In describing their practices, it might be useful to people to share
more detail.
For ex., there are different ways of structuring observations (e.g.,
the person being observed does/doesn't identify ahead of time a
particular issue or practice that s/he'd like feedback on, the
teacher is/isn't videotaped, the "observation" does/doesn't attend
explicitly to elements of teaching that occur outside of the
classroom, such as planning and giving student written feedback) and
of eliciting feedback from students, both in terms of the foci of the
questions (e.g., general strengths and weakness, specific teaching
practices) and their structure (e.g., closed questions w/ 1-5 scales,
open-ended questions).
Dara
At 2:42 PM -0500 3/29/05, Derek Bruff wrote:
PSTUM-List,
Our spring semester starts in February, so it's still midterm time around
here. I'm curious to know what some of you do around midterm time...
(a) to determine which of your instructors are struggling in the classroom
and
(b) to intervene and assist those instructors with their teaching while
there is still time left in the semester.
Here is what we do...
(a) Each of our calculus instructors (graduate students and junior faculty)
are observed by a member of the preceptor group during the first half of the
semester. Each of these observations is followed by a 20-30 minute
consultation where the preceptor and the instructor discuss the class
observed. One goal of this consultation is to identify three things the
teacher is doing well and three suggestions for improvement.
We also have all (well, most) of our calculus students complete midterm
course evaluations. Each of our calculus instructors then meets with his or
her course head to discuss these evaluations.
(b) Our interventions depend on the types of problems that are discovered
through the observation and midterm course evaluations. Typically one of
the preceptors mentors the teacher for a time, checking over their lesson
plans and offering advice. These interventions have been fairly ad hoc.
We're currently working on a "menu" of professional development options to
present to these teachers.
What are some of your practices?
Derek
--
Derek Bruff, Preceptor
Department of Mathematics, Harvard University
Email: bruff(a)fas.harvard.edu
Web:
http://www.derekbruff.com/
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