Post on 24-Dec-2015
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Taking a learning & development perspective
towards lesson observation and lesson critique
Language Learning Support Section18 November 2013
What is our current practice?What is our current practice?
Think about these questions…
1. Who usually asks for lesson observations?
6. What is/are the focus(es) of the observations?
2. Who conducts lesson observations in your school?
7. What lesson observation tools are used?
3. How often are you observed? 8. Who designs these tools?
4. How much preparation time do you usually have before being observed?
9. Do you and the observer(s) have meeting(s) before and/or after lesson observation?
5. What is/are the purpose(s) of these observations?
10.How do you feel about lesson observations in general?
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LO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
LO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
AppraisalAppraisal Learning and developmentLearning and development
-- … are used primarily to judge the quality of someone’s performance.
-- … are used for promotion purposes.
-- … provide specific information about what happens in the classroom.
-- … enable the person observing to learn about different strategies of achieving similar learning objectives.
-- … can be used for collecting data and to help teachers develop a deeper understanding of their practice.
WHY
Lesson observations…
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AppraisalAppraisal Learning and developmentLearning and development
Lesson observations tend to be very broad and general in focus.
Lesson observations tend to focus on one or some particular aspect(s) to enable both the observer and the teacher observed to develop better, deeper insights.
WHATLO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
LO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
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AppraisalAppraisal Learning and developmentLearning and development
Lesson observations are usually carried out by a superior (e.g. principal, PSM(CD), panel head, etc.).
Lesson observations can be carried out by people of different positions (e.g. peers, superiors, new teachers, etc.).
WHOLO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
LO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
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AppraisalAppraisal Learning and developmentLearning and development
Lesson observations can take many different forms, but usually include grades/ marks for certain pre-determined aspects.
Lesson observations can take many different forms – written comments, analysis of the type of language used by students and the teacher, etc. The choice can be made by mutual consensus.
HOWLO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
LO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
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AppraisalAppraisal Learning and developmentLearning and development
Lesson observations are carried out at specific times during the academic year.
Lesson observations can be done at specific times and any time a teacher feels that he/ she needs to learn more about a certain aspect of their teaching/ class.
WHENLO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
LO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
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AppraisalAppraisal Learning and developmentLearning and development
After observation, there is usually standard documentation that is included in teacher’s file for reference (e.g. promotion) and accountability.
After observation, there is usually documentation that conceptualizes learning of the observation.
WHAT
NEXT
LO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
LO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
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AppraisalAppraisal Learning and developmentLearning and development
Lesson observations often include a post-lesson observation meeting with a superior.
Lesson observations include post-lesson observation meetings that include observers other than superiors.
LO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives
LO from different LO from different perspectivesperspectives WHA
T NEX
T
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School-based decisions
Is it a routine to have LO every year?
Is it necessary to conduct LO on every teacher?
Is Panel head the only one responsible for
observing the lessons?
School needs / focus
Specific target
Shared commitment
Reduce Teachers’ workload
Facilitate / encourage peer learning
Reduce Teachers’ workload
Facilitate / encourage peer learning
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What do we need to do before observing a lesson?
Discuss with your neighbour 2 things you might need to do before observing a lesson.
1 min
Do we need to comment on all
things happened inside the
classroom?
Do we just simply walk into the
classroom with the observation form?
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• Collect information from the teacher concerned (e.g. background of class, lesson objectives & lesson design)
• Compromise on the ‘focus’ and criteria for success of the lesson
=> appropriate observation tools
Pre-LO task
winwin
Mutual respect and support
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What are some of the focusesto observe?
Teaching behavior
Learning behavior
Patterns of interaction Different
learning styles
Concentration spans
Patterns of group dynamics
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How to observe?Use of appropriate lesson observation
tools
Teaching
behaviorTeaching
behaviorConcentration
spanConcentration
span
Patterns of interaction Patterns of interaction
Student
behaviorStudent
behavior
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On top of the line, record the number of times a teacher has interacted with a student.
On top of the line, record the number of times a teacher has interacted with a student.
Diagram of verbal interaction T
Sa Sb Sc Sd Se
Sf Sg Sh Si Sj
Sk Sl Sm Sn So
Sp Sq Sr Ss St
Su Sv Sw Sx Sy
Sz Sa1 Sa2 Sa3 Sa4
S = studentT = teacher
*
Adapted from: Supervision of Instruction, 1998, Allyn & Bacon.
20Source: Supervision of Instruction, 1998, Allyn & Bacon.
Teacher Verbal Behaviors
Time interval can be decided upon by observer and teacher being observed.
If the teacher demonstrates the behaviours indicated within the time interval, this is recorded.
Time interval can be decided upon by observer and teacher being observed.
If the teacher demonstrates the behaviours indicated within the time interval, this is recorded.
Identify and agree on six teacher behaviors
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Record the frequency of the type of question
here.
Record the frequency of the type of question
here.
You can also create a space to record examples of
questions for the different levels.
You can also create a space to record examples of
questions for the different levels.
Types of questions asked
You can use Bloom’s taxonomy or any other you think is
suitable.
You can use Bloom’s taxonomy or any other you think is
suitable.
Calculate the percentage of the total question each category represents.
Calculate the percentage of the total question each category represents.
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Key: TotalA= at task ____AT= at task with teacher ____TK= talking ____P= playing ____O= out of seat ____OR= out of room ____OT= off task ____
Adapted from: Supervision of Instruction, 1998, Allyn & Bacon.
Student 9:00 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:30
Tom A A AT A A A OR
Mandy A A AT AT OR A A
Vivian O O P P OT O O
Nancy OT OT AT P A A P
Lucy OT OT AT P O AT A
Helen AT P P AT P P OT
Norman TK AT A TK TK TK AT
Wayne OT OT OT OT OT OT OT
Maria OR A A A TK A A
Student on-task and off-task behavior Decide on how long the observation
intervals should be.
Decide on how long the observation
intervals should be.
Decide which behaviours the students should be
demonstrating.
Decide which behaviours the students should be
demonstrating.
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Key: TotalA= at task ____AT= at task with teacher ____TK= talking ____P= playing ____O= out of seat ____OR= out of room ____OT= off task ____
Adapted from: Supervision of Instruction, 1998, Allyn & Bacon.
Student 9:00 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:30
Tom A A AT A A A OR
Mandy A A AT AT OR A A
Vivian O O P P OT O O
Nancy OT OT AT P A A P
Lucy OT OT AT P O AT A
Helen AT P P AT P P OT
Wayne TK AT A TK TK TK AT
Norman OT OT OT OT OT OT OT
Maria OR A A A TK A A
Student 9:00 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:30
Tom A A AT A A A OR
Mandy A A AT AT OR A A
Vivian O O P P OT O O
Nancy OT OT AT P A A P
Lucy OT OT AT P O AT A
Helen AT P P AT P P OT
Norman TK AT A TK TK TK AT
Wayne OT OT OT OT OT OT OT
Maria OR A A A TK A A
Students were listed according to seat order e.g. front row to back row.
Student on-task and off-task behaviorUse symbols to record a
specific behaviour,e.g. ‘At task’.
Use symbols to record a specific behaviour,
e.g. ‘At task’.
Show clearly the frequency of occurrences
of a specific behaviour e.g. ‘At task’.
Show clearly the frequency of occurrences
of a specific behaviour e.g. ‘At task’.
24Class: _______
Time: ______ Date: _____________
Adapted from: Supervision of Instruction, 1998, Allyn & Bacon.
• collect data on students’
behaviours
Focus on individual student
Time Student: Paul Teacher: Ms Chan
9:05 Shouting loudly in class
T moves towards Paul
Stops misbehavior
9:10 Leaves desk; walks around the room
uses eye contact with Paul
Goes back to his seat
9:13 Playing with friends sitting next to him
criticizes Paul, tells him to stop or he will be punished
Throw his books tells Paul to see her after class
Grumbles
9:20 Not working / passive Goes to Paul’s seat, patting his shoulder
Back on task
Individual student behavior
•Teacher’s response and the effects of those responses on the student
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Source: Instructional leader’s guide to informal classroom observations, 2009, Eye on Education.
Time Observation
8:00 T explained task clearly.
8:02 Ss formed into groups quickly once they were ready.
8:03 A late comer entered room. He apologized and went to his group immediately.
8:15 T walked around the room and note down students’ discussion problems.
Open-ended notes
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Give observers an overview of the focus of the lesson at different time.
Observers make notes about their observation during the
lesson.
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Focus Yes No Comment/example
C. Active pupil participation
1.include different modes of interaction (e.g. T-Ss instruction/questioning, T-S individual instruction, S-S cooperation, Ss-Ss competition, S-Ss presentation/demonstration)
Students proactively participated in the ‘Motivation Task' ─ Mind Guest and group discussion. Very welcomed by students. Being motivated, students quickly got into the learning context.
2. establish a purpose/reason for learning/doing the activities for pupils
3. give clear instructions for activities
4. design motivating tasks Excellent, students learn through playing and doing. This activity also facilitates students to recall the vocabularies.
5. provide sufficient time for pupils to achieve the goal of the activities
Most students finished their group work around 15 minutes.
Derive data for analyzing the lesson statistically.
Derive data for analyzing the lesson statistically.
Record certain behaviours in detail.
Record certain behaviours in detail.
Mixture
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Advantages of using LO tools
•It provides a means of collecting data that frees the observer from forming an opinion or making an on-the-spot evaluation during the lesson.
•It facilitates an evidence-based discussion of the lesson, hence reducing subjectivity of one’s judgment and/or interpretation.
•It limits the scope of what one is observing and allows one to focus on particular aspects.
Wajnrby, Ruth (1992). Classroom observation tasks: a resource book for language teachers and trainers. Cambridge University Press.
Forming groups
• Divide into 12 groups
• Each group has 20 mins to:watch a video clip assigned to your groupcomplete the observation tooldiscuss the questionsprepare for presenting group’s ideas in
response to the questions
Questions
• Are all the students always on-task? Who is/ are always on-task? Who is/ are always off-task? How can you tell if the students in the clip are on or off-task?
• Do you think the teacher is aware of the inattentive student(s)?
• How can the teacher address the needs of the inattentive student(s)?
• In general, how can we increase the participation of the whole class?
Our observation
• Most of the students are on-task at the beginning, but they start losing attention as the lesson goes on. However, it’s really difficult to tell whether the students are on or off-task merely by observation.
• The teacher is aware of the inattentive students and has already tried his best to keep everyone on-task by providing hands-on experience, using different visual aids and doing a lot of actions.
• The other teaching staff can help to focus the inattentive students.
Questions• What is the most frequent verbal behaviour of the
teacher? Do you think such verbal behavior can facilitate student’s learning? Why or why not?
• Apart from verbal behaviour, how did the teacher praise the student? What do you think about her way of praising?
• How did the teacher help the student to make a sentence? Why did she do so?
• There was one student going out to the board and trying to help his classmate by sticking the cards on the board. What did the teacher do? Why did she do that?
Our observation
• The teacher often asks students questions to check their understanding and involve the whole class into the lesson. Through questioning, student who is doing the activity can have a clearer understanding of the target language; students who are not doing the activity can reflect on their own learning by checking how their classmates finish the task.
• Whenever the student finishes the task, the teacher sits together with the others and give her thumbs up as a compliment. There is also an awarding system – giving out “ 叻叻” to give positive reinforcement to the students.
Our observation
• The teacher used a lot of actions to guide the student to make a sentence. She gave lots of directions to limit the number of things which the student needs to focus on.
• When a student tries to help, the teacher recognises his effort of helping by saying thanks to him. Then, she asks him to return to his seat and offers an opportunity for him to do the same task later in the lesson. In this way, she won’t discourage students from offering help or participating in the lesson, but at the same time, she can help the student who is doing the task to focus.
Questions
• What did the student do in the clip? What do you think makes her do so?
• How did the teacher draw the attention of the student? Was she successful?
• What could have the teacher done to grab the attention of the student?
• In general, how can we sustain students’ attention in class?
Our observation
• The student keeps looking at the other side of the classroom without paying any attention to the teacher. Actually, she is distracted by the students who are preparing to go out of the classroom.
• The teacher keeps calling the student’s name and makes some noise with the board. She is not successful as the student still seems distracted.
• The teacher could have waited until all the students are out of the classroom. In that case, there will be less distraction for the student.
Questions for further thinking2. What are your expectations on your students? To have interest in learning? To learn the language skills or knowledge? To survive
in the society?
2. What are your expectations on your students? To have interest in learning? To learn the language skills or knowledge? To survive in the society?
3. Do the things taught in your lessons reflect your expectations?
3. Do the things taught in your lessons reflect your expectations?
1. Do you think we can
generate some good
suggestions to the
teacher being observed
merely based on a
single tool?
1. Do you think we can
generate some good
suggestions to the
teacher being observed
merely based on a
single tool?
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Pre LO Meeting
Explain the objectives & strategies you have chosen to
use
Highlight areas to focus on using the agreed lesson observation
tool
Give details about the background of the class
Give a brief overview of the lesson
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Give feedback as soon as possible after the lesson
Be informative & describe what you observed using your notes
- Don't delay: feedback works best when it is ‘fresh'
Begin with positive impressions that are specific and concrete
Give constructive advice and suggestions in the form of questions
=> involve the teacher in creating solutions
- Don't be subjective, biased and opinionated
- Don't make negative criticisms
-Don't use language that is judgmental or overly negative
Post-lesson observation: giving feedback
Giving Feedback
Which of the following way is most effective in promoting teachers’ professional growth?
a. Point out the strengths and give due recognition
b. Point out the weaknesses and arrange re-observation
d. Demonstrate a lesson
c. Write a lesson commentary
All / None of the methods work!Quality of the feedback?
Quality of teachers’ reflection?
All / None of the methods work!Quality of the feedback?
Quality of teachers’ reflection?
A. Higher order thinking skills and creativity
B. Six thinking skills
C. Vocabulary Teaching ─ Cater for learners’ learning styles
D. Use of IT to promote students’ participation
E. Students’ participation
F. Students’ ownership and information literacy
Questioning
Scaffolding
(i) Praise
(ii) Thinking tools
(iii) Role-play (iii) Presentation
(i) checking knowledge
(ii) higher levelthinking
(iii) judgment
Catering for learner diversity in a Liberal Studies lesson
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Post-lesson observation: receiving feedback
Be open - Don't be defensive
Accept praise - Don't be too modest Listen
Reflect
Explore
Commit
- Don't impose your views
- Don't dismiss things you may disagree with
- Don't be passive, use the opportunity to find out how you can change and develop- Don't ignore the feedback: do something with it
Adapted from www.teachingenglish.org.uk
Be
C
L
E
A
R Be 'CLEAR'
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Protocol for feedback session
Adapted from Conversations: turning points, Volume 4, Number 2, Spring 2004
5-8 minutes
Teacher observed : Conduct self-reflection
10 minutes
Observers:1. Share positive impression2. Ask questions to clarify doubts
5-10 minutes
Teacher observed:Respond to questions
20 minutes
Open discussion: Identify strategies and propose the next steps for the teacher
Teacher
just listens
Observers
just listen
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Post LO meeting: Teacher’s reflection ( 5- 8 min)
• What students are able to do
• What students are unable to do
• What teacher would do if she were to do it
again
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Post LO meeting: Observers’ feedback
( 5 – 10 min )
• Begin with positive feedback (supported with
evidence)
• Ask questions to clarify doubts or give
suggestions if appropriate
Teacher just listens
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Post LO meeting: Teacher’s response ( 5-8 min )
• Teacher responds to the questions
=> explain why certain design of the task /
strategies / activities are used in the lesson
Observers
just listen
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Post LO meeting: Open discussion ( 15 – 20 min )
• Conduct an in-depth inquiry into a lesson/teaching issue
(a) Keep things you find effective
(b) Improve ? things that can be done better
(c) Propose? things that can be done in alternative ways
content
process (strategies)
assessment
1. Purpose
• provide an
opportunity for Ts
to conduct a critical
enquiry into how a
particular is
sue of
language teaching
can be dealt with
• use a specific
LO tool for specific
data collection
purpose
A Chance For Learning
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Approaching a teacher for Approaching a teacher for lesson observation is lesson observation is not not a mere act of askinga mere act of asking. .
With careful planning and With careful planning and goodgood communicationcommunication, the , the observers and the ones observers and the ones being observed would being observed would get get the most out of this the most out of this experienceexperience..
2. Process
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Use data to improve learning and teaching
Identify professional development needs for teachers and the whole panel
Motivate colleagues
3. Use of data
LO provides a platform for growthLO provides a platform for growth
Student Student
The teacher
The teacher
team
The observer
OpenReflective
ProfessionalFrank
CollaborativeLearning
community
Where can you get further information …
Contact persons:
Ms Amy POON (English language support)E-mail: ayypoon@edb.gov.hk Tel.: 3698 4093Mr YT Lai (Chinese language support)E-mail: ytlai@edb.gov.hk Tel.: 3698 3994LLSS homepage: http://resources.edb.gov.hk/cd/languagesupport http://cd1.edb.hkedcity.net/cd/languagesupport/
Contact persons:
Ms Amy POON (English language support)E-mail: ayypoon@edb.gov.hk Tel.: 3698 4093Mr YT Lai (Chinese language support)E-mail: ytlai@edb.gov.hk Tel.: 3698 3994LLSS homepage: http://resources.edb.gov.hk/cd/languagesupport http://cd1.edb.hkedcity.net/cd/languagesupport/
LLSS homepage LLSS publications