Professional Documents
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Every teacher will doubtless be able to tell you about a nightmare observation
in which everything went wrong and to which the resulting dreaded feedback
was every bit as critical as feared (I know I could). Such anecdotes often
reveal inherent problems in the observations procedures in a school in the
first place. In this article, I’ll look at observations in more depth and suggest
ways in which they can be used to maximal teacher, and hence school,
benefit, using IH San José de Costa Rica (IHSJ) as an example. It also lays
out some guidelines for those new to observing and maybe even some ideas
for old hands.
There are many reasons why teachers are observed. In this article, I’ll be
focusing on observing working teachers in a supportive manner, taking the
premise that observations are there to help teachers develop and to promote
reflective evaluation of their teaching practice and rationale behind how they
teach. This implies that observations of teachers are not there to prescribe
certain methodological techniques, to merely criticise, or to show off the
observer’s supposed greater experience and knowledge, though from
experience I know they often take these forms. The key words for me are:
reflection, guidance, support, encouragement and development.
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IH Teacher Trainer
1. The teacher writes a lesson plan in sufficient detail to show how the class
has been planned, talking it through or asking for advice if they want.
After all, planning is part of the reflective process even though it does
come before the class.
2. Have a conversation with the teacher about the group to get more of an
idea of what you’ll observe.
3. Read through the teacher’s plan and think through the staging, any
apparent rationale, etc.
4. Follow the plan in class making notes on both the plan and a separate piece
of paper about anything that seems apposite
5. Ask the teacher to complete a self evaluation form
6. Prepare written feedback
7. Conduct feedback with the teacher, focusing on asking questions rather
than criticising, encouraging reflection, discussing rationale, etc.
8. Post feedback support
What should an observer look for?
In class, I have the teacher’s plan and I’ve spoken to the teacher about the
group and possibly even the lesson prior to the class. What I’m looking for is
successful teaching. I really don’t mind what particular approach a teacher
takes, as long as it falls within a communicative framework and that it’s done
well. There are certain things I generally look for, namely:
- meaning focused on
Note that this isn’t a restrictive checklist of points which must be covered in
the class; rather, it is a set of guidelines which could cover many different
aspects of an individual lesson. Of course, you may want to observe for more
specific points, depending on the reasons for the observation, but the above
points act as a general outline for me and work well.
Feedback
I believe there should be both oral and written feedback. In many institutions,
the latter is an official document that is kept in the teacher’s file, but this
doesn’t mean that oral feedback is simply reeling off what’s been written
down. The other reason for written feedback is so that the teacher can have a
copy to keep and to refer to in the future if they want to, as it should indicate
strengths and points to work on.
Oral feedback is, for me, the most challenging part of the observer’s job. It is
paramount that this be carried out in a relaxed, supportive environment and
with the teacher’s development at the very heart of the process. It also
depends on the personal preferences of the teacher; some people like to be
given a list of things to do; others prefer space and time to reflect and open
discussion about the class, approaches to teaching, etc. The observer has to
play this by ear and cater to what the teacher seems to want. After all, you
can’t teach every class in the same way, so why should every feedback
session be exactly the same? Teachers are individuals and observers need to
remember that.
rationale in choosing activities or why they set that particular context, etc. This
helps the teacher see the lesson as a whole, rather than a set of randomly
chosen activities. Furthermore, I’ll make reference to the written feedback and
discuss reasons I chose to write what I did.
Another element to consider is filming. Some of the best feedback I’ve ever
had as a teacher came from watching myself in a filmed lesson and then
discussing the class with the observer. If the lesson is filmed and the teacher
simply given the video to watch, they can observe themselves teaching and
use notes from this in the feedback. This has the potential to turn the
observation into an incredibly useful developmental experience. Of course,
many teachers hate being filmed and watching themselves, myself included,
but as a developmental tool it can be very powerful and only the teacher need
ever see the film.
Post-Feedback
Conclusion
The best thing about being an observer, teacher trainer or mentor, is when
you see somebody teach again and you see an improvement in some aspect
of their teaching. It’s very rewarding and makes the job worthwhile. It tells me
that the initial observation and feedback were beneficial and that the teacher
has taken something positive from what was discussed. Occasionally, you
even get an e-mail thanking you for your feedback or when teachers leave the
institution they tell you, out of the blue, how useful their observations were
and how much they feel they’ve developed as teachers. After all, we’re here
to help and it’s good to know that the way we conduct our observations – the
way outlined above, focusing on reflection, development and guidance – can
help us achieve this.
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