability to participate in the several ways throughout the lesson.
experiment. First, I want the students to have a
I chose to do this in pairs or trios instead of a whole group complete understanding of how to
because I want the students to practice working with one another use the vocabulary word in context
and independence in their academics. I don’t want them to be a and throughout their experiment. I
passive participant in a group lesson, I want them to work with a want them to use those words in
peer and shine on their own and have a task they are held our class discussion of their results.
accountable for in their work. Therefore, one of my goals will be
My group varies in academic levels, but they all do very well with appropriate usage of science
hands on, interactive lessons. They are more attentive and vocabulary in their group work and
engaged when they are able to work with physical materials. our class discussion.
For Ms. Alexis’s group they will be completing this lesson as a Second, I will be measuring is the
whole group and the students will have their own worksheet and student’s ability to work with a
will be shown and instructed by the teacher on how to fill it in. peer and not working by
This group is young and is not ready to work in pairs without themselves. I am looking for the
teacher assistance. They will use one set of materials the teacher students talking with one another
will be in charge of facilitating the activity. The goals for them about what is happening in the
will be group participation, collecting their data and being able to experiment and what to do next, in
tell Ms. Alexis at least one item that either sank or float. addition to using appropriate
language and being kind to their
partner.
Third, I will be measuring their
ability to record data. Though one
person is in charge of filling it in,
the pair or trio is responsible for its
completion and accuracy in
completion. I want the students to
be able to see the object sink or
float and correctly record their data
for discussion after the experiment
is over.
 1c. Selecting Instructional Outcomes: What do you want 4c. Communicating with
students to learn during this lesson? Families: What specifically have
o F you learned by communicating o F
o NI First, I would like my students to learn how to use scientific with families that impacted your o NI
o P vocabulary in conversation during their experiment. I want them planning of this lesson? X P
to say things like “I predicted that….” Or “I observed that…”
X D when working with their partners and when sharing with me. I am in constant communication o D
Secondly, I want my students to work appropriately in pairs or with my parents about my students’
trios. They are all good at working on their own but I want them goals. Being that they are making
to listen to their peers, wait for them before continuing, have the transition to grade school, my
reciprocal conversations with them and encourage them to parents are very interested in their
complete their task with positive words. Often, I feel that my progress and areas where they
students are quick to tattle on others for not doing something should work on at home. When I
correct. Rather than making their mistakes negative, I want them go over my students’
to encourage one another and offer support if they are unable to developmental checklists with
do something and need help. I want to promote independence so them, they often ask what science
when they go to kindergarten and are asked to work with peers experiments we are doing, and if
without teacher support, I want them to be able to do so with ease. there are any science goals for their
Lastly, I want the students to leave the experiment understanding child. We work so hard on
the difference between an its sinking or floating. I want them to perfecting their language arts and
understand that if it sinks it falls to the bottom and when it floats math skills that science often gets
it rests on the top of the water. I am not concerned with them fully pushed to the back of the priority
understanding the density of objects and relating that to buoyancy. list. With this experiment, I want to
I want them to understand the difference between the two terms show my students parents that they
and share an item that sank or float to show their understanding of can conduct an experiment in a
these vocabulary words. small group on their own and use
science vocabulary to communicate
what they are learning. This is
something my parents are looking
forward to seeing and will give
them confidence as their child
enters Kindergarten.

1d. Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources: What resources 4d. Participating in a

were considered for this lesson and rejected? Why? What Professional Community: In what
o F resources will be used? Why? ways is today’s lesson related to o F
o NI collaboration with colleagues? o NI
o P I rejected the idea of doing this lesson as a whole group and When coming up with lesson X P
decided to divide it into pairs and trios. I felt that with a group topics, I made sure to ask Jade for
X D lesson it is easy for students to fade into the background and not her thoughts and input on what I o D
o shine as well in a whole group. Those students are the ones who was intending to do. Jade and I o
need the lesson the most and need to show their knowledge to me. collaborate often and we always go
Being in a small group and being given a job in the group forces to one another to bounce ideas off
them to work on their own and they cannot look off their of each other and to get a fresh
neighbors and simply copy them (which happens more often then opinion on what fun and engaging
you think). This is another reason why I rejected the idea of both lessons we can plan for our
group members keeping a data sheet. When I have had my students. Jade was able to help me
students work in pairs before with papers they both had to fill out, narrow my lesson plan ideas to
they very quickly started to work independently along side one science. Jade and I always plan
another and they didn’t talk or work together at all. Giving one lessons together and ask one
person the job of recorder and one as the item tester, they are another for ideas.
forced to work together and have those reciprocal conversations.
In addition, they can support one another and share their
knowledge so both group members leave with success on their
goals.
The students will be given one data sheet per pairing. The group
will also receive one bucket of water, one fishing net, and all of
their objects to test (pinecone, acorn, apple, leaf and pumpkin). I
wanted to give the students items that they see throughout the
current season of Fall so that they can see those items and share
with their friends and family that they know whether or not they
sink or float. The net is to fish out the items and reduce how much
water they get on them.
 1e.Designing Coherent Instruction: List very briefly the steps of 4e. Growing and Developing
the lesson Professionally: What aspects of
o F this lesson are the result of some o F
o NI - Students will clean up from table tops and go trace their recent professional learning? o NI
X P name on their name cards in their circle spots. X P
- Students will post their names on the board and then I recently took a training on
o D share with me their birthdays. teaching science to Pre- o D
- We will count the boys and the girls and determine who Kindergarten students and
we have the most and the least of. understanding what they are
- We will write a number sentence and determine the total expected to know when entering
number of friends in our circle. Kindergarten. The training was
- I will draw a circle for each member in the whole called “Click2Science: Giving
classroom and we will count to see how many friends Youth Control”. The training
Alexis and I have together. talked about the benefits of letting
- I will write up the letter of the week on the board (I) and students control their learning and
we will practice the sound. Students will share I words how that is more engaging and
that they know and we will write them on the board and meaningful for them and they are
read them back when all I words have been shared. able to retain the information and
- We will use letter cards to review previous letters. remember the lesson better because
- Weather checker will check the weather and we will add of their active engagement. The
to our weather graph what the weather was like that day. training also shed light on activities
- We will end circle by reading a story from our circle and STEM lessons appropriate for
bin. all age groups that can promote
- Before going over the rules for the experiment, we will these skills. This training gave me
review the vocabulary words. I will have picture clues I perspective on how STEM is
will post up next to the word to give students an idea of taught in Pre-K and in
what the words mean and so they can use it as a Kindergarten and what is
reference during their experiment. developmentally appropriate for
- Once we have defined the vocabulary words, I will both age levels. It helped me form
show the students the items we are using today for my expectations for my student
testing and the recording sheet. I will demonstrate how groups.
to fill out the sheet and how to test items appropriately
with objects that we are not using for testing today. I
will pause throughout to allow for questions.
- I will send the students off into their groups (which are
already set up throughout the room) and remind them of
the expectations and their jobs in the group and then
they will be able to begin. I will have jobs and groups
preselected.
- Students will work with their partner or group mates
and will show me when they are finished by having
their hands on their head, materials out of the water and
their data collected (which I will tell them needs to be
done when going over the rules.)
- I will come around the room and do check ins with each
group to make sure they are on task and working well
together. If they are not on task, I will stop and provide
guidance to complete the task.
- Once everyone is done, we will gather on the carpet and
share the data we collected and fill in our class results
chart. Each group will get a chance to share their
prediction and their findings with a given object. All
members will be given the chance to share something
about the item they are telling the group about. We will
record the results on the chart and share ideas about why
those items sank or floated.
- The students will give me their data sheets and we will
complete an exit ticket. The students will be told to sort
the photos into the sink or float section. Pictures will be
next to the word sink and float to help the students
decide what column to go into. They will turn it in and
this will be used to see if the students retained
observations from the lesson.
- When turned in, the students will be instructed to get
their sticks for free play.
 1f: Designing Student Assessments: How will you measure the 4f: Showing Professionalism: In
goals articulated in 1c? What does success look like? what ways have you been an
o F advocate for students that relate o F
o NI In this lesson, success will look like the students working as a directly to this lesson? o NI
X P pair, not as individuals. The students will show me they are X P
succeeding with the lesson by completing the job they were During my student teaching in
o D assigned in the group and also working with their partner and college I wrote, planned, prepped, o D
having reciprocal, polite conversation. In those conversations, taught and assessed a full science
they will show me their success by using the science vocabulary curriculum for my first-grade class.
words in addition to using encouraging and positive language with This experience taught me a lot
their groupmates to compete their experiment. Success will also about what kind of fun engaging
be measured in the student’s ability to have a reciprocal lessons I could plan for my
conversation in a whole group setting about their findings. students and what level of
Success will also be measured in the student’s ability to remember independence they needed to do the
what objects sank and float and to recognize the difference on task and when it was appropriate to
their worksheet. The students being able to follow directions on give them partner and group
how to mark their paper and the accuracy of their marks will show support. My students always
me if they were paying attention during the experiment or if they looked forward to these lessons and
did not. were motivated to work in a hands
In most lessons, success would be measured in how many answers on, interactive way. I want my
they got correct on their worksheet or whether they added students this year to get the same
numbers correctly. In this lesson, success is not measured in the experience and look forward to
accuracy of their predictions, but it is rather measured by their learning more when they enter
personal interactions in a group setting and their ability to Kindergarten. Science is a subject
complete a task successfully with another peer. In addition, their that my students show a great deal
success is measured in their ability to work in that group and of interest in and I want to allow
retain the information from it. I want the students to observe what them as many opportunities to test
happens, record the data and talk about it with their peers. Then their predictions, work with peers
when they have to complete their exit ticket, the students and learn in a hands-on manor.
remember what they did with their partners and can easily
complete the form based on their findings.
 (Optional) (Optional)
This column OBSERVATION: This column
completed with EVIDENCE FOR DOMAINS 2 AND 3 completed with
teacher through __X___ Announced ____ Unannounced teacher through
rubric __X___ Formative ____ Summative rubric
comparison. comparison.
2a. Creating a Climate of Respect & Rapport: 3a. Communicating with Students:
Teacher Interaction with Students Expectations for Learning
o F Student Interactions with One Another Directions and Procedures o F
o NI Explanations of Content o NI
X P The teacher had established a positive rapport Use of Oral and Written Language X P
with the children within her classroom.
o D Interactions among the children were Communication was clear and succinct and o D
developmentally appropriate. utilized language that was developmentally
appropriate.

2b. Creating a Culture for Learning: 3b. Using Questioning & Discussion:
Importance of the Content Techniques
o F Expectations for Learning and Achievement Quality of Questions o F
o NI Student Pride in Work Discussion Techniques o NI
X P Student Participation X P
The culture for learning was well established
o D with expectations that were set high to challenge Children were provided with multiple o D
children. Children appeared committed to opportunities to respond to teacher questions with
working hard to meet their teacher’s goals. adequate time allotted to enable children to be
thoughtful in their responses. An effort was made
to familiarize children with appropriate
terminology in their topic discussion.

2c. Managing Classroom Procedures: 3c. Engaging Students in Learning:

Management of Instructional Groups
o F Management of Transitions
o NI Management of Materials And Supplies
X P Performance of Non-Instructional Duties
Supervision of Volunteers And Paraprofessionals
o D
Little to no instructional time was lost due to
transitions or materials prep. Supplies were
readied and available.
Activities and Assignments
Grouping of Students o F
Instructional Materials and Resources o NI
Structure and Pacing o P
Activities conducted throughout the lesson were X D
developmentally appropriate. Materials and
resources were engaging and encouraged
children to be active in the learning process. The
small groups that were assembled were
thoughtfully put together keeping the individual
needs of the children in mind.

2d. Managing Student Behavior: 3d. Assessing Student Learning:

Expectations Assessment Criteria
o F Monitoring of Student Behavior Monitoring of Student Learning o F
o NI Response to Student Misbehavior Feedback to Students o NI
X P Student Self-Assessment and Monitoring of X P
Praise was used to guide children toward using Progress
o D appropriate behavior of peers as models. Error o D
correction was provided to direct attention upon Feedback was provided regularly to children at
the lesson. Expectations were stated in direct multiple points in the observed lesson and an
unequivocal terms. informal assessment was conducted on children’s
skills. Feedback served not only to engage
children but also was used to focus and retain
attention to task.
 2e. Organizing the Physical Space: 3e. Demonstrating Flexibility &
Safety and Accessibility Responsiveness:
o F Arrangement of Furniture and Use of Physical Lesson adjustment o F
o NI Resources Response to Students o NI
X P Persistence X P
The classroom space was neatly arranged and
o D allowed children access to materials available to The teacher provided individualized support to o D
them without impediment. children who needed that guidance in completing
their independent work and also served as a
partner to a child who would have either had to
join an established group or work individually.