Observation Device for Charting Verbal Interactions While Monitoring Gender Equity

OBSERVATION DEVICE FOR CHARTING VERBAL INTERACTIONS WHILE MONITORING GENDER EQUITY.

This observation device is designed to collect data in four categories of verbal interactions. They are:

1)teacher questions

2)teacher responses

3)student questions

4)student responses

Teacher responses can be expanded to include positive (+) or negative (-) responses. Charting verbal interactions is particularly appropriate when a lesson involves discussion, question and answer recitation, or other methods that require numerous verbal interchanges between the teacher and students. Student participation can easily be checked from the data collected.

A box is used to represent each student present. An X in a box indicates an empty seat. If the teacher uses a seating chart, the students’ names or initials can be put in the appropriate boxes ahead of time, as well as an indicator of sex, male or female.

Arrows are used to indicate the flow of verbal interaction. The base of the arrow indicates the person who initiates the verbal interaction, and the arrowhead points to the person to whom the comment is directed. A question mark (Q) on the arrow indicates a question while (+) or (-) indicates a positive or negative teacher response. For example:

…..Indicates three interactions…

a teacher question, a teacher , a teacher positive response and a

student response. Rich, a

male student.

Recording should be done for a minimum of 15 minutes.

REINFORCEMENT DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES

The observer documents the reinforcement given by the teacher for a specific time interval (10 minutes).
After the observation, the observer marks the reinforcement according to the four categories explained below:

P- reinforcement was positive without behavioral explanation

(Good! Nice job!)

PB- reinforcement was positive with a behavioral explanation

(I like the way you are sitting in your seat; that was an excellent description)

N- reinforcement was negative without behavioral explanation

(Stop that! No)

NB- reinforcement was negative with a behavioral explanation

(That is not the correct way to add decimals)

After analyzing the data, the observer tallies the amount of data in each category. This information is shared with the teacher.
The teacher can use these results to understand the type of messages he/she is giving to the class and focus on more constructive behavior reinforcement.

CHARTING REINFORCEMENT STRATEGIES

REINFORCEMENT /

P

PB

N

NB

Percentage

SAMPLE REINFORCEMENT CHART

REINFORCEMENT /

P

PB

N

NB

Very good, Tom!

Don’t do that!

Very nice handwriting, Dan!

Dan, do not run in the hall!

Percentage

TEACHER BEHAVIOR

Adapted from Furman and Steere

The following codes are used to record teacher behavior:

O – Silently observing the class

S – Making a statement

Q – Asking a question

P – Praising, giving positive feedback to a student

N – Criticizing, giving negative feedback

L – Lecturing

A – Assigning a student

D – Disciplining a student

M – Managerial duties

The following codes are used to record student behavior:

X – On task

A – Not at seat, out of the room

Q – Asking an unrelated question

P – Asking a procedural question

D – Disruptive behavior

S – Socializing

The first column of the chart can be used for notes or to record seating arrangements, thereby giving more adaptability than charts depicting straight rows of desks.

After the observation, the observer can determine an overall percentage of time on task by adding all columns together. Adding each column and noting the teacher’s behavior at the time may also provide meaningful, helpful data.

Classroom Activity and Student Behavior Chart

Instructor DatePeriod

SubjectObserver

Time

Period / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
Teacher Activity
Student
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
#13
#14
#15
#16
#17
#18
#19
#20

TIME ON TASK:

OBSERVATION DEVICE FOR QUESTIONING

This observation device is designed to collect data on three inter-related areas of questioning: (1) wait-time, (2) student response, and (3) level of questioning.

For fifteen minutes the observer notes verbatim teacher questions, V.T.Q., in column one and charts the wait-time in seconds by using a / MARK in column two. The observer also notes the student response using the following code: SC = Student answers correctly, SI = Student answers incorrectly, and SO = Student does not know or respond.

After the observation, when analyzing the observation notes, the final column, LEVEL of QUESTIONING, should be coded as to K (knowledge), C (comprehension), AP (application), AN (analysis), S (synthesis), and E (evaluation).

TEACHERSUBJECT

DATEGRADE

OBSERVERTIME

V.T.Q. / WAIT TIME / STUDENT
RESPONSE / LEVEL of
QUESTION
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

DATA KEY

Verbatim Teacher Question = V.T.Q.Levels of Questioning/Number

K=knowledge

Wait Time = / number of seconds

C=comprehension

Student Response:

SC student answers correctly AP=application

SI student answers incorrectly AN=analysis

SO student does not respond/know S=synthesis

E=evaluation

CLASSROOM QUESTIONING DEVICE

This classroom-questioning device focuses primarily on teacher/class questioning techniques and questioning levels. It is used by simply recording what goes on in the classroom during a specific period of time or the whole class period. The observer charts the levels of questions the teacher directs to the students as well as the questioning techniques being used.

QUESTIONING TECHNIQUES AND

QUESTIONING LEVELS OBSERVATION FORM

Teacher’s NameDate

Observer’s NamePeriod/Time

Class Seating Chart

M / M / M / M
C / C / C / C
D / D / D / D
E / E / E / E
M / M / M / M
C / C / C / C
D / D / D / D
E / E / E / E
M / M / M / M
C / C / C / C
D / D / D / D
E / E / E / E
M / M / M / M
C / C / C / C
D / D / D / D
E / E / E / E

QUESTIONING TECHNIQUES AND

QUESTIONING LEVELS ANALYSIS FORM

Teacher’s Name Date

Observer’s Name Period/Time

QUESTION LEVELS# Ques Asked% of Total

Cognitive-memory: narrow, closed questions

that require students to recall or recognize

information. Students recall, recognize, define

repeat, quote, identify, or answer yes or no.

Convergent: narrow questions that require students

to combine and analyze remembered information.

Students translate, interpret, relate, explain, compare,

contrast, analyze, associate, conclude, summarize,

or reason.

Divergent: broad, open-ended questions that require

students to develop their own information or to view

a topic from a new perspective. Students

hypothesize, speculate, devise, infer, predict,

imply, synthesize, or solve lifelike

problems.

Evaluative: broad, open-ended questions that require

students to judge, value, or choose with support from

internal or external sources. Students form an opinion,

judge, rate, or make a choice.

QUESTIONING TECHNIQUES:

Pprobing as a follow up to clarify, extend or

support thinking

WTwait time after a question before student

response (include # of seconds)

V orvolunteering or non-volunteering student

NVcalled upon

Rredirection of question to another student

SQstudent question initiated by the student or solicited by teacher

QUESTIONING TECHNIQUES AND

QUESTIONING LEVELS ANALYSIS FORM

Teacher’s Name Date

Observer’s Name Period/Time

QUESTION LEVELS# Ques Asked% of Total

Cognitive-memory: narrow, closed questions

that require students to recall or recognize

information. Students recall, recognize, define

repeat, quote, identify, or answer yes or no.

Convergent: narrow questions that require students

to combine and analyze remembered information.

Students translate, interpret, relate, explain, compare,

contrast, analyze, associate, conclude,

summarize, or reason.

Divergent: broad, open-ended questions that require

students to develop their own information or to

view a topic from a new perspective.

Students hypothesize, speculate, devise, infer, predict,

imply, synthesize, or solve lifelike

problems.

Evaluative: broad, open-ended questions that require

students to judge, value, or choose with support from

internal or external sources. Students form an opinion,

judge, rate, or make a choice.

QUESTIONING TECHNIQUES:

Pprobing as a follow up to clarify, extend or

support thinking

WTwait time after a question before student

response (include # of seconds)

V orvolunteering or non-volunteering student

NVcalled upon

Rredirection of question to another student

SQstudent question initiated by the student or solicited by teacher

QUESTIONING TECHNIQUES AND

QUESTIONING LEVELS OBSERVATION FORM

Teacher’s NameDate

Observer’s NamePeriod/Time

Class Seating Chart

Use of devise

This model evaluates the levels of questions by using Bloom’s taxonomy of Educational Objectives. If the question just requires the respondent to know something, a question should be coded as a knowledge type question. Questions should be written on the left-hand margin and then classified according to one of the six categories.

Monitoring Device : Questioning

Questions

Write the question the teacher asked and

Then make an “X” under the category
That best describes the question. / K
N
O
W
L
E
D
G
E / C
O
M
P
R
E
H
E
N
S
I
O
N / A
P
P
L
I
C
A
T
I
O
N / A
N
A
L
Y
S
I
S / S
Y
N
T
H
E
S
I
S / E
V
A
L
U
A
T
I
O
N
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM

Definition of Terms:

ENGAGEMENTinvolvement; time on task; attention to instructional activities

TIMEon minute intervals during observation

STUDENTS ASSIGNEDthe number of students present in the class or group

during that period

TRANSITIONSpreparing for instruction; waiting; listening to nonacademic

directions; movement from group to group, activity to

activity; change of location

INTERACTIONS (student)social involvement; watching others interact

DISCIPLINEbeing reprimanded by an adult; being punished; watching others being reprimanded; speaking out of turn; leaving

seat without permission; violation of class rules

ATTENTIONwandering with no evident goal or purpose; playing with

materials; playing in desk; sleeping; daydreaming; doodling; reading nonrelated material

OUT OF ROOMtemporarily out of room (restroom, nurse, etc.)

TOTAL UNENGAGEDnumber of students observed each minute who are not engaged in the learning process (off task)

ENGAGEDnumber of students involved in the lesson; (ASSIGNED STUDENTS – TOTAL UNENGAGED = ENGAGED)

ENGAGEMENT RATEn% of students who are engaged during lesson

DIRECTIONS:

Observe the behaviors of the students in the classroom at one-minute intervals. Allow a one-minute pause between each interval. Place a tally mark in each category for each student who exhibits an unengaged behavior.

After the observation is completed, analyze the results.

Add the total tallies and mark in the TOTAL UNENGAGED BOX
Subtract that total from the STUDENTS ASSIGNED. This represents the ENGAGED number of students.
To find the ENGAGEMENT RATE divide the ENGAGED by the STUDENTS ASSIGNED to get a percentage.

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM

REPORTING FORMAT

TeacherDate

SubjectTime

ObserverStudents

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / Engagement Rate

Time

Students
Assigned
Transitions
Interactions
Student
Discipline
Attention
Out of room
Total
Unengaged
Engaged

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM

REPORTING FORMAT

TeacherDate

SubjectTime

ObserverStudents

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / Engagement

Rate

Time

Students
Assigned
Transitions
Interactions
Student
Discipline
Attention
Out of room
Total
Unengaged
Engaged

TIME SCAN CHART

Behavior (s) being observed

0 / 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
KEY:
+ =behavior present
-=behavior not observed to be
present

DATA COLLECTION SAMPLE #3

TIME SCAN

TIME

WC / MW / RS / RW / T / W / O

Key:WC = writing center

MW = math work

RS = reading silently

RW = reading worksheet

T = talking/listening to other student

W = walking around

O = other (off)

TIME SCAN CHART

Behavior (s) being observed

0 / 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
KEY:
+ =behavior present
=behavior not observed to be present

Movement Patterns (Technique 13)

Another use of seating charts is to record the movements of teacher and students during a class lesson. We call this SCORE technique “movement patterns.” The supervisor’s task is to record how the teacher and individual students walk from one section of the room to another during a given time interval. This focus on movement differentiates movement patterns from the other SCORE techniques presented in this chapter: at task, which focuses on students’ level of attentiveness and engagement in classroom tasks; and verbal flow, which focuses on the nature and direction of verbal communication in the classroom.

Many teaching situations, especially in primary and elementary school, require teachers to make decisions about where to position themselves in the classroom. For example, as students file into class after recess, the teacher needs to decide whether to stand by the door, at the desk, or elsewhere. When students are engaged in seatwork or group projects, the teacher must decide whether to stay at the desk or move around the room checking on students’ work.

The nature of the teacher’s movement patterns may affect classroom control and student attentiveness. The teacher who “hides” behind a desk may have more discipline problems than the teacher who checks on students as they work at their desks. The teacher who always stands in one position while speaking to the class may not hold students’ attention as effectively as the teacher who moves about for dramatic emphasis or to illustrate a concept on the blackboard or chart.

Teachers may also reveal a consistent bias in their movement patterns. They may prefer on part of the classroom over another, perhaps because certain students are seated here. Some teachers consistently stand some distance away from students’ seats while speaking to the class. This may create difficulties for students who do not see or hear well, and it may provide and excuse for some students to engage in off-task behavior (“the teacher can’t see what I’m doing”).

Students’ movement patterns may reveal whether or not they are at task. Sometimes it is necessary for students to move about the classroom to complete and assigned activity. At other times students move about to avoid an assigned task or because they have no assigned task. The latter situation often occurs when students finish their work early in the class period; they mill around to find a classmate to engage in conversation or to find another activity.

Movement patterns can be recorded during any lesson, but the technique is most useful when the teaching situation contains the potential for movement about the classroom. For example, seatwork and group projects provide situations where the teacher needs to move about, and where students do move about even when they don’t need to. On the other hand, the showing of a film or a question-and-answer recitation places many constraints on teacher and student movement. There is not likely to be much movement behavior to record.

Technique

The seating charts used in other SCORE instruments often consist of interconnected boxes, as in exhibit 7.1 to record movement patterns, each student and the teacher should be represented by self-contained boxes. Also, the seating chart should represent the physical layout of the classroom, including aisles and desks or tables where students might congregate.

Exhibits 7.4 and 7.5 show seating chart used to record movement pattern data. Teacher or student movement from one point in the room to another is indicated by a continuous line. The line for each originates at the point where that person was located in the room when the supervisor began observing. The teacher and students are likely to move from one point to another, stop for a while, then move to another. Each stopping point should be represented by an indicator- for example, an arrow (  )

a circle ( ), or an (X). Exhibit 7.4 uses circled numbers to indicate stopping points. This physical movement chart shows that the teacher started the lesson standing at the front of the classroom next moved to the student designated by box 1, and then proceeded to student 13.

A single line with a different symbol at each end can be used when a person goes from his desk to another location and then returns to his desk. For example, in exhibit 7.5 the teacher went from her desk (designated by O) to Wes’s desk and the returned to her desk. In contrast, Keith went from his desk to the teacher’s desk and then returned.

You may wish to indicate the pattern of movement at different points in the lesson. A supply of different colored pencils is useful for this purpose. For example, you might record the first ten minutes in yellow, the second ten minutes in green, and so on. If the teacher plans to divide the lesson into different activities, this can form the basis for color-coding. The first activity might be direction giving, followed by small-group projects, followed by whole-class question-and-answer. Movement during each activity can be recorded with a different colored pencil. This technique helps the teacher analyze the pattern of movement that occurred at different stages of the lesson.

Occasionally so many students will mill about in the classroom that you will not be able to record all their movements. When this occurs, you may find it necessary to suspend data recording for a few minutes. (Make a note that you did so somewhere on your movement pattern chart.) Another possibility is to limit your observation to only certain students in the classroom.

Example

The movement pattern chart in exhibit 7.5 was recorded in a high school typing class. The teacher worried about whether he ran “too loose a ship.” He didn’t think that students should be “chained to their desks” during the entire class period, yet he wanted to instill in students a sense of discipline and self-control. He and the supervisor agreed that a movement pattern chart might be a good method for recording the extent of order-disorder in the classroom. The supervisor observed and recorded the class’s movement behavior for approximately 30 minutes.

Data Analysis

At first glance a movement pattern chart such as the one shown in exhibit 7.5 looks like a hopeless maze. If teacher and supervisor isolate the behavior of one person or one section of the room, however, they usually can make helpful inferences from the chart. The first thing that caught the teacher’s eye was the door leading into the classroom. Six students entered or left the classroom after the lesson had begun. One student who was not enrolled in the class (indicated by a “?”) apparently entered the classroom, talked to several friends and then left. The teacher thought that the mystery student probably was wandering about during his free study period. The chart also indicates that two other students (Bill and Sandra) entered late. Two students (Janice and Keith) left the class while it was in session and then returned. The teacher did not realize this had happened.

After inspecting these data, the teacher decided he needed to monitor students’ entry and exit behavior more closely. Also included in this resolution to himself was the decision to give students some ground rules about leaving class while it is in session.