Observation Guide: Constructivism & Student-centeredness

***Please remember that this is intended as a guide, not an evaluation tool.***

SPACE

How is the room set up?
o We hope that the room set up to support students in engaging in a variety of activity-types,
and in engaging with each other around academic content.

What (if any) records of current student thinking are visible?
o We hope to see student thinking made visible and central in an ongoing way.

What (if any) materials are available to support students in answering their own questions?
o We hope that students have access to resources that can support them in taking the lead in
building foundational knowledge and/or in answering their own questions.
TASKS

What is the nature and structure of the task that student are working on?
o We hope to see tasks that require students to be active with their minds and/or bodies.
o We hope to see tasks that encourage students to construct key ideas themselves.
o We hope that to see tasks that require students to articulate their reasoning.
o We hope to see tasks that involve a measure of choice.
o We hope that if we ask teachers why they chose this task, their answer reflects a deep
understanding of what students know and who students are.

How do students talk about the nature of their work when asked?
o We hope that students can articulate the purpose of the task and explain how it connects to
a broader arc of learning.
o We hope that students have specific and positive explanations for how what theyre
learning relates to them as learners and as people.

What is the teacher doing when students are working independently and/or in small groups?
o We hope to see them circulating and conferring to gather evidence of students thinking
and/or to push them forward in their thinking.
TALK
Who is talking to whom, for how long, and about what?
o We hope to see patterns of talk that do not always involve the teacher as the evaluator.
o We hope to hear students speaking in complete thoughts, explaining their reasoning, and
referring to the reasoning of others.
o We hope to see students productively talking about content with each other.
o We hope to hear students posing questions which drive the task forward.

What is the nature of the questions that the teacher poses to students?
o We hope to hear more open-ended than closed-ended questions.
o We hope to hear questions that respond to and build on students current thinking.

How does the teacher respond to students questions?
o We hope teachers will focus on the process of meaning-making by leveraging questions
into continued thinking and/or discussion.