A word about observations. If you’re a first-timer, Marcie will set up a time with you sometime during the first week to come watch your class. She will observe for at least 30 minutes. You don’t have to stop what you’re doing when she comes in, nor do you have to acknowledge her when she leaves. (The same applies to Dale.)
She will try to get with you later to chat about what she saw. If she fails to do so, you can assume that she didn’t see any problems at all. (Conversely, do not assume, if we approach you, that we have issues with your teaching.)
She will be back to observe at least twice more during the summer. At least one of those observations she’ll ask you to tell her a good time to come. Other times she may just pop in. She is not trying to “catch” you doing anything except a good job.
Do not worry that it looks like you’re not doing anything. As long as the students are actively engaged, participating, and producing, you’re teaching.
In other words, relax about the observation/assessment thing.
Today’s criteria have to do with classroom management.
What is the class activity/student task?
An observer should be able to discern what’s going on, or at least that something is going on.
Who is doing the talking? the listening? the analyzing? the decision making? the problem solving? In what balance?
Especially as the class progresses, we really need to see more and more student activity compared to the amount that you’re center stage. We should also see a balance among the students: there shouldn’t be a “smart kid” problem.
What materials/equipment is being used and how?
Let us not see worksheets, please. Hide them or something. (N.B.: handouts are not worksheets. You probably should be handing those out.)
Are the students engaged directly with the material, or are they having to go through you to get it?
If your classroom is a smart room, are you able to incorporate that effectively?
What posture are the students in? Where is the teacher? Is every student actively engaged?
No sleeping! You also want to check for “boredom” postures. If there’s resistance to the material, figure out why. Is it the one kid, or is it all of them?
Are you actively monitoring student response, or are you hiding in the work?
How is the learning environment arranged?
This is more important than you might think. Every summer, VSU’s staff moves literal mountains of furniture for us so that your classroom is set up for maximum flexibility. Make sure you use that flexibility appropriately. (Science labs are less flexible, to be sure.)
If you’re lecturing, students need to be facing you. If you’re having a class discussion, you all need to be in a circle so everyone can see each other. Small group work in small groups. Panel discussion: small group up front, everyone else facing them.
If you have a larger room and you need interactivity between the students, don’t let them spread out. Bunch them, preferably up close to you.
What role is the instructor taking, e.g., lecturer, demonstrator, resource person, facilitator, etc.?
All of these are valid, and you should have realized by now that you will want to be open to all of them.
From what source is the information coming?
Vid. sup., how close are kids to the primary source? Renzulli I activities may require you to do a lot of shoveling, but our goal at GHP is to move out of that phase as quickly as possible.
Looking forward to being observed, haha.
Posted by Henry Mei on June 13th, 2013.
Although this reflection could have been made in many of the topics, I’ll do so here- because it’s what I’m working on RIGHT NOW. 3 of my 4 CA courses are very teacher-oriented, and while they’ve worked well in the past, and probably still would, I’m working on limiting my input in two of those three. The result I anticipate is not covering as much content as if I was directing the class, but the students will have more ownership of the content we do cover. An example: my myth course in the past has probably been about 75% me giving theory, and 25% letting the kids “find” the theories applied in various sources. This year, though, I’ve at least doubled the number of primary sources we’re looking at, and letting students uncover theory on their own. My thought is that it’s gone to about 50/50 teacher/student, but we’ll see.
Posted by Dominar Jobie XVI on June 13th, 2013.
I look forward to seeing the students do everything I do, to a degree, during the course of our time together. Every student has different strengths, so it will be a good thing to have resource specialists from within the student group, while others may facilitate the direction of student’s thoughts by sharing what they know (or think they know) about ecology. The nature of our field lab samples will definitely lend themselves well to show (demonstrate) and tell (lecture) for everyone. Every Man A Teacher!
Posted by Rebecca Potter on June 14th, 2013.
In terms of not being too teacher-focused, I always enjoy asking them Big Questions that I am not sure about. My Hipster class started mostly because I wanted the students to teach me about Hipsters. They did. Someone came up to me in Barnes and Noble two days ago to tell me she still has Hipster residue on her from three summers ago. Joy.
Posted by Daniel Glenn on June 14th, 2013.
Wondering how feng shui can come into play.
Posted by Jordan on June 17th, 2013.