Involving students in lesson observations by EUN Partnership aisbl

Lena, Germany

2019-10-07 11:12:04 UTC

I believe that the best feedback you can get for your lessons comes from students because they are the ones who are directly involved and have to work on the tasks that you give. I have positive experiences only of involving students in lesson observations, especially older students have the ability to reflect on a lesson pretty well.

Nicoleta, ROMANIA

2019-10-07 11:44:54 UTC

My experiences with involving students in making observations after a lesson are positive ones so far.
Students feel part of the whole teaching process when asking their opinion.
They are the direct subjects of the entire teaching process.
They can express in their own words what they liked or how a lesson can be improved.

Angelina, Portugal

2019-10-07 12:02:44 UTC

Entering the class to analyze student-teacher interactions requires planning and breaking resistance
Feedback is an essential aspect of any teacher professional development process based on observation and discussion of teaching practices. Student feedback is important in a well-planned observation activity.

I think that this feed back from pupils should be done by the mentee and not by the mentor. The mentee can easily pick up a questionaire and put some questions about his/her way of doing things at class. If welldone, it will result in a benefit for the mentee and for the pupils.

2019-10-07 12:42:10 UTC

Gracatei

Margherita

2019-10-07 13:16:41 UTC

I agree with colleague: the best feedback I can get for my lessons comes from my students. So I often discuss wiyh them about the content of the lessons but also about the strategies I used.

I think engaging students into observation is a good thing. We widen our perspective of the class and students' feedback will sure prove positive and enriching.

2019-10-07 13:54:53 UTC

Giuseppina Serini, from Italy

2019-10-07 14:01:26 UTC

As I said in the previous Padlet, I believe that it seems important to the pupils of the class to which my student gave the lesson is important. But we must be very careful not to collect opinions or judgments without first having explained well to the class what their comments and opinions will take.

Roberto, Spain

2019-10-07 14:12:37 UTC

Some years, at the end of the course, I ask my students to fill in a feedback survey with some specific questions about the classes, methodology, materials, etc. I take their opinions very seriously and use them as a way to improve my classes.
On the other hand, pupils are very emotional instead of objetctive, so this surveys should be taken carefully.

Violeta, Romania

2019-10-07 14:52:54 UTC

I think is a good idea to involve students in the mentors observations. I would prefer to involve all students in my observations, as mentor, not only a part of them. Personnaly i would prepare for them a short pro-forma with some important questions and i would ask them to complete it 5 minutes before the class end.

Pedro N (Portugal)

ettwinning — 2019-10-07 14:57:53 UTC

Students can help the mentor "test" the mentee. They can perform specific pre-agreed tasks with the mentor. Ex: asking questions, asking for support, etc ....
Students can also answer which final quiz on the observation focus and see what the differences are.

Eva Fernández ,Spain I have sometimes asked my students about which aspects of my teaching they have liked most & which things they would change.I guess I could do the same with my assistant teachers.Any criticism must be taken cautiously because we mustn´t forget they are just teenagers and sometimes not very well intentioned.Although it is also true that if they like something they will be sincere.

2019-10-07 14:57:59 UTC

Sandra Mendes, Portugal

sandra_mc_mendes — 2019-10-07 15:05:50 UTC

I have never tried to involve students in this observation, and I think it must be made very carefully or even not making it. The challlenge will depend on what you are really observing, your focus will determine what you will need the students to participate.

Angeliki, Greece

2019-10-07 15:07:05 UTC

As a teacher, I involve my students very often in various observations. I ask them to self evaluate themselves, to think about how do they feel, what have they learned, what did they like the most or the least. In this way, I take feedback from my pupils but I also give them the satisfaction that their opinion highly matters to me.

Silvia, Italy

silvia_lolli — 2019-10-07 16:01:27 UTC

Involvement of students in a process of mentoring could be a good idea, but it must be for enrich feedback and collaborative conversations. Students could have some interesting perspectives to have best practices in teaching, but not only 3 or 4 students, but all classroom must be involve for me about a specific topic of learning. Few students could have only a particular view of this teacher.
I think that another best practices in process of mentoring is the exchange of role between mentor and mentee. lesson observations of mentee on job mentor could have many insights for mentoring feedback.

2019-10-07 16:16:53 UTC

I usually prepare a questionnaire to be completed anonymously by my students at the end of the course. I include some some specific questions about the classes, methodology, materials, but also about the atmosphere of the class or the activities they would like to do next year. I use their feedback to change some things and improve my lessons.
Being teenagers their answers must be taken carefully but most of them are really useful and sometimes really surprising.
Raquel, Spain

Carmen, Spain

2019-10-07 16:28:26 UTC

Involving students in lesson obsevation is also a useful way to carry out our job as mentors.
In this way, students feel they are an important part of the whole learning-teaching process and, maybe, cooperate more actively and with greater enthusiasm than they would do on an ordinary day.
It´s very similar to making them feel "teachers" for a day.
Moreover, it´s interesting to see the mentee under different points of view, the students´point or view, in this case.

Aitziber, Spain.

aitzitv — 2019-10-07 16:37:47 UTC

Involving students in my lesson observation process could be a great idea and a useful way to enrich feedback and collaborative conversations. In this way, we can cooperate together.

Ina, Croatia

sunshineshoot — 2019-10-07 16:49:26 UTC

Students regularly conduct an evaluation. Sometimes with a simple method like traffic lights or hand signaling, and sometimes more concrete and more extensive. Sometimes we sit in a circle and talk, so students come up with solutions to make teaching more effective.

Konstantina, Greece

2019-10-07 16:55:25 UTC

I have involve pupils in my lesson, acting like the teacher in the class and for them was fun. I mainly did that because I wanted to involve them more in the teaching process and to learn with more joy. I think that it was educative also for me. Sometimes, it may have some noise but it has worked.

Alex_PT

teacheralex_dua — 2019-10-07 17:14:51 UTC

To be honest, I have never thought about it and don’t even know if I would do it to a mentee. One thing is certain: I wouldn’t like to have students involved in my lessons. They are already critical enough and too distracted to be filling in whatever charts they would have; I would rather have them focused on the lesson content. Instead, what I’ve done and would do again is having focus groups: not during but after the lesson took place to have lesson feedback, to actually hear from the pupils themselves about how they experienced the lesson. That, I believe, can also be empowering.

isa , Tur

isacetin03 — 2019-10-07 17:20:34 UTC

I involve students in my class. The role of the teacher is important. The teacher acts like a role and can be fun. I do it more, it's easy to get more involved in the teaching process and learn with more joy. I think it's educational ...

Derya Ceylan- Turkey

2019-10-07 17:24:21 UTC

Putting Ss into the process itself was sort of beyond my vision. Well,of course the reaction of the Ss would be the pointing the teacher's autonomy/ authority/any other skills but getting ss been involved is a lot more interesting than i expected.

Aslı Çelik,Turkey

asli_asli_293 — 2019-10-07 17:49:08 UTC

I have not tried to involve students in my observations.

Ksenija

moj_razred_novska1 — 2019-10-07 18:00:30 UTC

The young teachers, whom I mentor, are first hospitators in my teaching. They spend at least 20 working days with me and observe how I hold classes, get to know my students, and slowly integrate them with smaller assignments into my work and my class. Only after hospitating can they get a test hour. Together we prepare, determine the outcomes and goal of teaching, choose methods and strategies, teaching aids and aids. This way, the young teacher feels relaxed and safe working with my students.

Daniela Pagnini, Italy

daniela_pagnini — 2019-10-07 18:13:19 UTC

During the past observation process I involved the mentee’s students too. In particular, I focused on the quality of the students’ attention and the level of the pupils’ participation. Furthermore, I asked them about the difficulties or the easiness of their learning activities and I indirectly verified their skills through the results of the tasks assigned by the mentee.

I believe that these activities are useful, because they can return precious feedbacks on the overall mentoring process.

Valentina, Croatia

2019-10-07 18:30:50 UTC

I work with 1st and 2nd graders. I often aske them to express their opinions about a grade that would they give to someone who read the text. They are very real and in fact, their "grades" help me to make a good decision on a pupils' grade.

Angeliki T., Greece

antsintza — 2019-10-07 18:54:31 UTC

I think it would be useful to involve students in the process of observing a lesson and, in fact, it might be useful to hear their opinion of our own lesson as well. I think that an anonymous questionnaire at the end of the lesson might prove useful or alternatively, there might be a discussion about what they liked or didn't like in the lesson. Definitely, that would give us valuable feedback about how our students experience our lessons.

P. Valer, Spain

2019-10-07 18:58:43 UTC

The truth is I have never involved my own pupils in the observations of the new teachers. I always have the feeling of being using them as guinea pigs and I try to hide that fact from them. That is the reason why I have never thought of such a practice, of asking about their opinion, whether it was a good lesson, what was missing or what they had liked to be present in the lesson and wasn’t.

However, now that you mention it, it is probably a good idea to have their opinion because as you say, it is them who will ultimately benefit of the good practice new teachers may acquire from the beginning. And also, since we are a community, the academic community, we should take into account the opinions and views of as many members of that community as possible.

My challenge would be to make my students understand that to become a good teacher it is not the job of just the teacher, but also of the people around the new teacher who can also participate in building a great teacher! Their help will be important!

Tanja, Croatia

2019-10-07 19:09:06 UTC

I often involving students in my observations. I think this work well because children give me an anonymous true answer. A big challenges of such an approach for me is time. How do I design a questionnaire that students answer in short sentences?

Etelvina Santos, Portugal

etelsantos — 2019-10-07 20:48:46 UTC

I have never tried to get my students to observe because they are so young, I teach 1st and 2nd grade.
But I think that older students can give their opinions, but also can be very danger. Students are not always honest.

Maria Goreti Alves, Portugal

goretialves — 2019-10-07 22:53:57 UTC

Sometimes, mostly at the end of term I ask my students to reflect about the classes and to give suggestions of improvement (if they have any...). Some students give interesting answers and suggestions but many of them don't try to answer. I think it might be an interesting strategy. Maybe it would be a good idea to join a small group of students and talk with them/reflect about the lesson.

Jelena, Lithuania

2019-10-08 01:29:34 UTC

Hello. I've got no experience in observing lessons so far that's why getting Rachel's advice on involving pupils in the process is timely for me. I'll definitely do this! The challenges... I guess that the greatest one is that young learners may have difficulties completing the questionnaire. Of course, the Smiley chart suggested by Rachel would be helpful here, but... what if all the pupils want to participate in the activities suggested by the mentee? How will some learners manage to do both participating and observing? That's the question...

Lidija, Croatia

lidijaantolic — 2019-10-08 03:17:15 UTC

At the end of the school year my students write anonymous summary of my work. What was their favorite lesson, is there something I should change in the future. One year they wrote that test were too hard, so next school year I practiced more with them grammatical structures and tried to make them writing test more easier.

Patricia Viguera

2019-10-08 06:28:22 UTC

When I star my lessons I always make a test for puils when I ask some questions (this is for Primary) the questions are about what do they expected in that subject. And at the end of the curse I give them another test asking about if they get the objectives and if they show me what do we need to improve in the lessons.

Bryan, Malta

bryan_muscat — 2019-10-08 07:07:31 UTC

Every term, I ask my students to reflect on how the term was, in regards to my input, guidance and performance as an educator, and also about the subject, the content provided. I prepare an anonymous survey for them to conduct highlighting these issues, and more, like how much I empower them, how safe they feel in the class and similar issues.

Since I've never been a mentor, I have never tried to ask my students to participate in an observation session with a mentee, however, I believe it can be easily done and worth while. Obviously, I will need to discuss this practice with my men tee beforehand.

Marianthi Platsi, Greece.

marianthi1963 — 2019-10-08 07:58:02 UTC

I think it would be useful to involve students in the process of observing a lesson. For example, an anonymous questionnaire at the end of the lesson might prove useful or alternatively, there might be a discussion about what they liked or did not like in the lesson. That would give us valuable feedback about how our students experience our lessons and why not to give us fresh ideas of teaching.

Vilija, Lithuania

vilija_rakstiene — 2019-10-08 09:01:39 UTC

I think, students have to be involved and engaged in the lesson not in the observation. The mentee has to sum up the lesson so that the mentor could get the clear view what the students got from the lesson or how they feel after it.

I think it would be useful to involve students in lessons observations. I also think that an anonymous questionnaire with specific questions about the lesson, methodology and so on... at the end of the lesson might prove useful or alternatively there might be a discussion about what they like in the lesson. Of cource i believe that the feedback of the children is usefull to change some things and imrove my lessons.

2019-10-08 09:12:18 UTC

EMY, Greece

Mariana-Doinita/Romania

2019-10-08 09:31:39 UTC

It's a good idea! They will be able to learn from us and be future exceptional mentors.

Cristina de Lorenzo- Spain

2019-10-08 10:10:12 UTC

I think that this evaluation is a ongoing process of gattering information from a variety of sources in order to provide us with descriptive feedback and improve our job as mentors...

Ljilja, Croatia

2019-10-08 10:22:34 UTC

Involving students in process of observation can be very useful because they can give information how did they feel at that lesson and if they think that something is not explained very well at that lesson.

Ivana, Croatia

2019-10-08 11:25:40 UTC

Students in the teaching process are a good idea because both parties benefit. Students learn about the dynamics of class and teaching, and the teacher can receive objective feedback on the teaching method, methods and techniques used.

Luísa Lima, Portugal

englisheseg — 2019-10-08 12:48:04 UTC

Students involvement in class observation may be important if they take it seriously and give honest feedback. As they are the ones the lesson is addressed to they may be able to say how interesting , clear or engaging the lesson was, how adequate the choice of strategies, materials or tools and how they felt throughout the lesson. It may also help them understand how they can contribute to class dynamics and they may even provide teachers with relevant suggestions or insight into how the class developed.

Viorica, Romania

2019-10-08 13:14:46 UTC

Students are involved in mentoring by being the subjects of teaching but I do not like to involve the students in mentoring. The students give a good feedback of the mentee through their achievements and grades after the mentee's activity. The students assessments reflect the good use of tools, materials, adequate strategies and techniques. The menteee can and must adapt to the dynamics of the class.

Daniela, Italy

2019-10-08 14:06:17 UTC

No, I haven't tried to involve students in my observations because I teach in a intermediate school and our students are only 11-13 years old!. I think that in secondary school it may be interesting.

Lídia Mota, Portugal

2019-10-08 14:29:48 UTC

II enjoyed the idea, sometimes i make some documents were the student evaluated different aspects of my classes.

Manuela, Italy

valenti — 2019-10-08 14:55:35 UTC

I had involved students in my observation when i applied new practice like new cooperative learning structures or the first time i used PBL model.

Sanja

2019-10-08 15:38:13 UTC

I have not involved students in the observations yet but I think that the ideas to ask students to complete charts as well as have a discussion with a group of students about the lesson are very good ideas. The students' point of view is valuable and the information we get from the students can help the mentor and the mentee have a better discussion about the lesson.

Roberto Agostini

profagostini — 2019-10-08 15:39:30 UTC

I never thought of involving students in observation, nut I think it’s a very good idea. In this way there can be more than a point of view. I might administering anonymous questionnaires or organize conversations at the end of the lesson. I think I will try.

Elena, Spain

2019-10-08 15:55:28 UTC

When I was a mentee myself, I gave students a survey form at the end of my final lesson. Among other things, I asked students about what they had liked most and whether they had tips for me for the future and to be a better teacher. I received great advice.

Faten, Tunisia

2019-10-08 16:14:19 UTC

This is a revolutionary idea. Truly, I have never tried it and I find it appealing to me, though I do always think in terms of pros and cons of this strategy. This might be somehow sensitive to both teachers and students. Teachers would feel like they are judged by learners. Besides, students might feel they have an upper hand over the situation. It is a question of culture and mentality. Involving students in the observation might work in some environments and might fail in other environments.

Jean, Ireland

2019-10-08 16:32:00 UTC

As a primary school teacher, I find this suggestion very interesting. Children at a young age are able to tell me about what way they learn best and what they like to do or what helps them. I think sometimes I underestimate how much they can articulate. Even myself I have found that they can self-assess honestly when the smiley faces are explained to them and they know that it is not a competition but rather for themselves. I teach a class of 8-year-olds who are well able to identify their own strengths and areas that they need to work on. many of them now are able to tell me what they need to help them – more activities on the topic they’re finding a challenge, more visual aids etc. Therefore, I think it would be possible for them to provide feedback to the mentor and mentee on what they found helped their learning and what would have made the lesson even better.

María José ,Spain

2019-10-08 16:33:12 UTC

I have never thought about involving students in classroom observtion before, but it's worthwhile trying it. They will assess the lesson with no other purpuse than inform and that's the best.
If something works they will say , and so the other way round.

Lisanne - Netherlands

2019-10-08 16:47:28 UTC

Using students to provide feedback is absolutely wonderful and critical for 360 degree feedback. Learners can be extremely honest so it is key to ask the right questions in this case. We use students quite often as a sounding board.

Ela, Poland

2019-10-08 18:01:07 UTC

Student evaluation of lessons is practiced in Poland. The feedback has different forms. Usually we use survey, sometimes students write reviews on sticky notes, sometimes they speak at the end of the lesson what they liked and what they didn`t.

Tamara, Croatia

tamarabanovic — 2019-10-08 18:37:04 UTC

I thunk that's a very good idea. The students are honest and I get good feedback on my work. I praktice.

Krisztina, Hungary

2019-10-08 19:06:00 UTC

Ive always ask the kids how they felt themselves during the lesson e.g with the help of a smiley chart

Natasa, Serbia

2019-10-08 19:13:38 UTC

I often involve students, and i think it is very good idea.

Martina, Italy

2019-10-08 19:55:07 UTC

I never thought before involving students in the mentoring observation process, but it's really a great idea

I suggest to involve students in every lesson with a very simple way. At the end of the lesson just ask students about it. They are the best judges.

2019-10-08 20:03:14 UTC

Maria Giuseppa Sallemi, Italy

maria_sallemi5870 — 2019-10-09 03:41:52 UTC

I find very useful to use the students observation, because the children are too realistic to give a judgement on the new teacher, then the mentor can give a feedback to the mentee. I think that the new teacher has had a pro-forma to observe the behavior of the students too.

Loredana, Romania

2019-10-09 08:19:47 UTC

I never tried but surely it would be very benefic for all the participants : mentor, mentee, students.

Karolina, Croatia

2019-10-09 10:44:08 UTC

It is good idea. I never do that. For my lessons yes, but for mentee no.

Madalena, Portugal

2019-10-09 12:23:18 UTC

RenataZd

ruic_renata — 2019-10-09 13:09:32 UTC

I 'm used to ask students opinion about my work, so I'm sure that I would ask students about mentee's work. Of course, their opinions, as well as my about mentee's work, should be taken with some reserves, and look for other source of assessment of mentee's work.

Emma Giurlani Italy

prof_egiurlani — 2019-10-09 13:37:26 UTC

since I teach in an upper secondary school I'm used to ask my students for their feedback very often, for most of the activities we performe together. During our eTwinning projects our students participate actively giving and receiving feedback. We create together most of our grids for assessment. They learn to give each other critical and constructive feed back and to accept being assessed in the same fair way. Therefore I find it a very good idea to involve students in lesson observation giving them a proactive role.As said in the introduction student are " the ultimate beneficiaries of any changes in practice as a result of the observation"

MONICA CIOBANU-ROMANIA

2019-10-09 14:34:09 UTC

158/5000

AT THE END OF THE ACTIVITY, STUDENTS REQUIRE TO EVALUATE THEIR ACTIVITY, AND THE ACTIVITY OF THE TEACHERS.
WE CAN ASTFEL TO CORRECT ONLY ONE INVESTMENT.

Rita Neves

ritafernandesneves — 2019-10-09 14:38:26 UTC

By having students’ feedback, we’ll get a clearer idea of the lessons observed. Students’ involvement can help the reflection and enrich the mentoring process.

Hasan Turgay Özçelik

mavimavi2316 — 2019-10-09 14:54:33 UTC

I never thought before involving students in the mentoring observation process, but it's really a great idea

Ana, Portugal

prof_ana_margarida — 2019-10-09 15:05:17 UTC

I have asked students to comment on other students performance and achievements. In that sense I have involved them. Students may not be the best observers, as they may be partial... or have a chip on their shoulder so to speak - I am speaking about exceptions to the rule or students who may tend to misbehave or provoke others.

I have also asked some students to observe the class and report their best and not so good aspects.

Hümeyra/Turkey

hs_yener — 2019-10-09 15:41:12 UTC

I believe that student involvement while observing beginner teachers is useful. I want my students to give feedback to me about my teaching style at the end of the terms. They really criticize well and help me to see myself as a teacher. They show me my positive and negative sides while teaching. So students’ oservation may be quite useful.

Federica P., Italy

2019-10-09 16:46:55 UTC

As I have never been a mentor yet, I can only suppose that the students' involvement could be useful, because it opens up new perspectives in observing a lesson and offers further information on it. I think it can work best if the class is collaborative with the student teacher and behaves well. However, I'm afraid some students can be superficial and unfair in their judgement.

2019-10-09 18:35:16 UTC

I think it’s helpful to involve students to give us some feedback on our work, topic, way of doing things. So we find out how clearly we have done something, what we need to work on, what they are interested in, how much new information they have received on the clock, whether they have adopted the key concepts, whether everything was clear to them, etc. ...

Zvonko, Serbia

gzvonko62 — 2019-10-10 10:33:38 UTC

I think it is very useful and important to include pupils in to observing because they are most important in education process. Their reflect is very important both for the mentee and the mentor.

Laura Maria, Portugal

2019-10-10 11:02:24 UTC

I had never involved students in the observation process. However, I think this could be a good option. Having their point of view will be much more enriching as they are the ones who the teaching is aimed at.
It would be interesting for the students to feel they they have a word to say in the teaching process.

Diana, Romania

2019-10-10 14:30:25 UTC

I involve the mentee putting him/her, after the lesson, to present his objectives, to say to what extent he has achieved them and what he thinks could improve in a future lesson.

Manuela Correia, Portugal

musicadc — 2019-10-10 15:18:29 UTC

Not sure about this one...
If done informally, maybe it's ok. If not, it may lead to some sort of blackmail on the mentee's side to get "good reviews"...

Alexandra M. ,Greece

2019-10-10 17:41:09 UTC

I think very interesting to get a feedback from the children. They are directly involved in the learning process and they are able to say that they need to work on.

Rubén Esparza, Spain

2019-10-10 18:00:18 UTC

I have asked for students´s feedback for my lessons as a teacher using among others resources "smile charts" but I have never involved them in my observations. I think it would be a great idea since the lessons is prepared for them and they are be best ones to tell you how it worked for them or how they felt.

Marinela, Croatia

2019-10-10 18:30:14 UTC

The students see the lesson different then we do, so their opinion could be important. We are here for them. But I like Rachel's idea that it can be something informal like smiley charts or confidence charts or questions like This is how I was feeling, or something like this.

Christos, Greece

2019-10-10 19:30:18 UTC

It's a fact that students see and observe different things during a lesson. It is very promising to use students' feedback as a resource for evaluating the lesson. As a matter of I would try to involve students during a lesson observation.

Pedro Peixoto (Geography teacher) - Portugal

2019-10-11 08:25:53 UTC

I think involving students in the task can have its advantages but also some risks. It depends a lot on the class and the students to choose. It's a very controversial subject ...
Generally, listening to the most responsible students in the class may be a good option (for example, the class delegate, as this is often one of the most responsible students in the class). But in addition to listening to students, analyzing student posture can also be a good way to understand whether or not students are enjoying the class.

Maria

2019-10-11 08:26:51 UTC

Involving students into observation is a great idea. I have never done it, but as they are the centre of our teaching their feelings and impressions should be taken into consideration.

Constantinos Selevistas, Greece

2019-10-11 08:53:25 UTC

A COUNTERARGUMENT: No doubt, it is very useful for a teacher to have a feedback from his students. This feedback will help him improve his teaching. Personally, whenever I’ve tried some experimental teaching on a subject –alone or with another colleague- I, AFTERWARDS, asked for my students’ opinions. I did this either by interviewing some of them or by delivering a simple questionnaire (or just by talking with them). What I have never done until now, is to involve students to the observation DURING the teaching. I have avoid it becauseif I involve some students in the observation process, they are no more co – students they are co – observers. In other words: the classroom I will observe in this way, is very different (perhaps completely different) from my usual classroom. So my conclusions will not correspond to my students. Using students as co – observers creates a different kind of lesson, very interesting but different.

Daniel

dablanges — 2019-10-11 09:51:40 UTC

We do need to get feedback from our students. Our lessons/and other educastional actions are intended for them. However, they need practice, as they might not be very familiar with this kind of task. Moreover, students are not always 100% honest. All in all, although there are some potential negative aspects it is necessary for us to involve students. Moreover, having them play an active role is really enriching and useful for them, and for us teachers.

Raquel - Portugal

raquelcostamacedo — 2019-10-11 10:00:14 UTC

Involving the students in the lesson observation process can be useful because they can provide evidence of some features such as how they felt at the lesson or if something was not well explained during it. I usually ask this kind of questions to my students because having their feedback gives me a clearer idea of the positive and negative aspects of my practice giving me the chance to maximize ones and minimize the others. Of course, students’ involvement can improve reflection and enrich the mentoring process, but their opinion should be taken with some reserves because they may not be the best observers since they may be partial. We should always try to look for other sources to assess the mentee’s work.

Efrén, Spain

2019-10-11 10:02:09 UTC

It can be a really good tool getting feedback from our students.
They are the ones who are feeling the learning, and it is very important to know how do they perceive that teaching.
But, I agree with Daniel they need to practice with this task to get satisfactories feedbacks.

Niels, the Netherlands

2019-10-11 11:41:42 UTC

Involving pupils in an observation can give another perspective, the perspective of pupil. In my case, when I was a student doing an internship at an high school, I got feedback from pupils that was completely different from the feedback I received from my supervisors. I wondered why. Pupils tend to focus on different aspects of your lesson that experienced teachers do. Both input is valuable in my opinion.

Carla Passinhas - Portugal

prof_carlapassinhas — 2019-10-11 13:45:12 UTC

When I have time at the end of term I ask my students to reflect about the classes and to give suggestions and to tell me what they liked or not. Some students give interesting answers and suggestions. I think it would be useful to involve students in the process of observing a lesson.

Ana; Spain

alozanod05 — 2019-10-11 13:46:08 UTC

Mos of the times I have involved my students to provide their feedback, their difficulties, likes and dislikes. I find it really interesting because they provide very useful information. They helped me a lot becaus emaybe something I firstly found interesting, ended up being boring for them. The more outstanding problem I have found is that it can be time-wasting something and time-consumign for the teacher to prepare and correct it.

Cristina - Portugal

2019-10-11 15:14:49 UTC

I think it's important to have student's point of view, it can be very usefull to improve the teaching process but, in the other, we can't forget that student's point of view is one perspective of this process, not the only one.

Tonka, Croatia

tonka_brailo — 2019-10-11 17:22:21 UTC

I think it is very important to get feedback from the students because it is different the way we experience the teaching process and the lessons taught. Students can give us two important information: how they felt during the class and how much they learned from what was planned (to ask a key question about what was being done in class). Since I work with students up to 10 years old, I most often use emoticons or assessment lists.

It is helpful to get feedback. Develops experience and professional development. Self-assessment is very important and part of development.

2019-10-11 20:14:10 UTC

They will express their feelings and thoughts and analyze themselves.

Emiliana, Italy

emiliana_rufo — 2019-10-12 12:04:02 UTC

I think students' feedback is always useful to improve teaching and learning activities and experiences. I will create a Rubric to evaluate aspects of the lessons in order to receive advice to enhance teaching practice and learning goals.

MMGuedes, Lagos - Portugal

2019-10-12 12:33:53 UTC

In an oformal way, I've never used students feedback as part of the class obervation. However, whenever they seem "this outsider teacher" attending same class as them, they tend to be curious about it as, very often, as about my role there. When this happens, I always explain them what is my function and in particularly, not give them the idea that I'm evaluating the other teacher.
Sometimes, at the end of the class, they come back to me and ask me what I've thought about the lesson or about their behaviour.
Considering some of the opinions expressed here by some of the colleagues, and also along Rachel's video, this is something I will take in attention for the future. Students, as a key element in the class observation, should take an active role on the reflection process.

Irene, Greece

eirigiannitsi — 2019-10-12 15:10:35 UTC

Involving students in the assessment process is quite interesting, yet, it has to be done under agrreed terms from both sides. What i mean is that students may get involved in lesson observation by filling in certain forms or checking evaluation papers. They can even express their feelings after the teaching experience but everything has to follow certain norms agreed by both the teacher and the students-observers.

Ioanna, Greece

iogardiki1 — 2019-10-12 15:34:04 UTC

Having direct pupils' opinion about the lesson just observed, can be really helpful. After all, it is their perception that matters ... It should take place immediately after the end of the lesson and a tedious, tiring checklist should be avoided. A relaxed, friendly discussion would propably suffice as long as all voices are heard from both active and less active pupils and students from different levels. This way, integrity of data collected is ensured to provide for reliable conclusions.

Mira, Croatia

mirar467 — 2019-10-12 18:22:08 UTC

Students may not get too involved because they are young, but the feedback on the adoption of the lesson goals shows how successful the mentee was. I can also learn a lot by looking at their behavior and reactions on the clock as well as their engagement during the lesson.

Graça

2019-10-12 19:37:29 UTC

While I have never invovled students in the lesson observations, I see eye to eye with RachelLofthouse with regards to attributing an active role to students when it comes to assessing the performance of the novice teacher. This is because this involment would allow students to reflect on their own learning and posssibly identify the strategies that seem to be more effective in paving the work for their learning. This information is both fundamental (from the laeraner’s viewpoits) because it would enable the teacher mentor to tailor his practice to the students’ needs and expectations , and invaluable , for it could well result in the mentor and mentee reflecting on the latter’s practice and identifying and discussing areas of strength and weaknes s. The obviovus challenge would be to train the students for their observation mission, in order to guarantee that the evidence provided was reliable and valid.

Alexandros Barmpas, Athens, Greece

alexandrosbarbas2 — 2019-10-13 10:00:04 UTC

I tried to include students in my observations and this works well. The challenges of such an approach are that we can obtain information on whether students understand the lesson, that is if the lesson is simple and understandable, or not. The teacher is likely to use many words and complex sentences during the lesson, to use academic discourse, to speak quickly or in a boring tone. So, we will have the opportunity to learn first hand the students' opinions and to involve them in the process and planning of the lesson. In addition, we will give students the opportunity to tell us if they are learning anything and what. Do they feel pleasant and creative or bored? Do they feel that they are creative in the lesson or that they are passive listeners?

This procedure will help students to become more aware and responsible and us to improve the lesson and know exactly what to do.

Voicu Corina, Romania

2019-10-13 10:05:37 UTC

The students opinion about the lesson is verry important because they are the final point of the educational sistem. We, as teachers, mentorsm mentee need feed-back!

Buta Ramona-Romania

2019-10-13 11:06:01 UTC

I have try to involve students. It was verry good.

Hanife, Turkey

2019-10-13 12:05:54 UTC

I never tried to include students in the mentoring process. However, it seems like a must as students are the recipients of any changes in the mentee's practice. It would be nice to ask students after the class how they comment on the mentee's teaching or get simple feedback with emoticons. I definitely believe it will improve the mentee. The process, however, should be managed well- students are not accustomed to doing this; they shouldn't feel like they are evaluating rather than giving feedback.

Sandra Leite . Portugal

2019-10-13 14:24:22 UTC

Within the classroom, a motivated and open education needs to emerge from learning, the interests students have about the world and the environment; to be shared and shared in the planning of the work to be done; that is cooperative, collaborative and interacting knowing how to work together, meeting technology as useful in the class, especially when collaborative practices are used. Hence the relevance of my classroom work under design methodology to the eTwinning project. Each workgroup is responsible for one task. Students take on different roles in solving the proposed task, each being assigned a task. When promoting cooperative work, students always work together on the same problem rather than separately on task components. This creates an environment rich in mutual discovery, mutual feedback and frequent sharing of ideas. This type of work also offers the possibility of discussing the merits of different ways of solving the same problem, and can facilitate the learning of different strategies for solving some problems. When students work cooperatively, they can help others understand the most basic concepts, and this often happens in a very different context than usual. Using the round table technique where everyone can give their opinion may be a good option. I find self-assessment extremely useful in both individual and peer work.
Inclusive teaching and learning practices are key to creating and maintaining a learning environment in which all participants are fully respected and in which all participants are open to ideas, perspectives and ways of thinking distinct from their own. Inclusive teaching postulates cultural diversity, or differences related to identity and experience, as crucial for learning. The practice of inclusive teaching involves working consciously to promote learning between differences, for example by recognizing and challenging prejudices and stereotypes that can impede understanding and undermine a student's sense of belonging to the discipline or institution. It also involves keeping accessibility and transparency in mind when designing courses and tasks, as well as being aware of differences in power in the classroom and the psychosocial factors that can affect learning.

Lúcia Santos, Portugal

luciampsantos — 2019-10-13 14:36:29 UTC

I always try to include my students in the learning process and I also check if things went well, if they would like to try different activities and what are their ideas for the following topics.

Stavroula, Greece

2019-10-13 14:44:36 UTC

Students' opinions are extremely important. Although it is difficult to collect information orally from students, their views reflect the general climate in the classroom. A well-structured and brief questionnaire would be a valuable and complementary element to the observation.

Feedback from students must be anonymous and the answers can be collected online via a questionnaire or application (ie kahoot)

Suncezgb

2019-10-13 15:16:03 UTC

I try to involve students in observation - they fill exit tickets. It is instant feedback for the teacher and way to improve the practice.

María, Spain

misshampts — 2019-10-13 16:33:06 UTC

I try to involve students in observation at least, once per term, as it is a remarkable way of getting feedback about the activities you are doing in class, what aspects or games are more appealing for them, with what things they struggle more (for instance, some of them usually do not ask doubts because they are shy) and so on. Indeed, when you ask students, you get different but real opinions as they usually do not lie while answering those questions and they are quite sincere. For that, answers are anonymous and we usually use target evaluation as it is an easy way for them to do it, just colouring and adding some extra comments at the back

Svetlana, Serbia

svetlanamed5 — 2019-10-13 16:41:11 UTC

My teachers use students observation for some classes, but when I come to observe their class, we had never use students as a observer. I think that will be no objective, because, when I come to observe class students fill lake they wont to do everything for the teacher and for a good observation. They are kind of subjective and I think that can be not a good side of students observation.

Carmina, Portugal

2019-10-13 17:01:50 UTC

This is a very interesting idea. I have never tried it but it makes a lot of sense. On the one hand, it is impossible to register everyting you need during the observation process and there's no pause button in a class! On the other hand students have a completely different perspective which can be important for the development of the mentee and the mentor as well.

Carla, Italy.

2019-10-13 17:10:26 UTC

I have never experienced such an approach and I doubt if it could work in the situations I am familiar with. As a a mentor I tend to take notice of the students' reactions and their involvement but, of course, I am not one of them so my observations might not be accurate. However, I believe that a techer can evaluate from the way students partecipate, from their questions how they felt during the lessons. I must admit I am very biassed from my teaching situation in an Italian high school, where I really fear this approach could result in somehow giving some sort of "power" to students , which I might affect the mentee's teaching in the following lessons.

Beatriz, Spain

2019-10-13 17:55:22 UTC

I have never experienced such an approach, but it might be a good idea.

Sarah,Malta

sarahborg85 — 2019-10-13 18:57:46 UTC

I never involved students in any observations however I am ready to try it especially using the smiley handout.

Lucia Italy

2019-10-13 19:34:01 UTC

I never involved students in any observations

Anna Athanasopoulou, Athens, Greece

athanasopoulou68 — 2019-10-13 19:54:35 UTC

It is quite difficult for both the mentor and the mentee to decide which points to observe and how to collect the data to assist in the feedback process. It is very important for students to be actively involved in this process. They are directly concerned and the way in which they observe the lesson is different from that of the teachers. Their opinion measures the final shape of the change that will take place in the classroom. The way I choose to engage students is to divide them into groups, to give them roles asking them to record how they felt in the lesson, if they were bored, if they had difficulty understanding the concepts, if they liked the way the lesson was done, if they helped teacher, if they were activated or if they were simply passive acceptable. At the end of the lesson I have a brief discussion with the students and record their observations and suggestions. This helps both me and the new teacher plan an attractive lesson for children to watch with pleasure. Thus the learning process changes and becomes more efficient and enjoyable for students and teachers.

Najoua Slatnia, Tunisia

NajouaSlatnia — 2019-10-13 20:48:01 UTC

I think that involving students in mentoring observations is a little delicate.

On the one side it is important to know the opinions of the students on the lesson, methodologies etc. that have been received but on the other side we must be careful not to give the students the feeling that they are evaluating their teacher, because this will infect the image of their teacher and their relationship with him.

Therefore, whether or not to involve students in mentor observations depends on how to involve them, such as using the smiley handout, etc. I mean, I'm in favor of involving the students, but implicitly.

Ilda Santos , Portugal

ildam_santos7 — 2019-10-13 20:51:32 UTC

In a class observation I try to know the contents that will be given, the use of new technologies, if students were led to explore and deduce learning, if there was final assessment.
In my lessons I try to use as much as possible the new technologies and topics of interest of the students, leading them to explore, experiment and discover the results we want.

Paula Vieira, Póvoa de Lanhoso, Portugal

paulavieira1 — 2019-10-13 21:18:49 UTC

Since long ago I have the habit to ask my students to make some feedback about my lessons at the end of each term. They are invited to write some sentences (3 or 4) abou what they most enjoy about my lessons, what they dislike, if they feel they are learning or not, if they feel comfortable or not. They are free to leave their comments anonymous. This strategy has become fundamental for me and it helps me to make some choices about my teaching. I have never thought about asking the mentee's students to do this but now that I am doing it, maybe I will try it if he/she agrees with the idea.

Ivana, Slovakia

luptacikova_ivana — 2019-10-13 21:31:08 UTC

I think that involving students in lesson observation is a good idea. I never involved my or my mentee's students but I will try to do this in my own lesson. I have an experience from my last training. We gave a task as a group and one of us just observed our doing. After our presentation she told us her observation and gave us short feedback.

Cristina, Romania

voicuelena18 — 2019-10-14 12:40:08 UTC

I already use the emoticons give by students at the end of the lesson. I think is a good way to find out how they feel during a lesson, what they liked...

Vasilica,Romania

simionoviciv — 2019-10-14 13:10:22 UTC

I try involved the students in the activity...it was interesting for them.

Cristina,Sebes, Romania

cristina_cmpn — 2019-10-14 14:22:16 UTC

I tired to involve the students by giving them emoticons at the end of the lesson. Involving the students in lesson observation is a good ideea, if the students are motivated and want some changes .

Irene Confalone Italy

2019-10-14 14:23:14 UTC

I believe that the best feedback you can get for your lessons comes from students because they are the ones who are directly involved in the learning process. They give you the real situation and the real marks. I have positive experiences of involving students in lesson observations .Once I had a very strange experience .It was years ago ,during a special research about learning/studying English . I remember another bad experience , when an older student corrected my expression and I realized that it was a very difficult situation .She was quite rude and unpleasant .I think I should ignore her but I was very disappointed and imbarassed.This was a good lesson for me .We learn better from difficult situations than from easy ones.

Maysoon Alwaqfi/Jordan

2019-10-14 14:55:55 UTC

It’s always important to involve students in every activity you do in classroom. When discussing reading comprehension texts I like all my students to discuss any of the ideas. Every one has a part even weak ones.

Effi Efstathiou , Greece

2019-10-14 15:56:16 UTC

In my opinion it's very informative to involve pupils in lesson observation. The students have their point of view for the lesson and it can function as a feedback for the teacher. Moreover the students have the first word at the teaching procedure. A questionnaire is a tool we can use in this case, or maybe making small pupils groups .I have done this trying, it worked quite good and i dare to say that there were failures that i could't see before. My pupils helped me to improve things in my teaching methods.

Marina, Greece

2019-10-14 16:04:48 UTC

What I have found really interesting is giving students questionaires about their own anticipations and hopes about the lesson at the beginning of it and at the end another questionaire to check whether their anticipations were met. This is a powerful tool because it can offer teachers real insight and feedback about the teaching method they use and how to iprove it

Maria Angela, Italy

2019-10-14 16:32:52 UTC

I think students' feedback is always useful to improve teaching and learning activities, but you need to be very careful in their involvement. We risk making them believe they can evaluate their teacher.

Meltem Akdeniz, Turkey

valuesmakingusvaluable — 2019-10-14 16:56:38 UTC

It's absolutely very important to involve students in the observation session. As students are the final beneficiaries of all process, their feedback is of great importance. However, the mentor should be really careful while getting feedback from the students. They should understand that a discussion session (for example after the observation lesson) should totally be constructive and not for evaluating the students teacher.

Jasmina;Croatia

jasminavid — 2019-10-14 18:46:06 UTC

Svaka povratna informacija je dobrodošla.

Dimitra, Athens

2019-10-14 19:01:48 UTC

I believe it’s very helpful to involve students to give feedback in our observations but it has to be very well designed. Information on what they liked more could definetely help.

Maria Cersosimo, Italy

2019-10-14 19:18:55 UTC

Although I really like the idea of having mentoring system in Italy, I must admit I had never thought to involve students as co-observers; making them check tally or smiley charts as pointed out in the video by Rachel Lofthouse. I think that it is an idea worthing a try but it must be carefully lead. When the students are part of the observation process they shouldn't be involved, because who is the focus of the observation can't be observed at the same time. The observation might change in a certain way. Nevertheless, it could be possible to prepare a small talk with the students after the observation has taken place using selected questions. In addition to this, it would look interesting firstly making a traditional observation mentor - mentee and then leading a second observation session asking the feedback to them, in order to monitor if any changes occur.

Veselche, North Macedonia

2019-10-14 20:20:54 UTC

Involving students in an observation is very important. Their feedback is not to be underestimated whatsoever.

Giannis, Germany

2019-10-14 21:42:18 UTC

I believe that involving the receivers and the audience of the learning outcome into the whole process of reflection is positive. They are good judges and they can reflect on mentee's communicating and learning skills. That could be on a written or oral form as a small group interview.

Maria, Romania

2019-10-14 22:57:40 UTC

From asking questions about how they felt, how they liked the activity are feed-back for teachers. They can make changes or try another strategies based on these answers.

Eleni, Greece

2019-10-15 06:04:37 UTC

It is a very interesting idea to involve students with a class observation sheet. The teacher can pause at certain time periods and ask children to check their sheets. In this way, feedback can be collected from all students. The teacher can take them into consideration for planning and differentiating according to students’ needs.

Efi, Greece

2019-10-15 11:07:02 UTC

It is important to actively involve the students and show them that their opinion matters. I think that supplying students with small questionnaires about their expectations and how these were fulfilled or not, is useful to lesson observation and future lesson planning.

Helena, Portugal

erasmusplanet2020 — 2019-10-15 13:02:21 UTC

Envolving students in the lesson observation gives teachers the power to make changes so it is important to do it. They can tell what they liked or not with the emojis, as the example, or just give feedback about if they learned or not, what was the part they liked more or that they didn't like.
I believe it has to be more informal, like the emojies or a converstaion at the end of the lesson.

Karela Georgia, Greece

geokar3 — 2019-10-15 18:38:24 UTC

Involving students in lessons observation is important becauce they can tell their opinions, their expectations. At the end of the lesson, they can answer some questions of the process, what they liked or not and what they could change.

2019-10-15 19:28:16 UTC

The student voice is a very important one. I haven't used student observation yet as the classes have been very young and it would take a lot of planning and time initially to set up. However as I gain more confidence in my role as mentor This year I think it is something I would be interested in trying.

Care is needed that dialogue with students remains professional and does not become personal. Also I believe it is important that all groups of students are represented including students with special needs.

Sunčica, Croatia

s_remenar — 2019-10-15 22:10:39 UTC

I didn't try to involve students but I would like to try. I think this could work well but only if students are taught to observe through their education or are taught how to assess peers and evaluate themselves. If they are not taught to do that, observing for the first time would be a challenge to analyse and to interpret their comments.

Daniela Camurri, Italy

2019-10-15 23:32:29 UTC

No, I don't try to involve students in the obseration, because they were too young to cooperate in this process.

2019-10-16 10:36:00 UTC

Ideally involving students in the observation process in the way suggested would be very useful, but it's a risky business. It might give too much power to the students and put mentees in a difficult position, where they would feel observed and judged by both mentor and students. Additionally, if we want to include students in this, we definitely need to train them beforehand.

Ramunė, Lithuania

ramune_sce — 2019-10-16 12:49:45 UTC

I try to involve students in the lesson observation process. I ask several students one or two questions about how they felt in the lesson, why they did this or that. i believe it adds to the observation a lot as the outcome of the lesson does not totally depend on the teacher, it depends on the students as well.

Vincent, Belgium

2019-10-16 15:51:22 UTC

I have not tried this before. But when I think about it, it is almost logical that you do this.
I'm not a fan of the smiley-chart since I teach in the last years of secondary school. But it might be good to select some pupils (strong and weak) to have a conversation with about what they learned, how they did it... Did they enjoy the lesson? Why? Why not?

I think we might learn a lot from this kind of conversations.

Despoina Amarantidou, Greece

2019-10-16 16:01:12 UTC

I have tried this with adults' education and vocational training.

Filiz Kutlu,Turkiye

fkutlu83 — 2019-10-16 18:57:48 UTC

As I haven't been a mentor before I don't have such an experience.

Stamatis, Greece

2019-10-17 06:11:31 UTC

I I think there is widespread agreement that the students’ view of the teaching practice in general or a teaching observation in particular, is important and has the potential of producing crucial evidence which can be a valuable source enriching the feedback process in a mentoring relationship thus contributing to the teachers’ personal and professional development.

There are however serious considerations regarding the age and maturity of the pupils/students and the means employed to draw valid information on their views of the teaching process or the teaching practice in general.
The use of smiley/emoticon charts sounds appealing. It could be a simple chart, on which children (e.g. 6-10 yrs) could report, using for example five types of emoticons (joyful, content, neutral, bewildered, sad) their level of satisfaction, interest or collaboration experience during the lesson. Alternatively or additionally a general discussion with the children at the end of the observation session on how they feel about the lesson, how interesting they found it or what are the new things they've learnt could be a useful source of information utilized during the feedback meeting.

Furthermore, it is important that the parents are systematically informed on the adoption of such a practice to avoid confusion or possible misunderstandings.

Maria, Greece

2019-10-17 16:43:40 UTC

The challenges of such an approach are to focus on the personal abilities, skills and knowledge that one already possesses and to identify what needs to be developed personally in order to successfully cope with the new situation.

Dionysia, Greece

2019-10-17 17:45:58 UTC

Till now I haven't taken into account the students' view of the teaching practise. By now I realize that it can produce valuable evidence to the feedback process in a mentoring relationship! As a mentor I can draw valid information from their views of the teaching process and from their feelings about their teacher and his approach to them.
I have used emoticon charts in the past in order to monitor the collaboration and the achievements of pupils with special needs attending the usual classroom. Of course, parents should be informed and perhaps asked to give their consent on this practice.

Ilian,Romania

iulyanaivan — 2019-10-17 19:07:31 UTC

I have not been a mentor before and I have no experience in this field

Susana Stoffel

2019-10-17 23:08:55 UTC

I've never worked as a mentor, but I a teacher I'm used to talk with my students about the way our lessons are developed; I ask them for suggestions for changing and improving; we discuss when the results are not very good, to find out new and more useful strategies; and analyze the good ones when the results are good.
I think that it's very important to listen to our students and make them feel as an important part of the process.

Hugo Simões, Portugal

2019-10-18 08:50:48 UTC

According to my experience as a mentor, more important than listening to students' opinions is listening to the mentee during the three moments of pedagogical observation: pre-observation; observation and post observation.

Floriana, România

2019-10-18 15:01:37 UTC

In my lesson, I always involve children. In vain I want to convey some information that I know very well, if their skills do not match mine. Depending on what they like, what the children want to discover and do, I conduct my lessons.

Nopi, Greece

2019-10-18 15:29:45 UTC

The pupils response and reactions to the mentee's teaching method can be a live observation tool both to the mentee and the mentor.Children, especially young ones, express very intense their emotions or thoughts
to the lesson and with simple and clear questions we can learn so many information.
The key is to observe their faces and reactions during lesson hours, be friendly, make them feel important and comfortable and of course guide them with the right questions.

Vayia, Greece

2019-10-18 16:08:06 UTC

Pupils can be involved up to point; it also depends on their age. Their responses show a lot but this is not necessarily reliable. Even the best students feel bored from time to time...

Galatiani Galouzi, Greece

galatianigalouzi — 2019-10-18 17:07:29 UTC

There is no teaching without students. Undoubtedly, students should be involved in the educational progress., although indeed it is more difficult than teaching without any students' reactions. But it is more challeching and more real. I love involving students because this gives meaning to my teaching. Their unpredictable answers and the ability of the teacher to response to them in the best way should be a skill that a future teacher is advisable to evolve...

Anna Sz., Poland

sp9poland — 2019-10-19 17:22:48 UTC

I often involve students to my observations. When they have clear lesson goals then they can give feedback whether they have learnt what they were expected to learn. I think most students give honest feedback as most of them want to take from the lesson as much as possible. They are happy when they feel they have learnt something new.

Rosa Medeiros, Portugal

rosa_medeiros1 — 2019-10-19 23:17:54 UTC

I have already had an experience inviting a student to do teaching with me.
Role-playing / acting / pretending to be me is a good way to check how I move in the classroom and how I influence my students.
Equally important to get students to imitate their classmate.
I have also set groups of students to evaluate the behavior of others.
Self-evaluation, followed by peer aponion is a way to develop students' attention.
I have already used video projection for students to improve their theater performance.
With the permission of the parent, I recorded a student's success in an activity to boost their self-esteem.

Athina, Greece

aginoudi — 2019-10-20 06:40:33 UTC

It depends on the axis of observation. Students are very reliable to express their opinion about their engagement in the lesson, the climate in the classroom, the things they have learned but it is difficult for them to discuss about the scientific competence of the teacher.

Bogdana Persida, Romania

2019-10-20 07:06:42 UTC

Students are always involved in the lesson observation. They are told the lesson goals so they can give a good feedback of the lesson and also can improve the course of the lesson.

Lucica, Romania

birlea_lucia — 2019-10-20 08:11:51 UTC

Student involvement leads to active learning, they learn from their own experience. They see the goals in the lesson so they can give a good feedback.

Bruno,Croatia

2019-10-20 09:23:39 UTC

I have tried before.It is very important to involve students.That lead them to active learning.

Carla Ribas - Portugal/Angola

carlita_ribas — 2019-10-20 10:53:51 UTC

In my opinion the success of the mentoring work involves involving the mentee in its process: in preparing the classes/activities, selecting and preparing the observation of classes,
analyzing your own classes (by viewing the video record and talking about the pre-set observation grid)

Ioana, Romania

2019-10-20 12:37:27 UTC

Involving students in lesson observation can be a challange. To give a feedback means to know the goals of the lesson.

Dunja, Croatia

quince6219 — 2019-10-20 12:43:30 UTC

Involving students in observations actually helps as they are more active and attentive. If well prepared they feel important and can give really good insight into their perspective.

Paola, Italy

2019-10-20 14:21:07 UTC

Sometimes the students are very critical about therir teachers. However, their point of view is complementary to ours.
This is for two main factors:
- the students are completely disconnected from methodological readings of the lessons but they understand if the teacher has worked with them to "make people understand" the object of the lesson. Many times have I heard comments like: this teacher is better because it does not go on until she is sure that we have all understood ...
- the second factor is the human relationship established between teacher-student and teacher-class. Unfortunately this is very hard to learn, I think to enter into relationship with the other is a native skill, the real teacher's vocation. Unfortunately our students often reject the educational relationship if there's no empathy before: before they sniff us and, if they like how our smell, after they listen.

Lacramioara,Ro.

2019-10-20 14:27:15 UTC

If you want to have an active learning ,you should involve students, they can give a real feedback.

Martina, Austria

2019-10-20 19:49:00 UTC

My students have to teach lessons in my class. In the next lesson I usually ask my pupils, how the had experienced being thaught by the student. They usually are rather critical, but they also show deep insights into what teaching really means. I do not tell my students everything, what is said in these feedback rounds. But the students usually are eager to know the pupils' view on their teaching.

Irena, Croatia

irena_phd — 2019-10-21 09:00:33 UTC

I haven't tried doing that because I think students need to have same preparation before doing that. To know what to pay attention to and try to be as objective as possible.

Marianthi, Greece I haven't so far but it could work if we explained exactly what they would have to do, how and why. We might have interesting ideas to elaborate on.

2019-10-21 15:50:45 UTC

Roberta, Italy

2019-10-21 16:29:34 UTC

I only tried to make my students evaluate my own lessons (I was testing with them a new methodology and they accepted to evaluate it anonymously) because I think you need to know really well your students: sometimes teenagers tend to be a little immature and they can confuse empathy/sympathy with teaching skills.

Camelia, Romania

2019-10-21 16:43:17 UTC

The students feedback is the most important steep in what do you teach! They help you to understand how to teach in the way that they will understand,

I think it's a great option when you have older children as observation within the preschool can be done only by adult. However, sometimes we do organize observations by students from our courses.

2019-10-21 18:52:23 UTC

Rodica, Romania

2019-10-21 19:48:30 UTC

Yes, I tried. I gave to some of them some specific tasks in observing the lesson, such as how many times some pupils answe the questions, how the teacher writes on the black/white board, a.s.o.

Annam., Italy

annam_ronchetti — 2019-10-21 20:54:19 UTC

I involved students in lesson observations once when I was involved in a gamification methodology project.

Maria R, Italy

2019-10-22 06:32:19 UTC

In my experience I never asked feedback from my students. I think it can be a useful thing not only for the mentee but also for the mentor. I appreciated in the video that the suggestions were not so much directed at what students learned but how they felt. I think it's better to start with older students using checklists.

Igor CROATIA

igor_nikicic — 2019-10-22 07:42:48 UTC

Vittoria

2019-10-22 12:45:37 UTC

Never tried. I will, even my students are small kids 6/10. They will have for sure a different perspective. Good idea!

Maricris Sometimes I ask feedback from my students about the methods and materials used or how they felt. I take into account their observations to change or improve my teaching strategy.

andu_abalasei — 2019-10-22 13:22:38 UTC

Maricris

andu_abalasei — 2019-10-22 13:25:11 UTC

Sometimes I ask feedback from my students about the methods and materials used or how they felt. I take into account their observations to change or improve my teaching strategy.

Maria Calà, Italy

2019-10-22 14:36:57 UTC

First I asked my students for feedback on the methods and materials used and I took their observations into consideration to change or improve my teaching strategy. Now I almost don't do it anymore, because I can perceive almost immediately if they have received the message and are able to implement it

Penelope, Greece

penpezarou — 2019-10-22 16:11:02 UTC

Never tried. My pupils are just 4-6 but I see it interesting.

dora greece

dtsiagani — 2019-10-22 18:08:52 UTC

Involing students in lesson observation is a challenge and very important for the next step:modify the way you teach

SanjaM, Croatia

2019-10-22 19:44:39 UTC

Almost every day I involve my students in my observations. Children are very creative and and they make honest answ
ers.

Alida, Albania

2019-10-22 20:51:59 UTC

yes, I find it quite useful, they become critical thinkers

Lucília Ávila, Portugal

2019-10-22 21:14:41 UTC

The involvement of students in the observation process is an added value in the discussion of pedagogical practices implemented by teachers, student feedback enriches the professional development of teachers.

Snježana, Croatia

snjeguljica48 — 2019-10-22 23:10:09 UTC

I do that almost every day. Pupils gain a sense of importance and strive to be realistic as I seek their opinion. Depending on their answers, I change, as needed, the teaching method, methods, strategies…. Often I ask them are they satisfied with their grades and ask them to propose a grade and it's in most of the time - real!

Željka, Croatia

zeljkawinkler — 2019-10-23 07:15:38 UTC

Yes, I ask for feedback from my students every day, at the end of the class. In this way, I modify my teaching and change my methods and strategies. Students are given the opportunity to self-assess and see if they have achieved the outcomes.

Luz, U.S.

luzemirandav — 2019-10-23 18:43:39 UTC

It´s hard because sometimes the observer comes to judge the new teacher, so to ask students about the new teacher´s performance in the classroom, if students complained before,(and that was the reason of the observation, a complaint) is rather embarrassing.

Konstantina, Greece

konstantinakokmotou — 2019-10-23 19:15:53 UTC

Students are very critical thinkers and can observe things that we have never imagined!

Claudya, Romania

2019-10-23 20:24:28 UTC

Students are always sincere and exigeant.

customer satisfaction - Chiara Delfini - Italy

2019-10-23 20:54:19 UTC

Yes, the student's opinion is a key point. i always ask them

- 2 kind of customer satisfaction

a) closed question

b) opne question

so that the student can clearly express his/her idea on the course or on the method of teaching

- mailing me if there is anything they don't like or they prefer to do better or if they have issues with the mentee assigned

- sharing the report with the mentee if there are some issues

Every customer satisfation isn't done to criticize the person, but only to analyze what we could improve about logistic, the method, the subject and the arguments.

Marijeta, Croatia

mkvetek — 2019-10-23 20:58:50 UTC

I haven't tried involving students in my observations. I was pondering before on the way this could be done, but I didn't have any clear ideas. I'm thankful for these new ideas that were shared by Rachel and I believe they might work well. Preparation of materials for pupils as evaluators of specific aspects of the lesson could be time consuming. They might not be able to assess their feelings appropriately and unbiasedly. Those are the things I see as the challenges of such an approach.

Hugo,spain

2019-10-24 16:39:46 UTC

Use some polls for the students would give us a really good feedback.

Sofia

2019-10-25 20:59:25 UTC

Not easy but interesting...it is a third look on the situation...very significative

Anita, croatia

anitamikic — 2019-10-26 18:21:36 UTC

I think I'll use this idea. Otherwise I did not include students.

Panoraia, Greece

2019-10-27 13:08:07 UTC

I will ask the opinion of my mentee, I think it is important for us so we can improve ourselves and get a better outcome.

Nusreta, Croatia

fazlic_nusreta — 2019-10-28 17:07:48 UTC

I haven't tried involving students in ma observations. They only evaluated my lessons. I think it's a very good idea.

öznur turkeyy

2019-10-28 17:40:51 UTC

no, ı have in my students

Andreja, Croatia

2019-10-28 17:47:59 UTC

I have not tried to involve students.

Sara, Spain

2019-10-28 18:33:01 UTC

We usually do an evaluation after the Interactive Groups with the students about the activities in which the mantee and the volunteers are involved.

Daniela, Romania

instdanutza — 2019-10-28 19:13:21 UTC

I have not tried involving students in my observation.

I have not tried to involve students, yet, in my observation. But it can be a good idea

2019-10-29 08:54:18 UTC

Tamara, Croatia

2019-10-29 20:22:30 UTC

I have not tried involving students in my observation.

Madalina, Romania

2019-10-30 07:12:42 UTC

I have not tried involving students in my observation. I intend to do that. I think it is a good idea.

Ana Oliveira, Açores- Portugal

2019-10-30 10:33:49 UTC

I have already conducted activities with students in observed classes and asked them to indicate positive situations and others that could be improved. But first, it is necessary together with the mentor / observer to explore all possibilities and find solutions to any surprises.

Nicoleta, Irina , Romania

2019-10-30 11:26:17 UTC

Students are good observers and as they are participant to the lesson they can indicate the pros and cons of the lesson and also improve the teac hing activity with their suggestions.

Vesna,Serbia

vesna_jaquet — 2019-11-16 13:32:56 UTC

Students may be good in lesson obeservations. A challenge may be not being objective enough every time.

Daniela Orasanu, Romania

daniela_orasanu — 2019-11-19 18:07:41 UTC

This is always the case because there is no constructive dialogue. You also need to listen to the student's opinion in order to have a starting point. The challenge is that sometimes the student can have his idea, wonderful.

Lisanne, Netherlands

2019-12-06 13:00:49 UTC

I always ask students for feedback. You must ask them for specific pieces of feedback to make sure that this is effective. Do not "over" ask them.

are they objective enough?

2020-03-22 20:34:40 UTC

Jorge, Spain.

2020-04-05 19:04:52 UTC

First I invite them to do a class similar to how I do it (it is easier to "copy") so that they focus on: explaining, capturing attention and making sure everyone understood.
Then we analyze successes and errors to improve.

Olimpia

2020-06-09 19:45:09 UTC

I have not tried to involve students in my observations, but the students are always sincere and demanding. For this reason, I should involve students in observing the lesson

2020-07-07 11:13:35 UTC

Danny, Indonesia
By involving students in lesson observation, we have an opportunity to develop student's skills in mentoring too.

Shane Wolf

2021-10-12 16:55:38 UTC

Involving them is always a good thing as they can evaluate things from a different view point. Very good to see my progress.