Class observations are as beneficial to teaching as peer review is to writing. Observations can help an instructor become aware of things they would not be able to notice on their own, as well as learn new strategies and ideas. In a nationwide survey that the author and her colleague conducted in 2015, class observations by a supervisor were rated…

Instructors often provide feedback to their class in multiple ways. One way is through their follow-up behaviors, which are the specific strategies instructors implement after active learning activities. These behaviors could play an important role in student learning as students receive feedback from the instructor. However, there is little…

The analyses of observed lessons are an important part of learning to teach. Pedagogically focused conversations are one way for pre-service teachers to do so. But how do pedagogically focused conversations enable pre-service teachers to make sense of observed teaching? Using a collective case-study approach, the study qualitatively explored the…

In the wake of the events of recent years, most school leaders and educators recognize that taking equity seriously demands new attention to the instructional experiences that occupy most of students' time in school. In what follows, we bring together key literature on ambitious teaching-learning and equitable classroom practice in an observation…

It is still a challenge for students to engage in classroom dialogue actively and realize effective dialogue-based learning, as classroom dialogue are influenced by a multitude of factors. It is reasonable to believe that by delving into a specific variable (perceived care) to gain insights into its potential impact on dialogue engagement, which…

This study is a qualitative study conducted to examine the effect of socioscientific issues (SSI) on discourse patterns used in the classroom. The research was conducted with four elementary science teachers working in a public school. The research was designed as case studies of these four teachers and data resources were video recordings of…

The Communication Supporting Classroom Observation Tool (CSCOT) is used in the UK to identify how teachers support children's communication development. This study evaluates the feasibility and impact of collaborative training for teachers using the CSCOT, delivered by specialist teachers and a speech and language therapist. Classroom practice was…

Productive classroom discussion has been shown to support student learning across academic domains. Facilitating successful discussion hinges on the teacher's ability to make adept in-the-moment observations of various aspects of student talk and classroom dynamics. In two studies, we explore a pedagogical intervention using contrasting cases to…

The aim was to investigate the staff's language support towards children in Swedish preschools after eight weeks of structured language support. This study took place after an initial study of six weeks' language support. To identify support of Language Learning Environment, Opportunities and Interactions an observation-tool was used. Structured…

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to contribute to a discussion about quality for social science teaching and in continuation hereof to develop a tool for social science classroom observation and interpretation, for both direct and video-based observation. Design/methodology/approach: Classroom teaching is communication. Therefore, it is…

This paper introduces a new observation system that is designed to investigate students' and teachers' talk during literacy instruction, "Creating Opportunities to Learn from Text" (COLT). Using video-recorded observations of 2nd-3rd grade literacy instruction (N = 51 classrooms, 337 students, 151 observations), we found that nine types…

When classroom observations are grounded in curiosity, they're more likely to give teachers the feedback they need--and want, write Sean Conner and Jennifer Froehle. Thoughtful questioning (over telling and directing) prompts teachers to construct their own understanding of strengths, needs, and next steps.

This quantitative study examined teachers' self-efficacy in teaching multilingual learners (MLL) and implementing the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) to support MLL instruction in classrooms. The problem is that teachers' self-efficacy when teaching MLLs may affect them not utilizing the best research-based Tier 1 instructional…

Often, mathematics teachers do not incorporate whole-class discourse of students' various ideas and solution methods into their teaching practice. Particularly complex is the in-the-moment decision-making that is necessary to build on students' thinking and develop their collective construction of mathematics. This study explores the…

In mathematical whole-class discussions, teachers can build on various student ideas and develop these ideas toward mathematical goals. This requires teachers to make sense of their students' mathematical thinking, which evidently involves mathematical thinking on the teacher's part. Teacher sense-making of student mathematical thinking has been…