Practices with Purpose: Classroom Observations of Delgado Teachers in Action
Overview
Recommendations were made by new and veteran faculty members to have on hand video of and conversations with some of Delgado’s experienced faculty in their classrooms. A list of recommended faculty was produced to start the project.
Faculty recommended for the project:
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- Cheryl Green, Administrative Technology
- Victor Mirzai, Architecture
- Kendra Anspaugh, Biology
- John Guess, Business
- Stanley Lejeune, Chemistry
- Christine Mitchell, English
- Mae Niolet, Fine Arts
- Sal Anselmo, History
- Jennifer Lang, History
- Philip Mabe, History
- Pat Rome, Math
- Eric Gamble, Psychology
- Mike Majors, Psychology
- Raymond Duplessis, Physics
- Miguel Romar-Manuel, Student Success
- Melanie Deffendall, Student Success, Sociology, and WISE Women’s Center
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Practices with Purpose: Classroom Observations of Delgado Teachers in Action
These videos are to be used for professional development purposes and included in programs such as the "First-year Teaching at Delgado," "Adjunct Teaching at Delgado," and "Active and Collaborative Learning."
These videosare to be filmed and produced through Media Services in a documentary style and scheduled at the convenience of the faculty members. There are three main sections of each piece.
Part 1: Setting the stage for teaching and learning
A 20 – 30 minute time commitment (~3-5 minute real play time) of the instructor in a comfortable environment, such as his/her office.
This segment has the instructor explain the lesson they’re about to teach, why they developed or are using the lesson and method, any particular situational factors they’re planning for, the objectives they hope to achieve and how they prepared in general. The instructor will have the following questions to prepare in advance:
1).Tell us about the lesson and/or teaching method we’re going to see today.
2).Tell us why you chose this lesson/method, if you’ve used it in the past or not, what you like about it, and what you intend to get out of it (learning objectives).
3).Are there any situational or classroom considerations you had to keep in mind? Any factors having to do with the personality or make-up of the students in the class? Time of day? etc.
4).And how did you prepare for this? Time for prep? Materials?
5).Is there anything in particular that you think would be interesting for us to keep a watch out for?
Part 2: Carrying out the plan for teaching and learning
A filmed segment of the classroom, what the teacher is doing, what the students are doing, how students are responding to the lesson and method; how the teacher is responding to them.
Students should be made aware that their class will be a part of an internal, Delgado professional development program designed to help train and induct new teachers into teaching here at Delgado. It will not be used or distributed externally at all. Every effort will be made to eliminate distraction during the filming and to minimize the production assembly.
Part 3: Reflecting on Teaching and Learning
A 20 – 30 minute time commitment (~3-5 minute real play time) of the instructor in a comfortable environment, such as his/her office.
In this segment, the instructor shares his/her reflection on the filmed lesson, how it went, what he/she observed with the students, any adaptations he/she had to make, and whether or not the objectives were achieved and how/why or why not.
The instructor will have the following questions to prepare in advance:
1).Tell us about how things went today.
2).Did you have any surprises or unexpected responses?
3).Is there anything you would change if you use this lesson/method in the future?
4).How would you assess the effectiveness of a teaching method?
5).Do you have any words for new faculty about teaching here at Delgado or would you like to share your own philosophy of teaching in closing?
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