TESOL Observation Field Notes

Class Observation #____

Teacher

__Sarah_Hynes___________

Date/Time____1_.29.2016______

Class

____ENG107_______________

Location______Coor L1-34____________

Effective Principles of Observation:

Wipe away preconceived notions before starting your observations.

Collect observations under different circumstances and from varied perspectives.

Take thorough notes, including quotes and details about the setting and atmosphere, and collect
important class documents.

Engage in active listening using a detached observer approach.

Keep systematic track of observations that surprise you or contradict your prior beliefs.

Pre-Class Notes (e.g., what are the teachers goals for the lesson? what are the demographics [e.g., student population,
class size, proficiency level] of the class?)

She asked the student write a body paragraph during the class time.

Description/Observation of the class

Reflection on/Interpretation of the class

1. She asked the students to write down a body

paragraph.

She is doing so great to explain how to find our the

research, before the class she already post the class
notes in the Blackboard.

(i.e., what is happening?)

2. She asked a student show his example she write down

this example and show this example during the whole
class. The best thing she did wrote down this example
and this examples ideas. Some students even share
their thoughts their data to others. The whole class very
corporate.
3. Students asked questions, she explained every steps
4. Practise: Go to Google drive to write down one
paragraph. (25 min)

(i.e., what does it mean?)

During the class time, she asked a students to show his

example to every students, she wrote down this
students example, and she shared/helped this example
to wrote down the ideas, thoughts, data and details.
Some students asked questions and even shared more
details to the whole class.
She even explained the notes step by step, she gave
an example to every step. Also she left enough time to
let the student to practice the what they learned today.

Post-Class Notes (e.g., are there follow-up questions for the teacher? does anything need to be clarified?)
1. How to build a body paragraph around your secondary source
2. POWERDRAFT a body paragraph

1A. Remind yourself and your readers what your relevant smaller question was

1B. Introduce your source. If you need to, explain why that source is credible.
1C. Include your quote.
1D. After the quote (and maybe even before, too!), explain in your own words, what that data means.
If it's a number:

explain if it is a relatively big or small number

possibly make a comparison to show your readers its relative size or significance
If it makes sense to, use a comparison to make your point about the relative size or significance of your
data
If appropriate, put it into historical context. How does this data compare to past data?

If it's a quote:

explain what it means in your own words

1E. If necessary, identify potential problems with your data and address them.
Examples:
Of course, ____ is a little biased, because _____. However, their data remains credible because _____.

1F. Interpret your data (this is one of your biggest and most challenging tasks). In other words, explain
what that number suggests to you about the bigger issue or problem you're looking at.

Think of causes/reasons
If appropriate, think of any personal evidence/observations you can add that will give your readers a more
personal perspective on the data
3

Think of consequences/effects

Examples:
This number suggests that this issue is largely the result of __________
There could be several reasons for this result. __________________
This data implies that the most cost-effective solution would be ______________
This shows that the situation is more complex than most people think it is. Many people
____________ but this research suggests that _____ and ______.

assume that

1G. Identify any further questions that you or readers still have after getting this data.

Example body paragraph:

So who is ISIS? According to (title of article) on CNN.com, ISIS has its roots in another terrorist organization, alQaeda: quote. It might surprise many people to learn that one of the scariest terrorist organizations operating in
the world right now arose from a group that many people thought was defeated, or at least rendered fairly
powerless. However, it makes sense to me that a power vacuum would lead to conflict. Throughout history, every
time a powerful group loses power, other smaller groups rush in to fight to be the next most powerful group. For
example, in Vietnam in the 20th century, when the king of the old empire fled the country for Cambodia, western and
communist powers fought for control of the country. So when al-Qaeda began to lose power, it makes sense that
many other groups would try to take over for it. Who are those groups that fought with ISIS in that power vacuum?
4

How did ISIS triumph over its rivals?

Student example:
Who in the U.S. has given homes to the homeless? According to Terrence McCoy at the Washington Post, the State
of Uta has a novel solution to the problem of chronically homeless people: the sate itself has given homes to anyone
who qualifies as homeless. McCoy writes that, a University of Pennsylvania study had just shown New York City was
dropping a staggering $40,500 in annual costs on every homeless with person with mental problems, who account
for many of the chronically homeless. In other words, and other big cityNew york city was spending a ton of
money on homeless people already, so Utah figured by should spend that money on homeless people already. So
Utah already figured out a way to solve this question.