Classroom Observation
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Introduction
There is so much potential for growth of teachers by using observation, reflection and
feedback. Feedback is one of the actions that teachers lack very much. Feedback and the
actions that make it possible, observation and reflection, are the few actions that can truly
improve teaching standards and systems. In my case, as an observer and future educational
administrator, observing the classroom benefits myself and the teachers. As the observer, I
can provide feedback to the teacher about his/her style and methodology; and the teacher can
provide feedback on my interpretation of the instructors teaching decisions. My observations
took place at Orchard Street Elementary School. I was observing an 8th grade Math teacher.
- Pre-conference
Before the observation was scheduled to take place, a meeting with the teacher was important
to make sure we both understand each other’s goals and expectations. Generally, as an
observer, I will be looking at the teacher’s style, what effective teaching methods are being
employed, and what authentic teaching methods are being used. Additionally, I will be
looking at the classroom atmosphere and the socio-economic culture of the class. On the
other hand, the teacher hopes to gain some feedback from this exercise; she wants to know
whether or not she is an effective teacher, and how she can improve. After speaking to the
teacher to establish some rapport, I noticed that she was very passionate about teaching and
about student learning. She explained to me that it is her goal to instill a passion for learning
and curiosity within the students. Showing the students how knowledge is important and how
critical and logical thinking can help tremendously. Lastly, we discussed how the observation
will include qualitative and a few quantitative observations. Detached open-ended narrative
would be the best way to describe the type of observation that would be used along with
focused questionnaire observation. As for quantitative observations, I planned on using class
participation as performance indicators and categorical frequencies. Both teacher and I came
out of the pre-conference meeting with good expectations for the observation and excitement
about practicing.
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Classroom Observation
As I explained above, it was agreed that qualitative observations would be the main type of
observation used. The best types of qualitative observations to use in this assessment are: (1)
detached open-ended narrative and (2) focused questionnaire. The agreed quantitative
observations were going to be based on class participation. Categorical frequency to show if
and how frequently students participated in class; and performance indicators such as
meaningful discussion to show if authentic learning was happening in the classroom. The
detached open-ended narrative observation type was agreed on because it would provide the
most amount of data to use in case a new observational topic was discovered during the
actual observation. According to Glickman, Gordon, & Ross-Gordon, a detached open-ended
narrative observation is when the supervisor is detached from classroom instruction and
attempts to write down every person, event, or thing that attracts attention. A video tape of
the class would be very helpful in this case; however, we did not use one for this particular
observation. This detached narrative can provide the most possible data to interpret and use.
In addition to using the detached open-ended narrative observation, it was agreed that we
would also have a focused questionnaire to help guide our observation and interpretation.
After understanding what each other is looking to gain from this experience, I developed a
couple of questions to focus my observations, and ultimately my interpretation: What
effective teaching methods are being used in this class? What methods can be implemented
that are not already being used? What evidence is there, if any, showing authentic learning?
What is the level of the teacher’s Social Emotional Competence? What suggestions can I
make to help this person be a more effective teacher? Lastly, the quantitative observations
were agreed to because class participation would be an easily observable indicator to show
the frequency of class participation, and the type of class participation. We agreed to use
some of performance indicators of authentic learning to gather quantitative data regarding the
teacher’s effectiveness. Below is a typed version of my notes from my observation:
8:00 am – students started to come into the classroom and take their seats. Some students did
school work, and others talked with each other.
8:12 am – Teacher started to address the students with asking about the weekend and news
regarding assignments for the class. One student raised his hand and asked the teacher to
repeat the due date.
8:15 am – Teacher collected the homework assigned last class and told the class she would
give it back next time with corrections.
8:20 am – Teacher started to review the formulas and theories covered last class (Geometry)
and provided a short quiz to refresh the students memories. The grade of the quiz was not
recorded; however, the students exchanged answers after 15 minutes, and the group of tables
with the highest number of correct answers won. The prize was exemption from the small
quiz at the beginning of the following class. (praise and support)
8:35 am – Grading of mini quiz started. Teacher did the problems with the students and
answered questions about the problem solving steps and about the specific formula. Some
students did not participate and did not pay attention to the review of the mini quiz (maybe
because it is ungraded?)
8:50 am – Teacher started to cover a new topic, related to the previous topic. Teacher
provided an example to show how the old topic relates to the new topic. (different students
started to not pay attention, only 2 students did not participate in this portion of the class and
did not listen- teacher did not address this with student).
9:00 am – Students asked questions about the new topic and how it relates to the previous
topic. Prompted students to discuss the two topics and develop conclusions (higher-order of
thinking and meaningful discussion)
9:05 am – teacher provided and worked another example to show how the two topics are
related. (connected-ness: teacher used everyday example of billiards to show relation of
angles)
9:15 am – Teacher assigned sample problems to different tables and asked the tables to work
in groups to find the answers.
9:25 am – Groups of tables presented their answers to the class, one-by-one, to teach the
other students how the problem was solved. Teacher guided the presenters and provided
correct answers to groups that did not do the problems correctly.
Observer Analysis and Interpretation
After having completed the observation of the class, focus moved to preparing for the PostConference portion of the exercise. In order to prepare for the Post-Conference, I needed to
review the data I collected, and I needed to interpret the data with regard to the expectations
reviewed by the teacher and myself, pre-observation. According to Glickman, Gordon and
Ross-Gordon, the framework for supervisory models are: (1) the directive approach, the
outcome is a supervisor-assigned plan; (2) the directive informational approach, the outcome
is a supervisor-suggested plan; (3) the collaborative approach, the outcome is a mutual plan,
and (4) the nondirective approach the outcome is a teacher self-plan. Having considered all
four models, it was decided that the best plan of action would be the collaborative approach
for the following reasons. First, I only observed one class for this teacher; it is very possible
that my presence during the class affected the behavior of the students. Any off-task behavior
noted would be addressed with the teacher during our final meeting. I do not want to overstep
any boundaries with the teacher by dictating what she needs to do with her class; as she has
already demonstrated her effective teaching skills. Second, the teacher knows her classes
better than I do. She might know that certain classes generally act or behave a certain way,
and she might have knowledge of how to better teach different math subjects due to her
experience in teaching. Although the teacher does have first-hand experience, my objectivity
in this matter provides me with a view of her classroom that she does not have. I might be
able to see things that she does not (maybe she has her back faced to the class), or maybe the
teacher has grown accustomed to certain student behavior that can cause disruptions in the
future. Finally, by employing the collaborative method, I will be able to provide the teacher
with a sense of autonomy. As research has shown, teachers who have autonomy are more
effective with their students because they have a sense of freedom and control. In addition to
determining what supervisory method to use for this teacher, I had to develop my own
conclusions regarding the data I collected. It is clear that the teacher demonstrated some
effective teaching skills, as well as demonstrating authentic instruction. A couple of the
effective teaching skills this teacher demonstrated are: (1) providing a daily review of the last
class, (2) engaging the whole classroom with guided practice, (3) using models and examples,
(4) confident about her teaching and her style of teaching, and (5) providing scaffolds for
challenging problems. During the class period, the teacher provided a daily review the help of
her daily quizzes. Keeping the quiz out of the graded part of the student records allowed for
students to participate freely without the fear of losing points or missing something. In
addition to providing a daily review, the teacher also engaged the whole classroom with her
daily review, and then also used models and examples during the class period to help students
understand the old and new material. It is no mystery as to whether or not this teacher knows
what she is doing; however, feedback from an objective eye can only help.
The teacher went further to also demonstrate that authentic learning was happening in her
classroom. By providing students with real-life examples, providing background information
to lead students into a new topic, and by having the whole class participate in conversation,
and rewarding the group of students who does best on the daily quiz, this teacher has
demonstrated four ways authentic learning is happening in her classroom. A higher-order of
thinking was demonstrated by providing background information leading to students drawing
their own conclusions into the next topic of instruction. Support for students’ achievements
was shown with the teacher’s daily quiz. The praise came in the form of an exemption from
the quiz on the following class day. Praise will help students feel confident and comfortable
with their environment. Connected-ness to the outside world was shown in the teacher’s
examples used in her class. By connecting the outside world to the subject matter being
taught, students can create more and new connections to help retain information. Lastly,
substantive conversation was also seen in the teacher’s class. By allowing students to discuss
openly about their ideas and conclusions, she allows for more participation and a level of
comfort that is much higher than if she were to call on students individually for answers to
questions. Allowing substantive conversation of the subject allows students to draw their own
conclusions and help spark a higher-level of thinking.
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Post-Conference
After having interpreted of data and after reviewing it once more, a post-conference meeting
was set-up. After explaining my interpretations to the teacher, it was quickly made clear that
the teacher understood her class very well. The teacher agreed with many of my observations
regarding her effective teaching strategies and authentic learning. She wished she could do
more to help the students with this regard. It was very interesting to discuss the off-topic
gestures or actions going on in the classroom during instruction. The teacher explained how
her courses generally behave. The classes that are more difficult usually have students who
understand more quickly when presented with information in one way. The teacher expressed
to me that she doesn’t have to use as many examples in her higher level classes because the
students generally find ways to understand more quickly than others. Due to the fact that
there are more off-topic behaviors in her class, she decided to use homework as a heavily
counted grade. This would offset the time wasted in class trying to get all of the students on
the same page. I agreed that this would be a possible solution, but I also presented the teacher
with a solution that could help the whole class together; not just reward those who did
homework and penalize those who did not. Instead of the homework being such a weighted
grade, maybe she can use more examples to connect what the students are learning to the real
world. By using models and examples from the real world, she will invite more students to
participate in the discussion, and potentially this could lead to substantive conversation.
Perhaps this will allow students to feel more comfortable and take more interest in the subject
matter that they are trying to learn. Furthermore, asking more questions during class was
suggested to help more people participate. By guiding the questions and answers, the teacher
can create an atmosphere in the classroom that is conducive to authentic learning. The teacher
commented that she usually does ask many questions, but was having difficulty connecting
with her students on this particular day. Apart from asking more questions, and providing a
higher sense of connected-ness to the outside world, I could only really recommend this
teacher be a little more flexible with her teaching style and to try new styles and approaches
that will help engage the whole classroom in a more efficient way. It was clear that this
teacher knew the skills of an effective teacher, and also knew authentic learning standards
and characteristics for students. After discussing the feedback for the teacher, the teacher also
had some feedback for me as the observer. The teacher expressed gratitude in my objective
eye and helping her develop her teaching style. The teacher enjoyed my feedback and wants
to use it to develop a new approach for some of her classes. She was happy to receive this
constructive criticism to realize that she does need to be a little more flexible with her
teaching style. She commented on the fact that I was very quiet and tried not to interrupt her
class as much as possible. The teacher was impressed with the level of professionalism used
throughout the whole experience and was hopeful to do it again.
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