I designed my observation grid so that I would be able to observe specific aspects of the lesson, as is recommended by Richards & Lockhart (1991), and would also be able to add to the criteria as needed. I also took into account, that upon observing my mentee's first lesson, I would be in the cognitive stage of skills learning when it comes to observation (Randall & Thorton, 2003a). On top of that, I wanted to be able to keep a running commentary of the lesson, which can be useful in creating a narrative for subsequent critical reflection (Engin, 2015b). Taking Chris' advice, I wanted to be able to observe that which I set out to observe while maintaining a more "holistic" view of the lesson.
Keeping all of this in mind, I collaborated with my colleague, Helene Bramwell, in order to come up with the scheme for the observation grid that is presented in this section. In order to keep observable phenomena to a minimum, we came up with a system of "coding;" that is, rather than having to write complete words every time we want to observe a phenomenon, we can simply write the abbreviation for it (e.g. TTT = Teacher Talking Time).
We also thought it would be useful to observe the lesson in terms of what the teacher and students are doing at any given point in the lesson. I also found myself keep on keeping track of what the teachers and students were saying at given points in the lesson, and that doing and saying often went hand-in-hand.
As a result of our considerations, I came up with an observation grid that suited my needs quite well. It has a columns for the elapsed time and a column for the phase of the lesson. This way, I'm able to keep track of the amount of time that has passed within a given phase. It also has a column for the form that the class is taking at any given time (e.g. open class, pair work, group work, etc.). These formations are easily kept track of by codes.
I created codes for phases of the lesson as well. For example, "M" = Monitoring phase. In this phase of the lesson, the students are doing the activity that they have been assigned and the importance of the observation is placed on what the teacher is doing during that time.
The observation grid also features a notes section at the bottom of each page that can be used to comment on aspects of the lesson that are not event-specific (e.g. "The teacher was on time; the teacher is dressed appropriately"). This way, the observer can choose to comment on both minute details and on the bigger picture; on the forest and the trees, per say.
When I observed my first lesson, I printed out about ten sheets so that I would be able to keep a running commentary as needed. Observable phenomena and corresponding codes can also be added by hand as needed.
The first PDF available on this page is a blank observation grid. You can use the "zoom in" function to get a closer look at the code section. You can also print them if you like. The second PDF on this page is an example observation page. Not that using this format, you are able to see on the first line that the teacher was doing feedback ("F" phase) in an open-class configuration ("O"), and 22 minutes had elapsed since the beginning of the lesson. The running commentary is documented as a script of what the teacher ("T") and students ("Ss") were saying (in quotation marks) and doing (not in quotation marks).
"Teaching is a bit like ice dancing. You get points for the technical aspects and points for the artistic bit." - Chris