PRESENTED BY: DENISE WASKO AND BECKY COFFELT Power of Observation

Welcome Our day will go from 9:00 to 12:00 We will have a break half way through the morning Logistics  Bathrooms-Turn right and go down the hall  Water cooler is out side the room in this lobby  Pop machines-Turn right and go around the corner

Getting to Know Each Other It’s time to line up-based on your years, months, or days experience. The more experienced get to be at the front of the line, “newbies” head to the back of the line. Introduce yourself to those around you.

Let’s do a KWL Chart K is for Know-Tell us what you already know about assessment W is for What-What do you hope to learn today L is for Learned-Hopefully at the end of the morning you can state some of the facts you have learned about assessment

Children’s Work is Play What’s the letter on your name tag?  P for participant (You get to play with play-dough)  O for observer (You get to observe and take notes)  T for teacher (You will get a script to follow) Let’s do this for 4-5 minutes Now let’s do it again with a different teacher script Let’s discuss the differences between the 2 sessions

Group Discussion Questions How did your observations vary between the 2 interactions? How did the student feel in each interaction? What changes were there in teacher behavior? How do we KNOW what children learn and how do we HELP them learn?

Time for a Break Be back in 15 minutes for more information on being a great observer!

Creative Curriculum and Assessment We are now going to look at a video on assessment Look at what the teacher does to collect information on the students. Discussion

Questions to Help You Get to Know Children to Help You Get Better Observations What is the child’s health and physical development? What is the child’s temperament? What are the child’s skills and abilities? What are the child’s interests? What is the child’s culture and home life? How does the child approach learning? How does the child use language? How well does the child interact with others? (Taken from The Power of Observation, page 14-15)

What You Bring as the Observer Your culture  Beliefs about child rearing and the way children should act  Beliefs about appropriate ways to communicate  Beliefs about child independence Your Individuality  Temperament  Interests  Feelings Your Professional Expertise (Taken from The Power of Observation, page 32-41)

Being Objective in Your Observations Focus on individual children Focus on the child’s behavior-what you can see Listen to children and what they say Listen to families and what they tell you about the child

Guidelines for Observation Observe over time Watch children in varied situations  Social settings  Time of day  Individual preferences  Degree of choice  Level of competence Keep track of what you see Observe in and out of action (Taken from The Power of Observation, page 42-52)

Ways to Record Observations Brief notes on mailing labels Brief notes on index cards Brief notes on a daily log Anecdotal notes Running records Matrices Rating Scales Tallies Diagrams, sketches, photographs Audiotapes and videotapes

Now Let’s Practice You will be given a scenario and you will give a thumbs up if it is a good observation or a thumbs down if it needs some work. Ready?

Examples 1 and 2 Mandy is in the book area. She read the book If you give a Moose a Muffin after hearing the teacher read it at large group. She turns pages and works from left to right, telling her own version and says “the end.” John can’t count to 10.

Examples 3 and 4 When the guest speaker came into the room, Angela was shy and stayed by the teacher during group. Writing center – John announces that he is making a birthday card for mom. Uses markers, stickers, and red paper and writes HAPY BRDY MOM and reads, “happy birthday mom.

Examples 5 and 6 When we put all the rocks in one cup, it tips over. There are 1,2,3,4,5,6,9,12 rocks! Martin was frustrated so he threw the puzzle

Time to Practice Look at the following videos and write your objective observations. After each observation, you can compare notes with your neighbors

Winding Up What is your role in observing/assessing in your classroom? You need to have these discussions with the staff in your classroom What have you learned today? What other questions do you have? Next Steps - circle, triangle, square