Self Appraisal and Peer Observation Tasks.

Self Appraisal

1. Changes in your teaching.

Since you began teaching you no doubt have noticed a clear development from the first tentative steps in the classroom to a

strong and confident armoury of techniques and awareness. You may have continued to espouse many of the basic principles

you learnt on your initial training course, but you may also have rejected some of them. You will certainly have amassed a

great deal of insight from your teaching experience, about the potential of the classroom for learning, about the nature of

learners, about the difficulty of teaching in certain circumstances, and so on.

2. Lesson Analysis.

Throughout the rest of your work as a teacher you will be developing the attitudes, awareness and ability needed to assess the

effect of teaching on learning, whether this is during one activity, one lesson, a sequence of lessons, or even a whole term or

year. An ability to analyse what goes on in classrooms is an essential enabling skill for a teacher because:

1. It allows you to evaluate your own teaching with increasing clarity and confidence.

2. It allows you to evaluate other people's teaching, which will ultimately benefit you in many fields such as peer

observation, teacher training, in-service teacher development and research.

Lesson appraisal relates to all facets of teaching. In fact, it relates to everything teachers do before, during and after lessons.

Lesson appraisal, and particularly self-appraisal, are the skills which underpin your professional development.

Further ways to develop self-appraisal skills.

a) Audio tape record your lessons (in full or in part) and analyse them according to criteria you set yourself. This approach is

especially useful for the exposing of minute details of teacher-student and student-student interaction, which often go

unnoticed during a lesson.

b). Get students to comment on your lessons. Students' opinions are a useful source of feedback. If you can overcome the

feeling of being 'on the line', it is useful to let the students in on the secrets of pedagogy and to discuss the merits of different

approaches. One idea is to give them an appraisal sheet or questionnaire as a basis for discussion. For example:

Give your opinion of the lesson on a scale of 1 - 5.

Interesting 5 4 3 2 1 Not interesting

Easy 5 4 3 2 1 Difficult

Too Fast 5 4 3 2 1 Too slow

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

etc.

Finally, we cannot stress enough the importance of using this course as an opportunity to experiment with your teaching.

Experiment means with something new for you (not the profession as a whole). This will involve some form of evaluation as

to the relative success of your experiments.

Take risks. Development won't occur without challenging yourself.

Peer Observations.

You are required to observe as many different lessons as possible. The minimum course requirement is 10.

It is important that you do not embark on the peer observation with a critical attitude. The observed teacher will welcome

your feedback, but it must be constructive. Observers need to maintain a sensitive awareness of the potential for vulnerability

that inevitably accompanies any observation of teaching. When a teacher opens the door and extends a welcome to a visitor,

a basic trust in motive and professional ethic accompanies that welcome. This must be respected. Observers and teachers

should be equally anxious to use the opportunity as a learning experience.

The presence of a visitor inevitably affects the classroom dynamics. Observers should take care to minimise the intrusion and

allow for this factor in drawing conclusions from the data.

Observers need to realise that the samples of data brought from the classroom are limited, and that sweeping generalisations

should be avoided. We need to talk about what happened in the lesson and refrain from making the unwarranted leap to what

happens in lessons generally..

Finally it is important on the human and professional level, to be sure to share with the observed teacher any follow-up

discussions about the lesson.

The Observation Tasks.

There are 10 observation tasks. These tasks should be written up and uploaded to the Moodle. Your tutor will comment on

the first few, but if you are doing them well may not comment on later ones. All 10 observation tasks must be completed.

The tasks may be done in any order.

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

 Observation Task: Teaching Aids.

Task Objective.

This task aims to consider how teaching aids may be best exploited. You will gather information about the ways in which

and the purposes for which teaching aids were used in the lesson.

Procedure.

Before the lesson.

1. Arrange to observe a lesson. Find out the lesson's objectives and, ideally, obtain a copy of the lesson plan.

2. From what you find out in advance about the lesson, predict:

- what teaching aids might be used;

- how they might be used

- what you think the board might be used for;

- how the board might be used.

During the lesson.

1. Make a note of the teaching aids used in the lesson and their function.

2. At three points during the lesson copy the contents and layout of the board exactly.

3. Take notes about what happens while the board is being written on.

After the lesson.

1. Discuss the use and effectiveness of the teaching aids used during the lesson. Which aids were most effective and which

the least? Were they handled smoothly and efficiently?

2. Discuss the decisions made about layout and board use. Would you have used the board differently? How?

3. Analyse the data you collected from the lesson, would you say the board was used randomly or systematically, or

somewhere in between? If you detected a system to the board use, describe it and evaluate its effectiveness. What system

would you advocate for board use and why?

4. Other aspects of teaching aids you may consider are:

-Who uses the aids - the teacher or the learners? Is there a place for learners to write on the board for example?

Are there any dangers?

- What happens in the lesson while the teacher is writing on the board?

- How clear and professionally presented were the teaching aids? What image can aids present to the learners?

Reflection.

Write up your observations in not more than 750 words. What aspects would you like to develop in the future.

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

 Observation Task: Classroom Language.

Task Objective.

This task requires conducting research on classroom language both of the teacher and learners.

Generally speaking, for a statement to be meaningful, there should be an authentic reason for uttering it and it should be

something that the hearer doesn't already know. This task aims to have you collect some instances of the teacher's and

learners classroom language in order to consider the relative value that such language has in a learning context.

Procedure.

Before the lesson.

1. Arrange to see a lesson, preferably with a lower-level class, and one in which the teacher plans to present 'new language'.

2. Read this task and make any necessary preparations. If you can record the lesson or parts of the lesson this would be

useful.

During the lesson.

1. At periods during the lesson (e.g. 4 times for 5 minutes) script what the teacher says.

2. As above but script what the learners are saying.

Use a chart like the one below to help you monitor.

What does the What is the purpose. What is the context How might this be said

teacher/learners say. naturally.

Look at the map. Where is Giving instructions. T. setting up task with a Can you see where the bank

the bank? Checking comprehension. map. is on the map?

After the lesson.

1. Consider the communicative purposes of the various utterances. Consider in what ways the communication was

meaningful.

2. In what way does classroom language differ from real use?

3. Look at the chunks of teacher language. What comment would you make on the level of the meta-language compared to

any 'formal language input'.

4. What features of the immediate context supported the teacher's meta-language? How could a teacher exploit such

contextual clues?

Reflection.

How has this task increased your awareness of issues related to classroom language? What areas would you like to pursue

further?

Write up your observations in not more than 750 words. What aspects would you like to develop in the future.

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

 Observation Task: Questioning Techniques.

Task Objective.

Language teachers ask a lot of questions. Questions can have different purposes, for example, socialising, scene setting,

checking vocabulary, checking learning and seeking opinion. This task aims to have you collect some questions and question

and answer sets from a language lesson. The data collected will be classified and analysed.

Procedure.

Before the lesson.

1. Arrange to observe a lesson.

2. Read this task.

During the lesson.

1. Listen carefully to the teacher's questions. Collect about 20 of these in roughly chronological order.

2. Now listen for some teacher question-learner 'sets'. A set here means an exchange between teacher and student, initiated

by the teacher's question. It might be a simple pair e.g. teacher's question - student's response; or it may be more complex e.g.

teacher's question - teacher's reformulation of the question - student indicates non-comprehension - peer assistance - student

responds. The boundaries of the set are usually clear.

Try to record 5 - 7 of these accurately.

After the lesson

1. Look at the 20 questions you collected. Consider these from the point of view of the expected response.

2. Classify the questions into categories of your own choice. For example categories could include:

- Yes/No questions

- Retrieval Qs "What did you say about this tense?"

- Open ended Qs "Why was he late?"

- Display Qs "What is the name of this structure?"

- Opinion Qs "Do you agree?"

3. Does any pattern emerge from your classification of the questions? What factors do you think influenced this?

4. Consider the question and answer sets. Rank them in order of difficulty for the learners. Is there a relationship between the

type of question and the complexity of response elicited?

5. Were learners given sufficient time to respond?

6. Were all the learners questioned equally?

7. Was it necessary to repeat, or rephrase questions? Why?

8. How did the teacher respond to the replies? Was she really interested in the responses? Did she accept responses or impose

her own agenda?

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

Reflection.

Using this observation as a mirror of your own teaching, consider how you approach the design of questions in your lessons.

Has this observation in any way increased your awareness of the techniques of questioning?

Write up your observations in not more than 750 words. What aspects would you like to develop in the future?

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

 Observation Task: Error Correction.

Task Objective.

If teachers corrected every language error made in their class, far too much classroom time would be given over to

correction. This has negative implications in that it might reduce learner willingness to take risks and experiment.

Teachers necessarily differentiate between errors that require immediate attention and errors that are better ignored or treated

in another way or at another time. This is one of the many choices a teacher makes in regard to learner error.

This observation task is designed to help you become more aware of the issues involved in error management. You will be

attending to learner error, noting down some examples, watching for how the teacher responds and noting whether correction

is given and how.

Procedure.

Before the lesson.

1. Arrange to see a lower-level lesson, preferably one with an oral/aural objective.

2. Make yourself familiar with this task.

During the lesson.

Prepare a chart as below to help you record some instances of learner error and teacher response. Try to capture at least 8

instances.

Learner error Teacher response Lesson phase A/F

He has long hairs Teacher corrects "Hair is Presentation A

uncountable: hair"

1. Script the learner error; this may be inaccurate (grammatically or phonologically) or inappropriate language.

2. Note whether the teacher responded and if so, record how she responded i.e. what was said or signalled.

3. Note down where in the lesson the error occurred.

4. Note whether there was a particular focus at that point in the lesson i.e. accuracy or fluency.

After the lesson.

1. Did you observe any pattern in the teacher's way of responding to learner error? Discuss with the teacher their rationale for

dealing with errors.

2. Looking at your data is it possible to distinguish between the errors, or rank them in order of importance? Which in your

opinion were necessary to correct and which could be ignored?

3. How did the other students respond to the error (and the teacher's response? Was there any peer correction, or peer

interaction / discussion of the error? If so, what did the teacher do to encourage this?

4. Were there any opportunities for the student's to self-correct? If so, how did the teacher encourage self correction?

5. Was there a link between the amount of error correction and the focus or phase in the lesson?

6. When the focus of the lesson is on fluency there may be ways in which a teacher can avoid interrupting the flow of the

students' language. Is it possible to correct in a non-obtrusive way? How?

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7. Was there any evidence of a student processing information? For example having been corrected did the student appear to

adjust their existing knowledge to accommodate the new information?

8. Were there any occasions when the teacher responded to the error without attending to the student's intended meaning, that

is, attended exclusively to the form of the language?

What effect did this have on the students and the lesson?

Reflection.

What experience do you have of being corrected when speaking a foreign language? Do you think this has influenced your

teaching?

Much, if not all, of what a language teacher says and does in the classroom is a reflection of that teacher's belief (conscious

or otherwise) about how people learn languages. Considering your own style of managing error, how does this reflect your

underlying beliefs.

Write up your observations in not more than 750 words. What aspects would you like to develop in the future?

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

 Observation Task: The learning environment.

Task Objective

Few would now doubt that people learn best when they are relaxed, comfortable, unstressed, interested in what is going-on,

and motivated to continue. Regrettably, there is no hard and fast list of what makes an environment conducive to learning.

Nonetheless, there may be a lot gained from developing an awareness of the affective factors that influence learning.

This observation is designed to refine your awareness of the learning environment. During the lesson you will be considering

factors that contribute to making the learning environment one in which the students learn better. Conversely, you will also

become aware of factors that hinder or impede learning and detract from the effectiveness of the learning environment.

Broadly you are looking for factors that range from the size and physical comfort of the room, the seating arrangements, the

acoustics, aspects of the teacher's behaviour (body language, eye contact, praise, tone of voice) to the classroom dynamics

between students and the teacher.

One difficulty in this task is that the presence of an observer will affect the learning community in subtle, perhaps

imperceptible ways. This difficulty can be minimised by your awareness and maintaining a low profile.

Procedure.

Before the lesson.

1. Arrange to observe a lesson.

2. Make yourself familiar with this task.

During the lesson.

1. For most of the lesson (80%) concentrate on making yourself aware of the affective environment, the ambience in the

classroom, and the various factors that are influential.

2. Record any factors that you consider to affect the learning environment. These could include:

acoustics, room temperature, comfort of the seating, visual attraction of the room, seating arrangements, interaction patterns,

the teacher's voice - tone, modulation, volume. Write them down as you become aware of them.

3. The second task (20% of lesson time) requires you to graph one student's level of concentration in the lesson. Choose a

student you have a good view of but try not to make them aware of your attentions. Record what the student is doing and

gauge their level of concentration.

After the lesson.

1. Consider the data you recorded and try to group factors into categories, for example: physical factors (room size,

ventilation); teaching behaviour (smile, nod etc.). Was there anything that surprised, puzzled, concerned or inspired you?
2. Reflecting on the overall ambience in the classroom, what general patterns or tendencies emerged? Are these related to

any language patterns noticeable in the classroom? To what extent are we entitled to generalise about something internal (and

invisible (that is, learning) from external signs and symptoms.

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

3. Look at the data you collected on the individual student's concentration over a period of time. Comment on the external

factors that seemed to affect or shape the student's concentration.

Reflection.

If you were asked to describe the sort of learning environment characteristics of the classrooms where you teach, what would

you say? Can you identify any conscious strategies you employ to generate this environment? In what ways have your

students helped you to create a better learning environment? Have you encouraged this? How?

Write up your observations in not more than 750 words. What aspects would you like to develop in the future?

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

 Observation Task: Giving Instructions.

Task Objective.

A key time in the lesson is the transition period between one activity and another, especially when this entails the students

moving from group, pair or individual work. These periods require clear instructions from the teacher to the students if the

lesson is to flow smoothly and effectively.

In this task we will be examining the language of instructions. This will involve both the choice of what to include and

exclude, what accompaniments are valuable, and what sequence is effective.

Procedure.

Before the lesson.

If possible, have a look at a lesson plan for the lesson you will be observing. The plan should give you an idea of the stages

of the lesson and activities students will be doing. Consider the plan from the point of view of where you would expect

instructions to be given. Now, having carefully read the activities planned, roughly script the instructions as you would give

them.

During the lesson.

1. Listen carefully for the teacher's instructions. Collect these by scripting them as accurately as possible.

2. Notice if there was any visual support, modelling or checking and whether the teacher had to repeat instructions. Note if

the instructions were understood. You could prepare columns as below to fill in during the lesson.

Phase of the lesson Predicted instructions Scripted instructions. Comments.

After the lesson.

1. To what extent did the instructions you predicted occur in the lesson? How were they different?

Looking over the chunks of instructions you recorded, what patterns or tendencies do you notice in the teacher's language? Is
there a tendency towards teacher talk, that is, the peculiarly modified inter language that native speaker teachers often adopt

in speaking to learners?

3. What stages / features could you identify or suggest that might serve to make a set of instructions more effective?

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4. One possible paradigm for instruction giving is as follows:

Signal to engage class attention

State the overall aim of the task

Organise seating grouping

Give instructions.

Check instructions

Signal to start activity

Monitor understanding - repeat above if necessary.

Evaluate this paradigm. Is there a place for breaking up instructions throughout the activity? How necessary is stage (2)

above? Would you alter the order of any stages? What factors would influence your decision?

5. How do you resolve the apparent conflict in these two pieces of advice:

a) Instructions 'should generally be below the level of the learners' (Gower & Walters 1988:25).

b) Learners 'usually understand at a higher level than they speak or write (ibid.:41)

Reflection.

What is your attitude to giving instructions? Have you become more aware of the process of instruction giving as a result of

this task? Does your attitude reveal anything about your own learning style?

Write up your observations in not more than 750 words. What aspects would you like to develop in the future?

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

 Observation task: Patterns of interaction.

Task Objective.

This task is concerned with how communication takes place in a classroom setting, and specifically the patterns of

interaction.

In this task you will collect data about how communication is realised in the classroom.

Procedure.

Before the lesson.

1. Arrange to observe a lesson.

2. Read this task.

During the lesson.

1. Draw up a seating plan including students names

2. Draw lines between the people who are speaking to each other. You may have to draw new seating plans for different

phases of the lesson (esp. if students move around a lot). Decide on symbols to represent different kinds of interactions: for

example, an arrowhead can indicate a nominated question, a return arrowhead indicates a response.

Work out symbols for other kinds of interaction i.e. an open Question from the teacher; an unprompted response from a

student; students interacting in closed / open pairs; students interacting undirected by the teacher; an unprompted question by

a student etc. (For ideas see Woodward, T. 1989)

After the lesson.

1. Analyse the notes you have taken and make some summary statements of the overall patterns of interaction. Discuss the

lesson with the teacher you observed referring to the communication patterns that emerged.

2. Which patterns of interaction would be the most conducive to or facilitate learning?

3. Much has been written about pair / group work. What advantages and disadvantages can you see?

4. How 'natural' was the communication between the learners and between the learners and the teacher?

5. Were there any instances of 'genuine communication' i.e. not prompted by the learning context.

Reflection.

Using this observed lesson as a mirror of your own teaching, what comments can you make about the patterns of

communication in your classes. Is there anything you would want to change, experiment with, how could you go about doing

so?

Write up your observations in not more than 750 words. What aspects would you like to develop in the future?

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

 Observation Task: Teaching and Learning Roles.

Task Objective.

Within the time frame of any one lesson, there is a range of roles that a teacher may adopt, and a range of corresponding

learner roles as well. An important aspect of effective teaching is the facility with which a teacher can move in and out of

these various roles and enable learners to do likewise. This flexibility itself depends on the teacher's understanding of the

purposes of different stages of a lesson and a clear sense of what the various corresponding roles of teachers and learner are.

This task is designed to heighten your awareness of the various teacher roles and their corresponding learner roles.

Procedure.

Before the lesson.

1. Arrange to observe a lesson and obtain a copy of the lesson plan.

2. From the plan predict the kind of role the teacher will assume at each stage.

During the lesson.

1. As the lesson proceeds note down information about the stage of the lesson, the teacher's role, and the corresponding

learners' role. Leave room for any comments i.e.

Lesson stage Teacher's role Learners' role Comments

After the lesson.

1. Compare your predictions based on the plan you looked at before the lesson with the data you collected from the lesson.

2. Based on the lesson you observed and your own experience, what do you consider to be the major roles of teachers and

learners? What overt behaviour do you associate with each role?

3. Were there any instances in the lesson when any learners did not behave in the expected learner role? Have you

experienced this in your own teaching?

4. How do you think a teacher can gain greater facility in switching roles in a lesson?

Reflection.

What have you learned from this observation and consideration of roles that might benefit your teaching.

Write up your observations in not more than 750 words. What aspects would you like to develop in the future?

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

 Observation task: Towards autonomy.

Task Objective.

Traditionally we think of the classroom as the place where the teacher 'knows' and the students are there to find out. This

model of education invests a great deal of power and responsibility with the teacher. In recent years this approach has been

viewed with less favour by language teachers as they experiment with learner-centred teaching and ways to hand

responsibility for learning over to the learners.

This task aims to have you reflect on:

- the decisions that are made in the learning encounter

- who makes the decisions.

Procedure.

Before the lesson.

1. Arrange to observe a lesson. Discuss the lesson plan with the teacher and ask the teacher the first 4 questions in the list

below.

2. Make yourself familiar with the rest of the questions in the list (adapted from Deller 1990:6). Predict what you expect the

answers to be.

During the lesson.

Observe the lesson from the points of view of the questions in the list. As responses write T (teacher); S (student) or TS (a

mixture) next to the questions. Don't be concerned to capture every instance - a rough indication is adequate.

1. Who chose the aims?

2. Who chose the language / skills focus?

3. Who chose the topics / and activities?

4. Who chose and prepared the materials?

5. Who chose the seating arrangements?

6. Who wrote on the board?

7. Who cleaned the board?

8. Whom did the students speak to?

9. Who created the pairs / groups?

10. Who decided when to stop an activity?

11. Who operated the equipment?

12. Who decided which questions or problems in the lesson were explored?

13. Who chose the vocabulary to be learnt?

14. Who gave meaning for words?

15. Who spelled out new words?

16. Who gave explanations?

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

17. Who asked questions?

18. Who answered student questions?

19. Who repeated what was said if others didn't hear?

20. Who created the silences?

21. Who broke the silences?

22. Who checked the work?

23. Who chose the homework?

24. Who filled in the register?

After the lesson.

1. Based on your answers, what general tendencies did you observe? Did this surprise you?

2. The overriding question relates to who holds the power. However ask yourself -m what value is there in having students

do X, rather than the teacher?

3. What does a 'power shift' imply for the roles of learners and teachers? How will this affect learning processes and

outcomes?

4. Many teachers are loath to 'let go' some of the crucial decision making in their teaching. How do you account for this?

What reasons might they give?

5. It might be argued that there are cross-cultural issues here; many students expect the teacher to hold all the decision

making power about the learning process. How might they react if some of this power were offered to them?

Reflection.

Often when we observe someone teaching, the very process of observation stimulates self-reflection, as if observing is a kind

of mirror. Can you predict what tendencies would emerge from your lessons. Respond to the questionnaire again, this time

using your own teaching as a source of data.

What aspects of classroom decision making would you like to share with your learners?

Write up your observations in not more than 750 words. What aspects would you like to develop in the future?

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

 Observation Task: The learner.

Task Objective.

It is commonly recognised that active learning allows learning to be both more personal and more memorable and for these

reasons, is more effective. Learners who are engaged by the lesson - by the teacher, materials, tasks, activities etc. - are more

likely to have that learning make an impact on them.

The purpose of this task is to allow you to become sensitive to the fact that learning by doing embraces a large range of

activities, and to analyse these activities as being cognitive (thinking); affective (feeling); and physical.

Procedure.

Before the lesson.

Arrange to observe a lesson. Prepare yourself by considering the sorts of things that teachers typically ask their students to

do. E.g.

thinking

acting

negotiating

ranking etc.

During the lesson.

1. Observe the lesson from the point of view of what the learners actually do.

2. Prepare a chart like this to help you collect data.

What learners do What this involves Teacher's purpose Comment

Grouping words according Using dictionaries Teach reference skills Cognitive

to meaning Opportunity for peer Teach vocab for following

teaching activity

After the lesson

1. With the teacher consider the balance of cognitive, affective and physical activities.

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.

2. Which activities did you consider the most valuable for the learners? Why?

3. Was there any noticeable clash between the learners preferred learning style and the teacher's preferred methodology?

What would happen if there were such a clash?

Reflection.

What balance of activities does your teaching typically involve? Has your awareness of these factor altered in any way the

way you are going to teach?

Write up your observations in not more than 750 words. What aspects would you like to develop in the future?

December 7, 2020 International Training Institute.