Classroom Observation
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Reflective Essay on
Classroom Observation by Susan Walker
As I began the study of teacher observation techniques, I tried to select four teachers who are very different. I felt like this would offer me the experience of observing different personalities, level of education, experiences and teaching styles.
Dr. Experience
The first teacher that I selected, Dr. Experience,
has been teaching for twenty-five years. She holds a Ph.D. in Children’s
Literature. At my school, she is the
special education teacher for grades pre-k through third. This year, she was required to teach in an
inclusive setting. I wanted to observe
her because I realize that as an administrated I will be required to observe
teacher who hold higher degrees, as well as have more experience. I feel some anxiety about do this and by observing
her I hope to gain some insight and become more comfortable. When I observed
Dr. Experience, I sat quietly at the front of the room. I only observed for the first five minutes
before I started my data collection. I
wanted the wonderment of my present to wear off some. I also wanted to acclimate myself to the
students and double check my seating chart. The lesson was “how to use a map
scale to find distances”. The group
consisted of twenty-one students. The content was age-appropriate and was presented
clearly. The teacher attempted to
actively involve all students. I found
that as whole the majority of students (16 out of 21) was
passively on-task during the teacher-lead part of the lesson. The other five
were talking, daydreaming or moving ahead of the group. When the students were ask to work on
examples, fifteen of twenty-one were actively engaged. One student fidgeted in his seat because he
was finished. Three were overly
off-task as they were looking around trying to figure out what to do. They appeared not to even know what problem
to do. Two of the daydreamer in the
teacher-lead discussions, were now receiving help from Dr. Experience. I did notice students became more off-task
during transition time. The ones who sat
away from the teacher were off-tasked more often during instruction.
The second teacher, Ms. New, began teaching this
year. She has a B.S. in Early Childhood
and teaches first grade. I wanted to
observe Ms. New because as an administrator I am sure I will hire and observe
many new teachers. As a perspective
administrator, I realize that observations may be very intimating for first
year teachers. It is also important to
offer sound advice and encouragement to first year teachers. I felt by observing Ms. New I might gain some
helpful insights for working with inexperienced teachers.
During my observation, Ms. New and her students were
previewing a new basal story. The class
created a word splash of new words, which will appear in the story. During this activity, the students sat on an
area rug, while teacher sat in a chair by the easel pad. Children raised their hands to participate
and they were called on at random. Ms. New seemed to call on students who only
had his/her hand raise. I did notice
inattentive or shy student quickly blending in the group and were more passive
participants. The children participated
in a “Picture Walk’ and made prediction about the new story. Again, I notice active participation in some
and off-task behavior in others. Ms. New
read the story to the children, pausing on every page to ask comprehension
asking or allowing children time to make connections and talk about them. The instruction was grade appropriate and
most children were excited about learning.
The third teacher, Ms. Energetic, possess the energy
needed to teacher sixteen Kindergartner. She is has been teaching for seven
years and is currently working on be Education Specialist. During this
observation, the students were learning about community helpers. In this action packed hour, I observed Ms.
Energetic change her room into a town square in which a police, fireman and
mayor all appeared. The students were
all actively engaged and loved Ms. Energetic transformations. The Georgia
Curriculum was covered and the lesson was age –appropriate. Misbehaviors were
handled quickly and swiftly.
The fourth teacher, Ms. Old-School, definitely had
control of her classroom. She has been
teaching fifteen years. I observed
straight rows of desk and mildly attentive students, and obviously, the student
who misbehave were seating at the front.
It was writing lesson and the teacher and students were writing a
persuasive paper on choosing a class pet.
The teacher often referred to a writing process displayed on a
poster. The purpose of the lesson was to
model for students. I did observe four
children, who were not called on become very inattentive. The lesson was age-appropriate and the
material was presented clearly.
Observing should be an activity that involves
teachers and supervisors. Mutually
agreed objectives should be developed during the preconfernece. The overall goal that should be remembered
when developing the objectives is to improve learning for students as well as
teachers. Good communication skills
appears to the driving force with can make observing an effective process. A faculty meeting should be held at the
beginning of every school year to discuss and develop a shared understanding of
the observation process. The whole
faculty should develop shared beliefs about what constitutes effective
instruction. Teacher will become more comfortable with the process, which will
reduce anxiety and hopefully break down barriers that might interfere with
improving student learning. During the observation, it is very important that
the administration is not evaluating just simply collecting data to interpret
to improve instruction. Individual conference will allow teacher to be active
participates and encourage teachers to have a more reflective practice, which
in turn improve student learning. I
value the use of student data analyze to make decisions, setting goals and
developing a plan of action to achieve goals.
As a perspective administrator and advocate of learning
communities, I know I need more experience in observing teacher. I plan to
continue observing after the completion of this course. I would like to used
other methods such selective verbatim, verbal flow, class traffic and
interaction analysis. I also need to be
more assertive at expressing my opinion, because realistically all observation
are not positive and pleasant. I must
try to always be objective, offer supportive advice and be willing to provide
support that might be needed to improve student learning. In order to transform a school into a
profession learning community, teacher must be willing to open up their
classroom, share ideas with colleagues, and be willing to modify lessons to
provide students with meaningful and real learning experiences.
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