10/23/2008

Cultivating Observation Skills

In Margie Carter's article, "Observations that Make a Difference," in our new CD Book, Taking Stock: Tools and Strategies for Evaluating Programs, Directors, Teachers, and Children, she shares a number of strategies for motivating teachers to take time to observe children and helping them be effective in doing so. Here is one strategy...

"Observation is both a skill and an art. Observation skills involve an objective, detailed collection of data and an eye for the meaning and richness of each child's developmental experience. The art of observation lies in the interpretation, the meaning-making of what you are seeing.

"To practice noting the difference between descriptive observations and interpretations, offer teachers a magazine photograph of children involved in some kind of activity with each other or an adult. Ask them to quickly write a list of statements about what they see in the photograph. This can be done individually or as a group. Then go over each word on the list. Put a 'D' next to the words and statements that are specific descriptions that most people would readily identify and agree upon.

"Now look for statements that are interpretations of the scene, rather than objective descriptions. Put an 'I' next to these. These are conclusions based on subjective filters or subconscious cues picked up from the scene. They hopefully will reflect the art of drawing on teachers' experiences with and knowledge of children, their development, and ways of representing their understandings."

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Taking Stock: Tools and Strategies for Evaluating Programs, Directors, Teachers, and Children, an Exchange CD Book, provides a wealth of tools and strategies for evaluating the work of your program. It is an awesome collection of 64 articles on:

• Organizational Evaluation
• Director Evaluation
• Staff Appraisal
• Program Evaluation
• Environmental Evaluation
• Child Assessment
• Child Observation

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