Class Room Observation of Students
Introduction
Systematic classroom observation is a quantitative technique used to measure classroom behaviors by observing the students directly. This enables the gathering of vital information about their behavior so that teachers can use to such to determine how they can assist the students in improving their performance. It is through this technique that data is collected on the specific behavior the students’ exhibits in the classroom and the duration with which they occur is measured. The observation system has the following elements: the purpose for the observation, training procedures for the observers, operational definitions of the observed behavior, specific observational focus, setting, observational schedule, the method for recording data, and unit of time. All these elements contribute to the overall measure of the student’s behavior in the classroom.
Research in the area of effective teaching has seen the development of hundreds of observational systems used in the classroom (Good and Jere 135). Before the use of the quantitative technique, studying students’ behavior in the classroom setting was done through personal and anecdotal accounts on how teachers deliver information based on subjective data. The goal to develop a scientific basis for teaching lead the researchers to start using more objective and reliable measures of classroom observations. Hundreds of studies have used the observation system because it is cheap and allows a direct encounter with the student in the classroom. The most important thing when using the observational system is the interpretation of the data. The observer should have a foundation in analytical, decision making, and logical skills to interpret correctly the kind of behavior the student portrays.
Different researchers use observational techniques such as charts, checklists, narrative descriptions, and rating scales to examine effective teaching in the classroom. However, the systematic method is widely used. This technique is based on an interactive coding system that allows the observer to record all the activities that teachers and students do during teaching sessions (Simon and E. Gil 550). These interactive systems are objects, and observers do not require to make high inferences based on the behavior of students they observe in the classroom. In other words, the systems provide a smooth and specific way of identifying behaviors. The most commonly used observational instruments include stalling observation systems, classroom observation schedule, and Brophy-Good Dyadic Interaction system. All these methods have been used extensively in research and teacher development projects developed to improve teaching in the classroom.
The major strengths of the classroom observation methods include the following: the educators allow researchers to observe the students in the natural settings, the process provides precise and detailed data and causes change, and gives evidence that change occurred. The description of the effectiveness of the teaching session that these methods offer has led to improved understanding development of models that improve teaching (Wragg 245). The findings from these observations research have provided a substantial knowledge about practical instructions. Research shows that the classroom behavior of the students significantly affects their overall academic performance. Several classroom instructions, such as presenting new materials, conducting daily, weekly, and monthly reviews, providing feedback, and conducting independent feedback, have been shown to relate to student’s performance directly.
Purpose of classroom observation
Classroom observation is essential in several ways; first, it allows the description of the instruction events; second, it will enable the investigation of instructional inequities among different group of students; last, it improves the capacity of teachers classroom instruction based on the feedback provided about the individual classroom behavior. One role of observation research is that it allows the description of the current state of the instructional practices and identifies the problems associated with them. Several observational studies have been developed to describe a specific classroom phenomenon (Stallings 129). The finding of such studies reveals that students participate in the entire class instruction but do not interact with their teachers and their peers. Most of them are passive in class and do not select their instructional activities.
Another study explores descriptive and observational research in light of the technology used in the classroom (Stallings 50). Many studies that relied on the self-report data from the school administration and teachers to examine the use of technology in the school tend to be unreliable due to the possibility of over-reporting. Therefore the observational system provides accurate data because it allows the actual observation of the extent to which technology is used in the classroom setting. Systematic observation research can show the behavior of the students as they use computers to study at the instructional session. Their interaction with other students at that moment forms a significant basis for understanding the influence of technology in learning. Also, their activeness at that time determines the overall mastery of the concept delivered by the teacher.
Some other descriptive research has evaluated the degree to which instructional programs are implemented in the classroom. Programs such as high-level thought processes and multicultural education are paramount in the classroom situation, and therefore teachers aim to incorporate them in them (Forness et al. 383). This is only possible through a systematic observation study to identify the elements of these two significant factors that should be incorporated and eliminated and also how they will be implemented. One study attempts to examine and compare students from effective and ineffective schools in a class setting. The findings from the study show that the students in the effective school interact with teachers and their peers, read and work on assignments more than the student in the ineffective schools.
Child Observation 1
The administration of a school located in Illinois granted me an opportunity to carry out an observational study in their school. I was in the school compound at 7.00 am on March 05, 2020. Children were arriving, some alighting from the school bus, private cars and some arriving on foot. At 8.00 o’clock the bell rang, and children came out for morning assembly before, and after that, they went back for the first lesson whit starts at 8.20 am. I headed to the office to meet Mr. Johnson; a math teacher would teach 5th graders in the morning. I asked him to show me the top performer in his class who I would be observing that day. Also, he showed me the child who performs poorly. My study would take the entire day to observe everything about this kid, and the administration requested me not to interfere with their academic activities.
I followed Mr. Johnson to the math lesson to observe Frank Wood, a fifth-grade pupil who has been topping in the performance. He is ten years old and a second born in a family of three children. His father and mother are lecturers in a university. At home, Frank speaks English and Spanish. Mr. Johnson started by greeting them and asked how their weekend was, and they answered. I noted that Frank seated in the front seat. Mr. Johnson introduced the topic and gave some examples on the subject and show them how to solve it. For any question that was asked by the teacher, Frank would raise is hand to answer. The teacher gave them a question to attempt: A triangle has a base length of 8cm and a height of 4cm, what is its area. Frank took a short time to answer the question and started helping those sitting closer to him. When Johnson requested one student to volunteer to show others how to solve the problem, Frank ran to the board and solved it.
When Johnson’s lesson ended, Frank followed him to ask him about a problem he attempted to solve but gave him some challenges. Seeing him talk with the teacher, you would thought they have a family tie. When they came out for a break, I continue to observe frank. He played joyously with other kids. The bell rang to bring to the end the break time, and students ran back to the classroom, and Frank ran as fast as others to enter the class first. It is an English lesson, and Ms. Gladys teaches the subjects. The lesson was a discussion where the students were organized in groups of five to discuss poetry under her supervision. Frank was contributing a lot to the discussion group, and he called Ms. Gladys twice to consult her where the group found it challenging.
Child Observation 2
On March 07, 2020, I went back to school. This time around, study the poor performing student in fourth grade. Ms. Elizabeth was the person to start the lesson, and she showed me Luis, who is nine years old. His performance in the fourth grade was not excellent. He is a son to a single mother who works in a plantation. The math lesson began by Ms. Elizabeth greeting them. She started teaching the pupils on math problems that involve the use of logic. At one point, she asked Luis, who was seated in the middle of the class, but he could not answer. It seems he was absent-minded and did not get the question well. The teacher repeated the question, and he was able to answer. Elizabeth wrote a problem on board for kids to attempt: Henry has four children; he gave bought 16 sweets to be divided equally among them. How many sweets did each child get? Luis struggle for long solving the problem until another kid assisted him.
At the tea break, I continue observing Luis when they were in the cafeteria a child accidentally stepped on him, and he became furious he wanted to beat the child he was calm by other kids. After taking tea and pupils ran back to class and Luis was the last to enter. Science lesson began, and Mr. Johnstone was the one to guide them through. The topic that he handled was on the weather. The teacher engaged the kids on the topic by asking them questions. Luis rarely participated in answering questions. Johnstone took the kids out to the school’s weather station and organized them in groups. He required them to use the knowledge he had given in class to discuss and identify instruments and their role. Luis contributed nothing in the discussion group; neither did he talk with the teacher as other kids.
Conclusion
Classroom observation is the principal technique for collecting data that is crucial for decision making at school to teachers’ growth and learning. The information collected from the observation can be used to coach teachers and train them on effective teaching practices. In the case of the classroom behavior of the two kids, it is clear that behavior is directly related to academic performance. Frank is performing well because he is active in class; he asks questions and answers when asked by the teacher. He participates fully in group discussions and consults the teacher where his colleagues cannot help. Luis, on the other hand, is dull; he rarely participates in class or discussion group. It is, therefore, crucial for observation to be conducted so that teachers can be trained on how to help kids like Luis fully participate in class, thus helping boost their performance.
Works Cited
Good, Thomas L., and Jere E. Brophy. “Teacher-child dyadic interactions: A new method of classroom observation.” Journal of School Psychology 8.2 (210): 131-138.
Forness, Steven R., and Karen C. Esveldt. “Classroom Observation of Children with Learning and Behavior Problems.” Journal of Learning Disabilities 8.6 (2015): 382-385.
Stallings, Jane A. “Follow Through Program Classroom Observation Evaluation 1971-72.” (2013): 45-56
Stallings, Jane A., and David H. Kaskowitz. “Follow Through Classroom Observation Evaluation 1972-1973. SRI Project URU-7370.” (2014): 126-133
Wragg, Ted. An introduction to classroom observation (Classic edition). Routledge, 2011: 241-250
Simon, Anita, and E. Gil Boyer. “Mirrors for Behavior, An Anthology of Classroom Observation Instruments.” (2019): 543-560