Saturday, September 3, 2011

The Value of Observation

Carefully guided classroom observation can be invaluable in helping teachers at all stages of their careers to improve their practice. For you, such observation could take several forms:

  • By you of other teachers

  • By other teachers of you

  • By you of you - via video

Both structured and open-ended observation are effective. One is more specific than the other and this can be both an advantage and disadvantage. The advantages of structured as opposed to open-ended classroom observation are the observer has a specific aim to which he/she is observing. The observer will have all plans and materials prepared and the observer will have a clear idea as to what he/she is watching for. The disadvantages are the students may act in a different way rather than naturally if they know they are being observed. The observation might be too narrow if a specific area of research has been established.

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