Observing

Description

Purposive observation implies using certain criteria to look at what you want to know about your students. You write down what you observe to use this information afterwards in remedial teaching or in a comprehension check.

How it works

• During independent work, collect evidence that your students have or have not understood the subject matter:
  • look for mistakes: Observe WHO doesn't understand and WHAT they don't understand.
  • look for successes: Look for very good as well as sufficient performances.
  • check who has got many questions and what the nature of the questions are.
• Write down this information.
• Use the students' mistakes and successes in reviewing the subject matter, during the lesson or afterwards.

Tips

• Record observations in a way that is feasible for you, depending on the group size and your preference. Here are some options:
  • per lesson, record your observations on an index card for each student,
  • take an empty worksheet and write down for each exercise which students have understood, have many questions or still need to practise a lot,
  • write your observations on a post-it that you keep in your observation notebook,
  • indicate for each question who had it wrong and create a digital overview in Excel,
  • use digital tools that register answers automatically (Google Classroom, Go Formative),
  • Ask students to raise their hands if they did the exercise correctly, and take a picture.
  • …

• Do something with your observations: at the end of the lesson, identify the most common mistakes, let the students explain to each other, make an 'exit ticket' based on that, or start the following lesson with a 'starter task' to differentiate.
  

Examples

​​Example Deliberate observation collecting map ​​

Description

Walking rounds, and thereby using the entire classroom, facilitates you to better steer the learning process and monitor that your students stay on task.

How it works

• Verbally and nonverbally, check in with students as they work.
• Give feedback as you walk around; state what you see is going well.
• Keep an objective in mind while you circulate round the class and make note of what you see of that with the students. You can use a data collection sheet to structure your observations.
• Train students to work autonomously:
  • Predictability in giving attention: announce that you will walk by all of the students in a fixed order. In this way, students know where they stand, which gives them peace of mind.
  • Delayed attention: if you walk by the students, they are allowed to ask their question(s). Otherwise, they have to continue working or start with a different exercise instead. Consider providing question boxes in your course materials where students can write down their question about a certain exercise.
  • Consistently follow the method : 'brain book buddy boss'.

Tips

• While walking rounds, focus on one specific aspect. For example, in group work it could be ‘everyone plays their pre-defined role’. When doing exercises it could be ‘which mistakes do I see students make frequently.’
• Write the observations down on a work sheet, post-it, or file folder. See: “purposive observation”.
• Make sure that your classroom arrangement leaves you with enough free space to allow you to help students individually.
• If the students are working in pairs, it is better to crisscross the classroom so that you can hear what they are doing.
• Make sure that the students have a simple – nonverbal – way to indicate that they have a question. Give them a colour card with which they can show they need help. They can turn the card to the red side or alternatively, they can simply show their red pen to signal you. In this way, the students do not have to sit with their hands raised the entire time.
• Use 'brain book buddy boss' to increase the self-reliance of your students.

Examples

You can find more about classroom arrangement on the Dutch website Klasse. 'Pinterest' is also a good place to find inspiration when it comes to classroom arrangement.

Wouter Smets’ book 'Slim differentiëren' (2017), also in Dutch, contains a chapter on classroom arrangement as well.