In this episode, which is still part of our getting started series essential
topics for educators, we're going to explore the power of observation.
So, whether you're just starting out or you're a seasoned pro, understanding the
power of observation can have a profound influence on your teaching approach
and students' learning experiences.
So right now, educators all over Australia, and I guess that's the
Southern hemisphere schools in general.
You've had a couple of weeks with your students.
And these first few days and weeks are usually focused on observation.
Observation is a powerful tool for learning.
Both for your students and for yourselves as teachers and educators.
In these first couple of weeks.
Teachers come to learn about their students.
Since you probably know very little about the kids in front of you, these
first few weeks, are the perfect time to get to know your students,
to get information, to inform.
your teaching and students learning.
In the same way that children learn through observation, so do adults,
and for anyone teaching children, observation is key, especially when it
comes to getting to know children and their learning styles and dispositions.
We observed children for many reasons, we monitor behavior, we evaluate the
effectiveness of their communication, we check in on their progress, we look
at their ability to cooperate with others, we're looking for areas where
we need to extend children and areas where they may need more support.
And sometimes during our observations, we're working with children or we're
joining in with a play or their conversations and their interactions,
so that we can gain a better understanding of the way in which they
learn and interact with the world.
We need to be sensitive to kids as well and ensure that we're not interrupting
their play or their learning.
So that we can appreciate the full richness of the learning experience.
So pulling a kid away, from an experience that they're deeply immersed in.
It's probably not an ideal observation.
Ideal observation would be standing back.
And just listening and looking.
Now observation.
Helps us to plan and design learning experiences that are child centered.
And appropriately scaffolded to help children develop their level of skill
and expertise in a particular area.
Observation also helps us to understand children's needs and abilities
as well as to provide feedback to parents about their child's learning.
So observation can take lots of different forms.
And for observation though, to be real, it should have value
and it should be purposeful.
And there's different ways we can carry out these observations.
So if you're a homeschool educator observing just a couple of kids
or a handful of children is much easier than observing a
classroom full of 25 or 30 kids.
And one of the thing I know is that when you're in a classroom,
there's a lot going on, man.
And you're trying to remember everything you hear and see during the day.
And it can be really overwhelming.
And once you to get to the end of the day and you've dealt with possible
behavior issues, someone's lost their lunch and other one's lost
their shoe, there's a scraping of the knee and there's 4 million emails.
You've already forgotten what you heard and saw at 9:00 AM this morning.
So let's explore some types of observations that we, as educators can
take to inform our teaching and learn more about students and their needs.
So, firstly there's direct observation.
This is focused on a particular indicator.
So for example, you might say to yourself right today, I simply want to
observe the degree to which children are cooperating on a group task, or
perhaps you're observing their ability to construct a descriptive sentence.
Or the ability to demonstrate grouping in three in maths.
Whatever observation you're doing should probably be guided by your learning
intention of the lesson So here you are purposefully looking and listening
to what students are doing, and saying, and the feedback you're getting is a
reflection of that student's specific level of skill and understanding.
And you're looking here to collect data and information to direct your teaching.
And children's learning.
Anecdotal notes are another way of collecting observations and these
kinds of things you do on the fly.
So something happens, you observe, or you hear something and you immediately
make a note or a record of it somewhere.
So how do we actually record our notes and observations be it anecdotal or direct?
When you're making anecdotal notes, you're more likely moving around the room.
And what some educators do is that they have this pad of sticky notes in their
hand and they jot down the child's name and the observation they make.
And if you're a dab hand at sewing or crafting, another idea I've seen is that.
Um, an educator makes an apron with a nice front pocket and that's where
you keep your sticky notes and a pen, and possibly some stickers
and stamps and things like that.
So that they within easy reach when you need them.
So something happens.
You pull out your sticky note, your pen and you make your note
and pop it back in the pocket.
And then these notes are invaluable when it comes to reporting or when
you're having to report on a specific social, emotional behavior problem.
You can then just pop the sticky notes in a journal or a diary.
A great time-saver is to create a file on your computer, such as a simple word, doc.
With all the kids' names on it.
And then at the end of the day, you can either enter your observations
from your sticky notes and the date.
In this way, you actually build up a comment bank for each student that can
be used for reporting purposes or when you're having a meeting with parents.
And incidentally for those that are homeschooling, this is a
powerful way that you can show your moderator, how you're aligning your
children's learning to their needs.
Checklists are another great way of collecting data through observation.
They usually have a description of a specific skill or behavior that you're
looking for to direct your teaching.
And it links directly to direct observation.
So for example, you might be looking at pencil grip in pre-primary or cutting
skills, or perhaps the ability to identify the beginning sound or a word, or perhaps.
It's being able to ask an open-ended question or use materials purposefully.
So checklists are an effective way for collecting data quickly.
And I've actually got a great little checklist on my website for when you're
doing investigation or you're getting kids to work in small group projects.
I'll place a link to the checklist.
in the show notes.
So make sure you go there and get that.
Photographs and videos are another great way to document children's learning.
The great thing about this method is that it makes learning visible to parents too.
And again, a great visual reminder of a child's skill level.
So unless you have a photographic memory.
This is actually a great tool.
I've used it to photograph children's pencil grip at the beginning of
the year, for example, or the way they hold a pair of scissors.
And then you take another set of photographs at the end of the
year to demonstrate growth and achievement of a particular skill.
Video is also great for recording reading and writing.
And again, you collect another sample, at the end of the
term, to demonstrate growth.
Uh, one of the apps, that's great that I know a lot of teachers in certainly our,
my school and myself have used his Seesaw.
It's a great app for collecting evidence, but also for sharing with parents, exactly
what their kids are doing during the day and how are they learning, and it's also
amazing because you can actually go back to that when you're doing your reports.
So Seesaw is a great way of just reminding you exactly, of what your kids have done
or achieved during the term or the year.
Now observation boxes.
This is just a term I've coined for another method I like to use.
And I know there have been educators before that have asked me about
it and I've shared it with them.
I've never really taken to making marks or symbols to describe
children's learning in my observations.
I prefer writing a note.
It's much more time consuming, I know that, but I believe it gives you a
more accurate picture of the child.
It's a combination, really of a checklist and an anecdotal note.
But for a specific intention.
So I've created this document and I'm going to give it to
you for free on my website.
I leave a link in the show notes, so make sure to go and get it there.
Anyway, I've created this document.
That's basically just a set of boxes.
And in each box I type or write the child's name.
I print off a whole bunch of these and I create a booklet.
And at the top, I write down the behavior or the skill or the learning intention
I'm observing, and then I just enter my observations for each student.
I use it for anything from individual task completions to anecdotal
notes and even assessments.
I find it's just a nice way to keep things in order.
And of course, You could do the same thing digitally, like I
mentioned before, like adding your anecdotal notes to a word document.
Another way that we collect observations specifically.
Um, or particularly rather in early childhood is through learning stories.
This is when the educator considers the bigger picture of the learner
and creates a narrative to capture children's learning over time.
It usually includes the child questions and the child's voice.
And it highlights their skills, their interests, their dispositions.
It's very much a strategy for sharing your child's learning in a visual manner.
And educators all have their own personal favorite ways of capturing these.
But as I said, they're very much used in a kindergarten setting.
So what are some tips for writing observations?
Your notes need to be detailed enough so that they capture what you've observed.
This will provide you with an accurate understanding of the learner, but
also provide you with information you need when it comes to reporting.
And speaking to parents.
You should use positive language when you're observing avoid critical
language and focus specifically just on what you're seeing and hearing.
Stick to the facts, especially when you're reporting on behavior.
Report on what you actually witnessed.
Remain objective, avoid personal opinions or judgements.
You're reporting just on what you're actually witnessing.
So now that you've got all your observations, what do you do with them?
Well, your observations give you valuable insight into your learners.
And now you have this opportunity to use this information, to
build relationships because now perhaps, you know, their interests.
To foster friendships because you can see what's happening between kids.
You can build on a child's strengths and interests and provide learning
experiences that support children.
Through your observations, you can now make decisions on how you're
going to organize your small groups.
Which learners need more extension, which need additional scaffolding.
It's these observations and your response to them that really show you
intentional teaching and the decisions you make for learning with your students.
With this knowledge of students that you've gained through your
observations, you can now program your learning activities for
your student's specific needs.
It's a far more authentic way to teach since all students
are having their needs met.
For example, let's say we're teaching you two students and you're teaching
spelling words with a split diagraph, but because you did your assessments
and your observations, you now know that you have a small group that
have already mastered that skill.
So there's no need to bore that group to tears by teaching them that
specific rule again, you move on for them and they learn the next rule.
But you might have another group that, you know, that still needs
lots of practice with this concept.
So you spend more time with them practicing that skill with them.
And of course, as you work with small groups of children and
individual children, you're jotting down your observations,
so that bank of observations you're keeping on each child is constantly being
updated as they improve their skills.
This whole cycle of observation planning, teaching observation.
Is a great way not only to demonstrate your intentionality as a teacher.
In other words, showing that you know what you're doing, but students appreciate it
too because their needs are being met.
And they're not bored or they're being extended where they need to be.
And it just so happens to keep moderators and inspectors happy too if you're in
the midst of being audited, for example,
And I feel I must mention inquiry based learning here.
Observations are key to gain insights into children's interest and capitalizing
on those teachable moments when you're outside and a child becomes interested in
a bug they're found for example, or the water that's been puddling in one area
for ages or the ibis that visits the yard.
As educators we need to be switched on.
We need to be on the lookout and be keen observers ourselves, so
that we can pick up on children's explorations and interests, and then
explore them further in the classroom.
Making learning real and authentic and interesting for children.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
Teaching is not a passive pursuit.
It's active and organic.
And as an educator, whether you're in a classroom or your own home,
getting children interested in learning begins with you and me.
And how interested we are in the world around us.
They are watching us.
So we need to really model what it means to be interested
and interesting by the way.
If you're worried about.
a, child's lack of interest in learning, they've switched off, they're aimless
for no apparent interest in anything.
My question is how are you modeling and demonstrating interest?
And honestly, I know sometimes we're super enthusiastic, but we
still can't engaged some kids.
It just takes time.
And you'll be surprised that kid, that you think you can't get through
to suddenly they do or say something that makes it years prick up.
And you realize you're making a difference.
Or, you get a note from them at the end of the year, telling you
how much they learnt and you break into tears, because you thought
you couldn't break through to them.
And it's often at the end of the year, when it's all over, that you suddenly
realize good golly, I did actually make a difference and do a good job.
\So when it comes to making those observations, Perhaps we
as parents and educators, need to start observing ourselves first.
So that we can realize our own strengths and limitations and work
on those together with children.
Now we only have two more episodes to go in this series on how to get
started with teaching, and then we'll be focusing on inquiry based learning.
If that is something you curious about.
Then why not subscribe and follow, so you can automatically get notified
when a new episode is published.
And I just want to thank you for being here and listening to this podcast.
It means so much to me, and I really hope that you find some value in it.
And if there's anything that you would like to ask and maybe be addressed on the
podcast, I'll leave a link below where you can leave a message, a voice message.
And perhaps I can answer it on the podcast, if not in person.
I'll see you next week.
And until then, remember that curiosity is a superpower.
So stay blooming curious.