In an effort to be transparent and focused on learning, with Sarah’s permission, I am sharing the write-up from her strength-based observation: “Observation by Invitation: Observation, not Evaluation.”

Date Visited: January 27, 2026
Class or Grade: 5th Grade French (Goodell+Rigaud)
Observer: Jill Gough See Marsha’s observation too

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First, more than 95% of this class was conducted in the target language.  

My notes:

9:30

Melissa dropped off students from Goodell’s classroom promptly at 9:30. Sarah was prepared with a greeting and an activity with a slide deck, asking students what they did over the long weekend.  I think it was to be a partner activity, but the Riguad class was delayed several minutes, so Sarah engaged students in the question, “Qu’est-ce que tu as fait ce weekend?”  Students were prompted to answer “J’ai…” and had choices with visual support.  

9:33

Rigaud’s class arrived, and Sarah continued with “Qu’est-ce que tu as fait ce weekend?”, reminding students to speak in the target language.

9:35

Sarah gave an overview of the lesson plan, which included reading Chapter 3 of La France en danger et les secrets de Picasso (France in Danger and the Secrets of Picasso), working on new vocabulary, acting out Chapter 3, and reading and acting.  

9:36

Sarah led a choral response of new vocabulary from this novel using WordWall.

9:37

Students moved to their seats to complete a review of new vocabulary using PearDeck.  As students completed this retrieval practice, they moved to the ClearTouch and collaborated on matching the words to the images or phrases. There were delays loading PearDeck, and a few students grew impatient. Sarah kindly and firmly redirected them back to work, all in the target language.

9:40  

This session continued with a comprehension check using appositives.  Slides with text and images appeared on the screen.  Sarah called for choral responses, redirected students as needed, and corrected their understanding and pronunciation in the moment.  Anita Archer would have been very proud and impressed.

9:52

Sarah invited students to retrieve their book, La France en danger et les secrets de Picasso, and join her in a reader’s theater for Chapter 3.  She selected students to represent Pauline (Bonnie Bell), Marcel (Jeremiah), Luc, and Roger.  Sarah read while the students acted out the scene until other students volunteered to read aloud.  Students were to read along in the book or on the screen at the “back of the theatre.”

10:01

The consolidation activity at the end of class was a worksheet, La France en Danger – Chpt 3, for students to complete in groups:  Charades (acting out) and Ecris le vocabulaire.

Strengths observed:

• Virtually 100% of the class was in the target language.
• Clear routines are shared and understood between the class and the teacher.
• Learning-focused work that integrates movement, play, and best practices.
• The choral response technique was employed repeatedly, with rapid correction to ensure understanding.
• Sarah’s feedback was immediate, direct, corrective, and delivered with a smile.
• Students responded positively to feedback.
• High expectations around performance and behavior with quick, kind, corrective feedback when students were off task.
• Students engaged in activities with interest and enthusiasm.
• Primacy-Recency timing was employed.

Sarah, thank you for the work you and your team have done with curriculum mapping in Toddle.  I used your map to find the novel study for 5th grade, the book’s title, and the essentials to learn. It is very clear, easy to find, and easy to understand.  From your lesson, I know the goals for students.

• I can conjugate basic verbs to talk about actions in the novel for chapter summaries.
• I can act out scenes from the novel using memorized vocabulary, phrases, and correct verb forms.

My sketch and some photos are shared below.

My sketch:

Photos from the lesson: