Transcript Document 7735721

You looking at me?
Designing Practical Classroom
Observation Instruments
Presenter:
Martin Goosey
Assistant Teaching Centre Manager
for Professional Development
British Council Madrid Young Learners
Session Outline
In this presentation, you be will be asked to take the role of a
classroom observer, as well as listening to the talk.
You will find a classroom observation instrument on your chair.
One side looks like this:
The other looks like this:
Choose one version,
and complete it during the
session as you watch and
listen.
Why observe?
Peer observation ‘can be an
excellent stimulus for
professional development,
both for the observer and
the observed’ – Nunan &
Lamb
‘Many educationalists identify
collegiality and collaboration as key
dimensions of teacher development
leading to ‘interactive
professionalism’’ – Brewster
‘Received Knowledge’ can be distinguished from ‘Experiential
Knowledge’ in professional development. Wallace argues for ‘the
complementary importance of shared experience of practice in
teacher education… [and] discussion of such practice being
focused along selected parameters’ – Wallace
Who do you watch?
In the vast majority of cases, observation is used to observe
teachers, for:
• Institutional quality control
• Professional development – the observed, e.g. teaching practicum
• Professional development – the observer, e.g. peer observation
BUT
If we use observation to watch:
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The learners
The activities
Classroom interactions
Technological functionality
we can get new perspectives on
many aspects of teaching-learning.
The Project
TITLE:
‘Comparison of Experienced and Inexperienced
Teacher Use of IWBs (Interactive White Boards)
through Classroom Observation’
KEY AIMS:
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Number of years of teaching experience & utilization of IWB
functionality.
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Technological familiarity & range of functional use.
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Particular uses of the technology and YL engagement.
IDEA:
From Ruth Wajnryb, who suggests using observation for
gathering ‘information about the ways in which and the
purposes for which the board was used in the lesson and
use these to discuss related issues’ – Wajnryb.
The Project
PROCEDURE:
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Conduct research, establishing possible
activity types
Design pro-forma
Agree observation schedule – 10 teachers to
be observed
First observations
Adapt instrument, meeting recognised needs
Continue observations
Second adaptation
Complete observations
Follow-up with those observed
Reporting
The Pro-forma
The Pro-forma
Project Results
RESULTS OF OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK
With only 10 observations, analysis of results must be qualitative rather than
quantitative: patterns emerge from results, but these are uncertain given
the small sample.
In fact, there is little apparent correlation between the range of functions
used and level of IWB experience, or service years.
The original issues raised for this research were gauging correlations
between:
• Years of experience and utilization of IWB range.
• Technological familiarity and range.
• Particular uses of the technology and Young Learner (YL) engagement.
Addressing these in turn, we see:
– Little apparent difference between length of service and use of IWBs
– Technological familiarity does not imply greater use of functional range
– YLs are equally engaged with or without IWB-based tasks
Project Results
YL ENGAGEMENT & IWB USE
There is no evidence in this research to suggest that YLs are more engaged
with IWB-based activities than otherwise.
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From a total of 51 observed activities, 27 were IWB-orientated.
The average number of activities was 6-7 (but 11 with one class of 6 year
olds), in classes of one hour.
No statistical correlation between positive responsiveness & taskorientation is discernible.
Too many other elements are involved in the complex interweaving of
affective factors, including:
• Mood / tiredness
• Teaching-Learning style
• Interpersonal relationships / group dynamics
• Effectiveness of teacher set-up
• Intrinsic motivation
(NB: Totals are based on observations 4-10, after the change to emoticon descriptors,
since it would be implausible to assign correlations between the same emoticons with
differing descriptors.)
Project Results
TEACHER REACTIONS
From the feedback questionnaire:
One inexperienced professional, whose use of IWBs has only spanned a few
months, responded that IWBs had caused him ‘unnecessary difficulties’ in
his teaching.
Asked if IWBs had affected their YL teaching in any way, six said their
teaching had improved somewhat. Additionally, one who responded ‘no’ to
this question, added ‘not really in terms of quality but of course I do
different activities’.
It seems clear that most teachers see IWB functions as increasing their range
of options, rather than changing the methodological basis of their
teaching. One (inexperienced in IWBs) commented, ‘The great thing about
IWBs is they bring colour to the classroom’.
However, one interesting result was teacher interpretation of learner
reactions to IWB use: asked if YL enthusiasm for their classes would be
affected if IWBs were absent, six teachers reckoned ‘about the same’,
while four felt that enthusiasm would decrease.
Project Results
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
Designing the pro-forma wasn’t difficult, but the process was thoughtprovoking.
The experience of looking at the children, rather than the teacher, was highly
informative.
The pro-forma itself was adaptable to many different classroom observation
tasks.
However, in this case, background knowledge on the teachers’ relative
experience was crucial.
Seeing a number of teachers in action for the same purpose gave real
impetus to my personal learning.
I was still able to provide accurate feedback to teachers who asked for it:
very simply, I was able to observe far more than in a ‘normal’ observation.
Summary
‘The aim of the advisor in the feedback session is to
enable the teacher to reflect on their teaching
experience and critically reassess their
understanding in the light of this reflection’ –
Randall & Thornton
‘Behaviour can be so habitual that you don’t pay
much attention to it. As a result you can be
driven by old patterns rather than make
conscious choices about the way you act’ – Head
& Taylor
References
Brewster, J. (2007) Issues in Pre- and In-Service Teacher Preparation.
In: Powell-Davies, P. (Ed.) Primary Innovations Regional Seminar,
Hanoi, March 2007, A Collection of Papers Hanoi: British Council
Head, K. & Taylor, P. (1997) Readings in Teacher Development Oxford:
MacMillan Heinemann ELT
Moon, J. (2000) Children Learning English Oxford: MacMillan-Heinemann
ELT
Nunan, D. & Lamb, C. (1996) The Self-Directed Teacher – Managing the
learning process Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Randall, M. & Thornton, B. (2001) Advising and Supporting Teachers
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Wajnryb, R. (1992) Classroom Observation Tasks – A resource book for
language teachers and trainers Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press
Wallace, M. (1991) Training Foreign Language Teachers – A reflective
approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Many Thanks!
Any questions, please e-mail:
[email protected]
Thank you for your participation, and I
wish you good luck in your
observations!