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
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
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,