[Intentional Focused Observation] IFO7 (Made 2024 Fall Semester)

When I created my notes sheets for my lesson plan, I was afraid that students might not be able to follow along with them since they weren’t fill in the blank guided notes, but they actually wound up doing an incredible job, and I could tell by looking at it what portions of the lesson students understood based on which portions of the notes were filled out. I could visibly see where I lost students, where I didn’t explain things as well, and where students walked away presumably having learned something. I have also seen the assessments of my peers recently, and there has been an emphasis amongst them on practice rather than repetition, on doing rather than memorizing, and I believe that my notes sheets are like that, requiring students to write out full thoughts instead of single words or phrases or dates or names. I wish I could have gotten a chance to try out my exit ticket, but I believe that, with how my notes went, it would have gone very well. I have also seen Mr. Earle’s assessments and they tend to be projects that involve research but not much emphasis on ensuring that knowledge remains in students minds, although during class he will repeatedly ask students questions, day after day the same question, trying to ensure that they are aware and using a gauge of who feels they can answer as a way to tell how well they have learned that piece of information. I don’t particularly like how Mr. Earle does this and it seems to be highly ineffective because he usually only calls on two or three students who pay attention and remember things while the rest never seem to answer.

How can I ensure that I am not putting students on the spot when I ask them questions without allowing them to ignore the rest of the lesson aside from what they know they will be questioned on? This is the big one for me, and truthfully I feel trial and error is going to be the best way for me to figure this out moving forward.

I routinely observe Mr. Earle’s assessments and question asking methods, so by taking note of these and what I believe works versus what I believe doesn’t I can figure out what I want to do in the future.

HERE’S WHAT? What did I notice in the classroom?	SO WHAT? Implications for my teaching practice and the learning of my students?	NOW WHAT? What are my next steps? Next Day / Next Week / Next Month
Mr. Earle routinely asks questions that most students don’t know and then calls on one of the only students who does know. Students are capable of following along with guided notes that are more broad than fill in the blanks.	The rest of the students aren’t incentivized to learn the answer. I do not need to alter my note sheet creation methods and aside from minor changes to ensure they are slightly easier to follow.	Study Mr. Earle’s questioning methods and create a list of what I believe works and what I believe doesn’t. Practice creating more note sheets in preparation for the sake of my future lesson planning skills.