Observation Skills

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Observation Skills
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Supervisory Assumptions

• Teaching is amenable to intellectual analysis
• Instructional improvement requires considerable
  time and effort
• No one changes another persons behavior
• Goal directed behavior is more effective than
  that which is not focused
• Objectivity beats subjectivity every time
• Participatory supervision is the key

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Supervision Problem 6 Determining what goes
on in the classroom
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Classrooms are incredibly busy places

• Phillip Jackson - over 1,000 interpersonal
  interactions in a single day

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Calls for Targeted Observation Skills
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Heisenberg Effect
If you measure ityou may be changing it.
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The Hawthorne Effect
Change often improves the situation, no matter
what the change is!
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Two Assumptions.

• No matter how wonderful a lesson it isit can be
  improved upon
• No matter how poorly a lesson goes, something
  good happened

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Find the Pony!
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Problem Filter
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Supervision Problem 7

• Seeing and Perceiving

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FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE- SULTS OF YEARS
OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS
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FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE- SULTS OF YEARS
OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS
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Perception difficulties?
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G-E-O Triangle
Goal
?
?
Observed
Teacher recalls a rotten lesson observer
recognizes a pretty good one lesson
Experienced
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Types of Data That Can Be Gathered

• Valued
• Reproduced
• Descriptive
• Selected

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High Inference Data
WONDERFUL TEACHER, VERY CAPABLE, PRINCIPALS
PET, EXTREMELY BORING, BASICALLY A USELESS PIECE
OF FLESH
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Valued Datainvolve the judgment of an observer

1. The Teacher didnt move around enough
2. She didnt help the students who needed help.
3. He spent too much time with René.
4. She didnt respond to requests for help.

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Valued Datainvolve the judgment of an observer

• Appropriate Appropriate
  Appropriate
• Question Length to Topic
  to Student
• 1 Y Y N
• 2 Y N N
• 3 Y Y Y
• 4 N N N
• 5 Y Y Y
• 6 Y Y Y
• ..

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Valued Datainvolve the judgment of an observer

• Are useful only to the extent that that the
  person being observed trusts the value judgments
  of the observer.

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Supervisory Assumptions

• Teaching is amenable to intellectual analysis
• Instructional improvement requires considerable
  time and effort
• No one changes another persons behavior
• Goal directed behavior is more effective than
  that which is not focused
• Objectivity beats subjectivity every time
• Participatory supervision is the key

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Low(er) Inference Data
All kids on task 80 of time, calls on boys 70
of time, catches all kids being good 90, asks
low-order questions, asks probing questions 75
of the time,
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Types of Data That Can Be Gathered

• Valued
• Reproduced
• Descriptive
• Selected

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Reproduced Data

• Data that are made available when an event is
  reproduced in video, audio or total transcript
  form
• Include not only the targeted behavior but all
  other behaviors that occurred

Questionable Usefulness
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Types of Data That Can Be Gathered

• Valued
• Reproduced
• Descriptive
• Selected

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Descriptivehave been organized, categorized, or
quantified by an observer but do involve value
judgments

1. She helped 16 students
2. Mike F. was helped seven times in 30 minutes
3. It took him 11 minutes to notice that Student 5
   had his hand up.
4. She asked 33 questions during the observation

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Determining Verbal Flow
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Determining Verbal Flow
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Determining Movement
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Descriptive or Valued?

• The teacher is reprimanding the child.
• The girl is staring out the window while resting
  her hand on her hand.
• The boy in the last row is really bored.
• The teacher has her back to the class 80 of the
  time.
• The girl in front doesnt understand the
  teachers explanations.
• The teacher was in a bad mood for a week before
  this incident.

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Descriptive or Valued?

• The teacher talked to 14 students during the
  lesson.
• The teacher didnt move around the room enough.
• The teacher was just too harsh with Michael.
• The student went to the table, picked up a pair
  of scissors and returned to her desk.
• The teacher didnt ask any questions.
• No student wanted to be the first to answer.

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Types of Data That Can Be Gathered

• Valued
• Reproduced
• Descriptive
• Selected

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Selected Dataobjectively record a specific event
without valuing or categorizing the event

• Decide who will be observed (teacher, all
  students, a student)
• Decide on the kind of verbal data (questions,
  responses, control, student talk)
• Write out the actual words

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Selected Dataobjectively record a specific event
without valuing or categorizing the event

1. What cities might have developed due to
   railroads?
2. What are some of the reasons that the Seattle
   area developed?
3. What are some possible reasons why cities die?
4. What kind of city would die of crime?
5. What about large towns?
6. Does anyone else have any other reasons?
7. Where was the land that they lived?

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Verbatim Transcripts
Selected Verbatim Techniques
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The Problem Child
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Combined With Selected Verbatim Data
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All forms of data are useful

• _____ 1. 5 of the 7 questions asked were
  appropriate
• _____ 2. 5 of the 7 questions were knowledge
  level
• _____ 3. 5 of the 7 questions were followed
  with a probing question
• _____ 4. Sima, close that mouth of yours!
• _____ 5. The pace of the lesson was just too
  slow.

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Good Brophy Borich on Classroom Management

• What is known about effective classroom
  management that seating charts would permit
  matching teacher actions with research findings?
• Borich, Chapter 6
• Good and Brophy, Chapters 4,5

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Nowhow to determine what kind of data gathering
will take place?
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Special Thanks to Dr. Jones
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Dr. Butler, may I be excused? My brain is full.