1. You looking at me? Designing Practical Classroom Observation Instruments Presenter: Martin Goosey Assistant Teaching Centre Manager for Professional Development British Council Madrid Young Learners

2. Session Outline In this presentation, you be will be asked to take the role of a classroom observer, as well as listening to the talk. You will find a classroom observation instrument on your chair. One side looks like this: The other looks like this: Choose one version, and complete it during the session as you watch and listen.

3. Why observe? Peer observation ‘can be an excellent stimulus for professional development, both for the observer and the observed’ – Nunan & Lamb ‘Many educationalists identify collegiality and collaboration as key dimensions of teacher development leading to ‘interactive professionalism’’ – Brewster ‘Received Knowledge’ can be distinguished from ‘Experiential Knowledge’ in professional development. Wallace argues for ‘the complementary importance of shared experience of practice in teacher education… [and] discussion of such practice being focused along selected parameters’ – Wallace

4. Who do you watch? In the vast majority of cases, observation is used to observe teachers, for: Institutional quality control Professional development – the observed, e.g. teaching practicum Professional development – the observer, e.g. peer observation BUT If we use observation to watch: The learners The activities Classroom interactions Technological functionality we can get new perspectives on many aspects of teaching-learning.

5. The Project TITLE: ‘Comparison of Experienced and Inexperienced Teacher Use of IWBs (Interactive White Boards) through Classroom Observation’ KEY AIMS: Number of years of teaching experience & utilization of IWB functionality. Technological familiarity & range of functional use. Particular uses of the technology and YL engagement. IDEA: From Ruth Wajnryb, who suggests using observation for gathering ‘information about the ways in which and the purposes for which the board was used in the lesson and use these to discuss related issues’ – Wajnryb.

6. The Project PROCEDURE: Conduct research, establishing possible activity types Design pro-forma Agree observation schedule – 10 teachers to be observed First observations Adapt instrument, meeting recognised needs Continue observations Second adaptation Complete observations Follow-up with those observed Reporting

7. The Pro-forma

9. Project Results RESULTS OF OBSERVATION & FEEDBACK With only 10 observations, analysis of results must be qualitative rather than quantitative: patterns emerge from results, but these are uncertain given the small sample. In fact, there is little apparent correlation between the range of functions used and level of IWB experience, or service years. The original issues raised for this research were gauging correlations between: Years of experience and utilization of IWB range. Technological familiarity and range. Particular uses of the technology and Young Learner (YL) engagement. Addressing these in turn, we see: –Little apparent difference between length of service and use of IWBs –Technological familiarity does not imply greater use of functional range –YLs are equally engaged with or without IWB-based tasks

10. Project Results YL ENGAGEMENT & IWB USE There is no evidence in this research to suggest that YLs are more engaged with IWB-based activities than otherwise. From a total of 51 observed activities, 27 were IWB-orientated. The average number of activities was 6-7 (but 11 with one class of 6 year olds), in classes of one hour. No statistical correlation between positive responsiveness & task- orientation is discernible. Too many other elements are involved in the complex interweaving of affective factors, including: Mood / tiredness Teaching-Learning style Interpersonal relationships / group dynamics Effectiveness of teacher set-up Intrinsic motivation (NB: Totals are based on observations 4-10, after the change to emoticon descriptors, since it would be implausible to assign correlations between the same emoticons with differing descriptors.)

11. Project Results TEACHER REACTIONS From the feedback questionnaire: One inexperienced professional, whose use of IWBs has only spanned a few months, responded that IWBs had caused him ‘unnecessary difficulties’ in his teaching. Asked if IWBs had affected their YL teaching in any way, six said their teaching had improved somewhat. Additionally, one who responded ‘no’ to this question, added ‘not really in terms of quality but of course I do different activities’. It seems clear that most teachers see IWB functions as increasing their range of options, rather than changing the methodological basis of their teaching. One (inexperienced in IWBs) commented, ‘The great thing about IWBs is they bring colour to the classroom’. However, one interesting result was teacher interpretation of learner reactions to IWB use: asked if YL enthusiasm for their classes would be affected if IWBs were absent, six teachers reckoned ‘about the same’, while four felt that enthusiasm would decrease.

12. Project Results PERSONAL REFLECTIONS Designing the pro-forma wasn’t difficult, but the process was thought- provoking. The experience of looking at the children, rather than the teacher, was highly informative. The pro-forma itself was adaptable to many different classroom observation tasks. However, in this case, background knowledge on the teachers’ relative experience was crucial. Seeing a number of teachers in action for the same purpose gave real impetus to my personal learning. I was still able to provide accurate feedback to teachers who asked for it: very simply, I was able to observe far more than in a ‘normal’ observation.

13. Summary ‘The aim of the advisor in the feedback session is to enable the teacher to reflect on their teaching experience and critically reassess their understanding in the light of this reflection’ – Randall & Thornton ‘Behaviour can be so habitual that you don’t pay much attention to it. As a result you can be driven by old patterns rather than make conscious choices about the way you act’ – Head & Taylor

14. References Brewster, J. (2007) Issues in Pre- and In-Service Teacher Preparation. In: Powell-Davies, P. (Ed.) Primary Innovations Regional Seminar, Hanoi, March 2007, A Collection of Papers Hanoi: British Council Head, K. & Taylor, P. (1997) Readings in Teacher Development Oxford: MacMillan Heinemann ELT Moon, J. (2000) Children Learning English Oxford: MacMillan-Heinemann ELT Nunan, D. & Lamb, C. (1996) The Self-Directed Teacher – Managing the learning process Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Randall, M. & Thornton, B. (2001) Advising and Supporting Teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Wajnryb, R. (1992) Classroom Observation Tasks – A resource book for language teachers and trainers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Wallace, M. (1991) Training Foreign Language Teachers – A reflective approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

15. Many Thanks! Any questions, please e-mail: martin.goosey@britishcouncil.es Thank you for your participation, and I wish you good luck in your observations!