Transcript Stricom 1.21.9 C

C RE SS T/U C LA
Qualitative Indicators:
Classroom Observations and
Classroom Practice
Ann M. Mastergeorge
UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies
Center for the Study of Evaluation
National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing
Education Writers Association Conference “How To Tell If Schools Are Really Improving”
December 8, 2000
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Classroom Observation
“ What Things to Look For?”
An Overview
A Researcher Perspective: Classroom
Culture, Classroom Practice, Classroom
Domains
Shaping Classroom Observations: Field
notes and Protocols
Meaning in the Classroom: What do the
words and ratings mean?
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Characteristics of Qualitative
Observations
 Natural Setting As Direct Source of Data
 Researcher = Key Instrument
 Descriptive
 Concerned with Process
 Analyze Inductively
 Meaning in Participant Perspectives
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Classroom Observations:
To See or Not to See
What is important to see in and out of
the classroom?
How do I structure my fieldnotes and
interviews?
Where is the story and how do I let it
unfold?
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Classroom Observations
Creative Tensions: Issues and Paradoxes
Understanding the classroom as a culture
versus the classroom as a classroom
Entering the world as a ”novice" versus the
world as an “expert”
Knowing the story versus finding the story
and letting the story unfold
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Classroom Observations (con’t.)
Notes versus fieldnotes
The whole picture versus a piece of the
picture
The research community versus the
school community
Quality of observations versus quantity
of observations
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Classroom Observations (con’t)
Creative Chaos: The Collision of Observers
and Participants
The World As We See It: How to Share a
Vision
Creating Understandings of the
Observations: Perspectives, Insights,
Barriers, Limitations
The Right Answer: Where is it?
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A Day in the Life of a School
Issues to Consider
 The (sub)cultures
 Perspectives
 Chaos
 Negotiation and
Choices
Making the
Familiar Strange
Making the
Strange Familiar
Finding and
Unfolding the
story
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Issues and Dilemmas in Fieldwork
At what level do I describe reality (e.g.
how specific, how general should I be)?
How inferential should my field
observations be?
How do I differentiate between what I
see and hear and what I infer from my
observations?
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Issues and Dilemmas in Fieldwork (con’t)
Should I count "things" that I see?
When have I observed enough?
Should I take my participants points of view or
my own when I do fieldwork?
What's important about what I am observing?
Have I seen everything, or is there
to see?
more
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Issues and Dilemmas in Fieldwork (con’t)
Should I take notes while I am observing? If
so, should they be narratives, shorthand
accounts, outlines, or....?
What should I watch--people, interactions,
settings, all of the above?
Should I concentrate on watching a few things,
or should I sample from many? If the latter,
how do I sample?
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Issues and Dilemmas in Fieldwork (con’t)
Should I quote verbatim what people say
or just the gist of their words?
What should be my style of
observation/recording? Should I be a
holistic ethnographer, a radical empiricist,
both, neither?
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Characteristics of Field Notes
Rough (jotted, mental notes) versus
Finished Notes
Use of Mnemonics
Noting what is missed
Level of Detail
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Characteristics of Field Notes (con’t.)
Observer Comments
Summarizing
Posing New Questions
Timely Write-up
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Field Note Focus
Observation Domains:

Descriptive

Focused

Selective
Observation Types:

Activities
•
Dyads

Individuals
•
Times of Day

One Individual’s Life
•
Periods in Routine

Roles
•
Types of Acts
•
“Windows” on Behavior
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Field Note Example 1
EXAMPLE 1:
The students are observing Pillbugs first and then will look at Bess Beetles, first
in the cup, then dumping it into their hands to look at it. Each student has a piece of
paper with space for a picture and thick lines on it, and two sentence starters separated
into two columns: "A Pillbug is…" and "A Bess Beetle is..."
After about 10 minutes of working with this activity, the teacher claps for their
attention and tells them that they should be at the point where they are drawing and
describing their bugs . One student starts writin g immediately, and the teacher calls
attention to her, commending her out loud on using the adjective "small" to describe her
bug. The little girl smiles as she is complimented.
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Field Note Example 1 (con’t.)
After about 15 minutes of the kids working with Pillbugs, she hands each group a cup
with a Beetle in it. The kids are going nuts. T hey are so excited to touch these beetles and
are using magnifying glasses to see them close-up.
Meanwhile the teacher continues to rove around. She claps for their attention and
tells the kids, "I want to see all beetles back in their cups and I want you to start drawing
and writing." The class gets quieter as they put the beetles away and start to write and
draw. Again, she roves around to check out spelling and printing, paying as much
attention to these issues as to content issues…
The kids are so engaged in this activity. T hey are squea ling with excitement and
disgust as they hold the bugs . All of the studen ts are actively involved in this activity.
With the beetle, the kids are so excited, yelling and dancing around with excitement
about touching them and feeling them. T hey maintain excitement and engagement the
entire time. The kids are excited and discuss with each other characteristics of the bugs
as they write.
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Field Note Example 2
EXAMPLE 2:
She tells them she has a book called "Postcards from Pluto" that will help give
them some ideas about what to write on their postcards. She begins the read aloud and it
is about a tour of the solar system. In the story, the students first fly by the sun, and there
is a postcard in the story from a student writing home to his parents about the sun, telling
them it's a star, what it's made of, and what sun spots are. One boy yells out, "Man, they'd
be dead if they were that close." The teacher ignores these comments and a few others.
The next postcard is from a student visiting Mercury. T hestudents make more
comments. Rather than discussing the comments or creating an instructional conversation
the teacher tells them to hold their questions until they are all done. She continues reading
to them and tells them to be quiet so they can finish the story so they have enough time to
write their postcards.
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Field Note Example 2 (con’t.)
On the page from Earth, a student asks what the robot is saying, the teacher hasn't
read it yet. She tells him the robot is saying, "I wish those people on Earth would take
better care of me." The boysays, "yeah because everyone pollutes." The teacher
continues reading. This is another missed opportunity to have a short educational
conversation.
At Mars a girl raises her hand and the teacher tells her to hold her question until
she's finished reading. Between each planet there is a little discussion among the students,
for instance about the moons in orbit around a certain planet or whichever a student
thinks is his favorite planet. T he teacher ignores all of this and continues on with the
reading. T his goes on until she has read all the postcards from each of the nine planets.
The teacher cold have done a better job including the students in the introductory
lesson, she had several opportunities to establish an instructional dialogue… She was
more concerned with having enough time than maximizing student learning.
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Domains of Engagement
Opportunities for engagement in
discussions
Monitoring students’ work
Critical thinking skills
Quality feedback
Dialogue between students and
teachers
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Domains of Engagement (con’t.)
Excitement
Use of prompts
Integrated approach
Engaging implementation of
lesson/activity
Creative process and thinking
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CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS
Classroom Practice Observation Protocol
Domains of Classroom Practice:

Challenge of the Lesson Activities

Implementation of Lesson Activity

Proportion of Students On-Task

Opportunity to Participate in Conversation

Student Participation in Conversation

Quality of Instructional Feedback
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TEACHER INTERVIEWS
Emerging Themes
 Learning that promotes student inquiry and
provides students with meaningful
experiences
 Learners that are active, independent, and
empowered
 An expectation that test scores will improve
and a concern that test scores have to
improve
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Student Technology Assignments
Teacher Ratings of Technology Integration Assignments
Teacher Assignments and Student Work
Teacher As s igned Leve ls of Technology
Integration
As signment
Low
Medium
High
"PowerPoint"
2
0
0
"His tory o f L.A."
0
2
2
"Projectile Lab"
0
2
0
"Drum Machine"
0
0
2
"Similar Triangle"
5
3
0
"Ocean ography"
1
0
0
"A Fies ta"
5
0
0
"NASA "
0
0
3
"Text ure Design"
0
5
0
"Self Portrait
0
0
3
13
12
8
Total
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Classroom Observations
Methodological Framework
Documentation