Case+Study+1


 * Return to:** 21st Century Teacher Development Tools


 * Teacher Observation Case Studies - Case Study 1**

Ms. Smith is a fourth grade teacher in a K-8 school with approximately 500 students. She has twelve years of experience. Her class has 28 students. The school has one computer lab as well as a mobile laptop cart. Students do a pull-out technology period but Ms. Smith does not know what goes on there. Ms. Smith’s classes do well on NYS exams every year and she is recognized as one of the better teachers in the school.

As you enter the class, you take note of how the room has been organized. The desks and chairs have been arranged in seven groups of four. A class library is evident in the back of the room with bookcases, a table and a colorful rug. The NYS ELA standards are prominently displayed. The walls are decorated with student projects that are artistic and have a good amount of writing – all written and drawn neatly by hand. Several of the displayed projects involve Science and Mathematics. Educational posters and a word wall containing a number of vocabulary words – many of which are discipline-specific are also displayed. There is a row of desktop computers in the back of the room which are covered and turned off.

As the lesson begins, it is immediately evident that Ms. Smith has an excellent rapport with her students. Today’s lesson is a continuation of a personal narrative unit that the class has been working on. During the min-lesson, Ms. Smith reads an excerpt from a memoir to the class and asks them to take note of any effective uses of descriptions. After the reading, students in their groups compare their notes and then share their examples with the class. The students explain why they believe the descriptions they have noted are effective. One student keeps a list of the qualities good descriptions have on a flip chart. After this discussion, students open their writing folders and do some peer revising, working collaboratively to identify opportunities in their piece to develop their descriptions. An examination of several of the writing folders reveals that Ms. Smith does a lot of writing with the class in both fiction and non-fiction and favors a workshop approach. You note most of the final drafts of student work are written out by hand. As your observation ends, you take note of how the students were actively engaged at all times and had developed good collaboration skills. Ms. Smith circulated during the observation working with different groups. The lesson ended with students writing in their journals about their self-perceptions of their effectiveness as group members and their plans for how they will revise their writing.

//How would you advise Ms. Smith?//