How To Write A Classroom Observation

On Thursday morning, I returned to Mrs. Flinn’s fourth grade classroom. I observed from 8:00 to 9:30. During this time, the students went through their morning routine, worked on some language arts worksheets, and completed a math lesson on fractions.

Descriptive Praise: Today, Mrs. Flinn continued to give great descriptive praise. As students were working through their language arts and math booklets, she would always tell students exactly what was going well. She went further than just saying, “Nice Work!” Instead, she said, “I really like how you are all being so respectful and listening, even though this morning’s activities are a little jumbled up.” This type of praise was very beneficial for the students because it reminded them of
the concrete things they were doing to be successful.

Positive Engagement: During my time in Mrs. Flinn’s classroom today, I continued to be impressed by the positive engagement she had with all of her students. It was so easy to see that she genuinely cares for each of them and has worked hard to form relationships. When helping or listening to them, she always got down on their level and gave them the appropriate eye contact. One student arrived late to school this morning and was clearly very rattled. He had cut his finger while trying to slice a grapefruit open, so he wouldn’t be able to swim at the AR party in the afternoon. She did a phenomenal job of comforting him without making a big scene of everything. Over the last couple of days, it was so awesome to witness Mrs. Flinn’s passion for these students.

Schedules and Routines Posted: The schedules and routines were posted in two different places throughout the classroom. Both of them were fairly small and kind of hidden among the other posters in the room, as well as a little bit vague, but I could tell that students were very aware of where they were posted and always knew what was happening next.

Schedules and Routines Reviewed/Referenced: Mrs.
Flinn spent about 10 minutes just going over the schedule for the day shortly after students arrived. The students had many questions about how everything was going to work because of the AR party in the afternoon. To abolish confusion and prevent constant questioning all morning, Mrs. Flinn went through the day step-by-step and explained what was going to happen.

Predictable Routines Within Routines: Each activity that was completed today was fairly predictable with a noticeable beginning, middle, and end. Even though the schedule was a little scrambled because of the party taking place in the afternoon, there was still a great deal of structure and progress occurring in the classroom. Students knew what was expected of them, and they worked efficiently. Mrs. Flinn reminded them that if things weren’t completed, they would be expected to finish them later before they could attend the party.

Transition Strategies: Mrs. Flinn continued to use call and response phrases to get the students’ attention. These phrases were so effective in warning the students that they needed to listen up, because she had something important to share with them. They were successful in quieting the students down almost immediately and proved to be very
beneficial.

Transition Warnings: While in Mrs.
Flinn’s classroom this morning, I didn’t hear her give any transition warnings. Because of the AR party in the afternoon, the schedule was shifted a little bit, and there were a lot of things happening in the short hour and a half I was there. This being said, the students didn’t seem bothered by the lack of transition warnings. The students did a great job of just “going with the flow” and working until a new instruction was given.

Class Rules: Mrs. Flinn’s classroom rules were clearly posted for students to access. She has five main rules, along with many other expectations for specific parts of the day (morning procedures, entering and leaving the classroom, lining up at the door, etc.) All of these expectations are clearly posted throughout the classroom to serve as a constant reminder of the appropriate behavior required of a fourth grader.

Posted Rules: The students in Mrs. Flinn’s classroom were very excited today because of the AR party in the afternoon and the three-day weekend ahead of them. Mrs. Flinn responded to this excitement in a very effective way. She had the students look up at the “3 Goals of BIST” which included:
1. I can take good care of myself, even if I am mad, sad, excited,
etc.
2. I can be productive and follow directions even if I don’t want to.
3. I can be okay, even when other are not okay.
After looking up at these goals, Mrs. Flinn told the students to pick one to work on improving today, close their eyes, and decide how they are going to get better at it. After a couple of minutes of silence, Mrs. Flinn reread the three goals, and students were invited to raise their hands when the specific goal they chose to improve for the day was announced. This helped the students take a step back and evaluate how to behave more appropriately throughout the day.

Teach Positive Peer-Related Social Skills: Today, Mrs. Flinn took the time to talk with the whole class of students about one strategy for being as productive and well behaved as possible on a day like today. She explained that sometimes we tend to get into more trouble when we are around certain people, especially when we are really excited. She told them that when this happens, it is completely ok to have a conversation with that specific person and explain to them that it might be best to keep a distance apart for a little while. Mrs. Flinn then went on to say that this doesn’t mean these two aren’t friends anymore or that there are any hard feelings; it just means that they want to get to the party on time and have fun this afternoon. By having this conversation, all students were on the same page and given an example of how to appropriately handle themselves.