TESOL Observation Field Notes

Class Observation #__eng 107 __

Teacher

__Sarah_Hynes___________

Date/Time__3.21.2016_______

Class ____ENG107_______________

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?)

Tell student about what the deadline is coming,

Help them to do an exercise to do.

Description/Observation of the class

(i.e., what is happening?)

Reflection on/Interpretation of
the class
(i.e., what does it mean?)

Start with an Wh question

She discovered all the different kind of students paper draft ideas,
questions and her conclusion to be an example.
She gave students an example paper asked students wh questions.
Requires students to answer questions, and teach them how to write
the quote. She let students share their ideas about the quotes and
ideas.

Why the quote is good, why did she like the quote. (Ask student to read
the quote and share her idea with students.
But for me, at that time, I think I have a really strong attitudes to get education.
Because I hate my life at the poor village. I want to make money, make lots of
money. I really really want to make money to change my life. I hate to live at such
environment. But I dont know what can I do. I noticed that there are lots of posters
on the wall and it showed that study hard and go to the university will change your
life and make you have a wonderful life. I thought that education is the only way to
change my situation and then, I can get rid of my awful life with lots of money.

As the usual, she let students to read an

example essay, share their ideas.

First she let students share their ideas

and comments in the class together.
Later she let students to share their
ideas and let them work with an group
rewrite their ideas together.
She is doing a really great job to let
students practice their comments and
practice through comments other
people essay to training write their own
essays.
She let a group students one of them to
create an Google drive to work with an
comments together.
This is a really good way to let students
to practice their thoughts and ideas
about how to write their essays.

Education is really important. People cannot make money without education.

Study is now part of my life. I think people should continually study and I am
studying too, even though I have five companies. Studying is not for others, is for
ourselves. I dont mind the diploma. But we should study for something that can
make money for supporting our lives. I dont have the heart of education for
benefit for our society, like the scientist, but I think I should educated for myself.
2

Everyone likes money and study is the best way to catch it.
Why she like the quote, how to change the quote, what kind of things
she can add into the quote.
How she write the common for this quote. She ask students share their
ideas and write it down their comments and ideas in here.

Using less 20 min to let students rewrite the authors big ideas. (a group
students one of them create an Google drive and started their practice)

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

Original Conclusion Paragraph:

In conclusion, it is the laws and media controlled by government and the desire for money make people change their attitudes about
education from ignore to focus.

Comment:

Maybe the conclusion just too short. I think you should add more words to conclude your whole essay. likes conclude three
resources and re-point out your topic.How do you think about the future, likes would people change their attitude again? How they
more change according nowadays' development?

Your task:

A common strategy in a conclusion is to remind the reader of a story or an interview that was included in the body and connect that
individual persons story to the essays overall thesis. This is effective because it allows readers to consider how the authors thesis
affects individual people. It answers the So what? and Who cares? questions.

Your task is to rewrite this conclusion. The new conclusion should remind the readers of the authors big ideas (see
below). It should also answer the So what? and Who cares? questions. Please answer these questions by connecting
the authors big ideas to her interviewees story and experiences.

Here are the authors big ideas:

People in China used to believe that education was not very important.
Now people in China believe that education is important.
The government was responsible for making this change in thinking.
The government did four things to make people think differently about education.
4

In 1986, the government passed the 9-year Compulsory Education Law.

The government carried out a propaganda campaign to persuade people to value education.
The government created economic reforms in 1978 that stimulated the economy and made it desirable for people to get an
education.
The government invested a lot of money into scientific research and development, which made it desirable for people to get an
education.
These four things made people believe that an education was necessary for a good life.

Here is what she wrote about her interviewee in the essay:

My aunt, Yuan Zhou, is an perfect example of such people. She used to lived at a really poor village and none of her parents have
been got education. As for saving money, her parents even ask her not to go to school. But she refused and keept studying. By
constantly studying, she finally own her personal company and lived with high-quality life in a big city.

Here are some quotes from Yuan Zhou that the writer included in the essay:

But for me, at that time, I think I have a really strong attitudes to get education. Because I hate my life at the poor village. I want to
make money, make lots of money. I really really want to make money to change my life. I hate to live at such environment. But I dont
know what can I do. I noticed that there are lots of posters on the wall and it showed that study hard and go to the university will
change your life and make you have a wonderful life. I thought that education is the only way to change my situation and then, I can
get rid of my awful life with lots of money.
5

Education is really important. People cannot make money without education. Study is now part of my life. I think people should
continually study and I am studying too, even though I have five companies. Studying is not for others, is for ourselves. I dont mind
the diploma. But we should study for something that can make money for supporting our lives. I dont have the heart of education for
benefit for our society, like the scientist, but I think I should educated for myself. Everyone likes money and study is the best way to
catch it.

1.

Remind readers how much the publics attitude toward education in China has changed. Instead of just saying, people used
to think education was unimportant, but now people think education is vitally important, remind readers of Yuan Zhous
experience and how it reflects a huge change in society.

2.

Remind readers exactly what the government did to change public attitudes (the Nine-Year Compulsory Education Law in
1986, the government propaganda campaign to encourage people to get an education (for example, posters in villages that
say things like no education, no future), Chinese Economic Reform policies in 1978, and the governments heavy investing
in scientific research and development). Try to connect that to Yuan Zhous experience. For example, do you think she was
aware of the governments role in her own desire for education? Even if she didnt think a lot about these government
policies, do you think she still benefited from them? Yuan Zhou seems like a special person with an exceptional drive for
success: do you think the governments actions would also have helped people become education who werent as ambitious
or as individually motivated as she was?

3. Parts 1 and 2 will remind readers of the writers big ideas. In a conclusion, you also need to give your readers something
new to consider. Add something new to this conclusion. Like the commenter suggested, you could answer this question:
would people change their attitude again? Do you think peoples value for education would ever take a different form? For
example, right now in China, people place a lot of emphasis on the gaokao exam and on grades and scores: do you think this
might change in the future? Yuan Zhao thinks that education is very important because it can help you make money: do you
think people in the future might begin to see education as important for any other reasons?