Report on an External Classroom Observation
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
Usually, the programs serving ESOL students in public schools include (a) immersion, (b) submersion, and (c) sheltered instruction. Occasionally, bilingual education programs are an option in which general education teachers are responsible for teaching limited English proficient (LEP) students in their classrooms on a daily basis. The conducted classroom observation was undertaken by examining the learning environment among five to eight year-old students of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) as funded by the government. These students who speak Spanish and Haitian Creole are primarily studying under the English curriculum as one of their second languages. The observed session is one of their daily one and a half hour sessions with an ESOL teacher. The students were engaged in a group art work activity in which evaluation of the occurring era correction and classroom management issues was facilitated.
Observation Schedule
Classrooms are exceptionally busy places since innumerable events in classrooms take place when teachers ask children questions, new concepts are explained, pupils talk to each other, some of those who misbehave are reprimanded, and others are ignored. But despite this fact, classroom observations has become more popular for systematic teacher appraisal and lesson evaluation, greater emphasis on developing the professional skills of initial trainees, or honing those of experienced practitioners, as well as for the increased interest in classroom processes by curriculum developers (1999).
Direct observation is the most common type of classroom observation practiced in the academe (2004). The applicability and reliability of utilizing direct observation has been equivocal, with arguments claiming that classical psychometric concepts based on differences between persons are irrelevant to an assessment methodology that focuses on behavior and its variation within individuals (1977), while others claimed that the differences between traditional and behavioral assessment are primarily conceptual, not methodological, and as such reliability and validity considerations apply (1988). The two types of direct observation are the naturalistic or descriptive observation and the systematic observation.
The naturalistic observation is where the observer enters specific situations and observes the behavior of a targeted student with no predetermined behaviors in mind. Recording observations is conducted by keeping an anecdotal record of the behaviors that seem important in which complete description of behaviors and the context in which they occurred are summarized ( 2002). On the other hand, systematic direct observation is facilitated by introducing stimuli or treatment to the observed environment commonly referred to as test behaviors (2004). Contrary to the principles of naturalistic observation, systematic direct observation is characterized with the goals (1) to measure specific behaviors, (2) operationalization definition of the behaviors being observed, (3) undertake observation under standardized procedures and objective manner, (4) specific and careful selection of times and places for observation, and (5) standardized scoring and summarizing of data for reliability issues (2004).
The conducted external classroom observation was facilitated by using direct observation procedures following the framework of naturalistic descriptive observation of the behaviors of the students. This is in line with the surrounding issues and concepts that were evident based on the undertaken activity. Using direct naturalistic observation framework enabled the observer to accumulate data and information that were critically apparent in the managing the selected session for ESOL students. As such, in-depth and rich data were collected to describe in detail what transpired during the session taking into account all the possible relevant information with regards to issues on improving and accurately evaluating the teaching processes as well learning susceptibility of the students. Fortunately, the conducted observation elicited information that positive assessed the teaching process that was observed.
The selected observation schedule was able to deliver valid information that support the teaching technique used by the ESOL instructor. However, direct naturalistic observation as an observation schedule was confronted with some limitations. This included the concerns on the capability of the observer to record all that transpired during the session in full detail. Data and information that escaped the observation skills of the observer proved detrimental to the overall assessment and evaluation of the observed classroom setting. Other than this particular challenge, everything that was observed was recorded by the observer in the most accurate and effective manner so as not to influence the quality of the collected data.
Issues Surrounding the Observed Classroom Event
According to (1997) learning among children is ideal in a non-threatening, joyful environment. This promotes interaction in which hands-on activities that interests the children and enhances their background knowledge help to facilitate child-centered environment to facilitate more effective learning (1997). (2004) indicated that ESOL children involved in art activities learn the colors, shapes, names of tools, and verbs in which through their drawings, children can express feelings and thoughts for which they do not yet have the vocabulary in the second language. During the silent period, when children absorb the new language but do not yet speak, the teacher can use art for assessing children’s comprehension.
However, art classes among children are cumbersome when it comes to issues on class management in which disciplined activities pertaining to education as well as behavior is a common concern among teachers. According to (1994) classroom management tops a list of twenty-eight categories that most influence learning. During the observation, it was evident that the ESOL teacher, despite the chaos inherent in using group art work as an ESOL teaching strategy among children, was able to inculcate the appropriate learning activities easily. The students were able to follow the instructions of the teacher on the proper handling of art materials from the start of the session until the time came when the students were required to clean their desks. Moreover, the children displayed how disciplined they are in following the directions of their teachers on the duration of their group work.
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