TESOL Observation Field Notes

Class Observation #_ENG 107___

Teacher

__Sarah_Hynes___________

Class

____ENG107_______________

Date/Time___2.26.2016__3:00-4:00_____ Location______Coor L1-34____________

Effective Principles of Observation:

Wipe away preconceived notions before starting your observations.

Collect observations under different circumstances and from varied perspectives.

Take thorough notes, including quotes and details about the setting and atmosphere, and collect
important class documents.

Engage in active listening using a detached observer approach.

Keep systematic track of observations that surprise you or contradict your prior beliefs.

Pre-Class Notes (e.g., what are the teachers goals for the lesson? what are the demographics [e.g., student population,
class size, proficiency level] of the class?)
Weekend HM

1. Finish the "Creating an Interview" activity and copy and paste your answers into Digication, Step 4
2. Do your research, Part 1 and post it to Digication, Step 5.

Start with Quiz-10 min

Description/Observation of the class

Reflection on/Interpretation of the class

She started with the 10 min quiz.

Today I learned a new thing from Sarah, todays class

students looks very tired and quiet, so she asked the
students one by one read the questions and ask them
what the topic talking about.

(i.e., what is happening?)

She explain the interview research assignment (Interview

research assignment-post on the class note)

(i.e., what does it mean?)

interviewer: the person ask question,

interviewee: the person answer questions

She wants students more focus on the class (it Friday!) So

she required half students to read the assignment step by
step.

She basically asked the whole class read each one

step to trying to activate the class.

Open the interview assignment, explain the assignment.

(Asked the student listened a interview and explain what
the interviewed did)

Also when she ask students to read the steps she will
pick the students, if the student good at English
(speaking) she will pick the student read the long
step, if the student not good at the English she will
let them read the step only one or two sentences. I
think this is really good for students not only practice
their writing but also to practice their speaking.

She explained and helped the students to organize how to

interview a person. What the interviewee will be reflect the
feedback. (Let the students make sure to understand the
interviewees reaction) How students to do a successful
interview. (Need to do a research, prepared and know the
interviewee and figure out the persons life experience fit
their hypothesis)

In her class, she always give students an example

about the assignment what they are going to write or
do in their homework. She always will write the
information/ background information on the
whiteboard. During this example, she will let the
students join her discussion. She always asked the
question with: how, when, why, what.

She gave a students an example: one child policy in China.

Asked them listened and write the background information
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on the whiteboard:
Background for listener :
1. introduction for host, topic
2. Fongs book, Fong
3. Question 1:
Story: Fong: Sichuan-earthquake
Couple-their daughter died (based on here research)
What were the consequences for this couple.
Question 2 and 3 Follow-up statements
4 What is this policy who was

Post-Class Notes (e.g., are there follow-up questions for the teacher? does anything need to be clarified

Guidelines for creating and conducting a good interview

Example of a great interview: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?

action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=465124337&m=465164195&live=1
(Interviewer: Terry Gross
Interviewee: Mei Fong)
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1. Avoid asking yes/no questions

2. Be knowledgeable about the subject
To be able to conduct this interview, Terry Gross had to read Mei Fong's book first. Find one
Gross asked that relied on her reading of the book:

question that

3. Ask different kinds of questions. Think of What, Who, Why, How, To What Effect, How Much, When, Where. Find
at least three different kinds of questions that Gross asked:

4. Organize your questions logically so that it will be easy for your listeners to move from one question to the next.
Some interviewers will start by asking for a general overview and then ask for increasingly more specific details.
Some interviewers will start by asking the interviewee questions about the past before moving into the present.
Some interviewers will move around the subject, looking at it from different perspectives. Describe the organization
method that Gross used in her interview:

5. In addition to writing good questions before the interview, a good interviewer will also ask follow-up questions
during the interview. A follow-up question responds to what the interviewee has actually said. A follow-up question
might ask for more details, confirm or clarify the interviewer's understanding of what the interviewee said, or pose a
new question that the interviewer thought of when she heard the initial response. Find one follow-up question that
Gross asked:

6. You want colorful quotes to use in your essay, so it can be very helpful to specifically ask your interviewee for a
story, description, or example. For example, you could say, Could you tell me a story about a time when you _____
or Can you describe _______ for someone who's never seen it before? or Can you give me an example of _____?
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Find one place in the interview where Gross did this:

7. You can get your interviewee to expand their thinking by asking them to consider how they would respond to
hypothetical situations. For example, Imagine that a doctor told you that you would never be able to have children.
What would you do? How do you think your life would be different? Find one place in the interview where Gross did
this:

WP2 Research Assignment

15% of your WP2 Grade
Submit to Digication
Please remember: No late homework will be accepted in this class

Research Part #1: Due Monday, 2/29/16

Research Part #2: Due Wednesday, 3/2/16

Research Part #3: Due Friday, 3/4/16

You can pick which order you want to submit these in. Supply all of the required information for each one.

Secondary Research
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1. The title, author, and website and URL of the source

2. An explanation of this sources credibility
3. The research question that this source answers for you
4. An explanation in your own words of the answer you found in this source
5. At least one quote from this source that you plan to use in your essay
6. Your research log (a record of all the steps you took to find this source)

Interview Research
1. Name of interviewee
2. Why did you choose this person to interview?
3. Before you do the interview, write a list of the questions that you will ask
4. What language will you be conducting the interview in? (It's okay to use a non-English language. Please
remember that you will need to provide the English translation of your interviewee's responses and that you will
need to tell your readers that you translated the responses from the original language).
5. Record the interview either on your phone or your computer
6. A transcript (a record of ALL OF THE EXACT WORDS spoken by both people) in the original language of the
interview
7. Pick out three of your interviewee's responses that you could possibly use in your essay. For these three
responses, translate them into English. For each one, say why you picked it.

Source Material Research

1.

What type of material is this? (e.g. government documents, advertisements, tv shows, the text of a law,
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business policies, etc.)

2.

Who created this material?

3.

What question(s) does this material help you answer?

4.

In your own words, what answers did you find in this material?

5.

At least one quote from this material that you plan to use in your essay.

6. Your research log for this research