Sociology 910
Spring 2011
Classroom Observation
Each participant in the seminar is asked to
observe at least
two classes. You may visit lectures or
discussions.
Select classes on topics
you are interested in, or from courses you want to teach.
Please complete your observations by February 14th.
Please prepare a brief commentary/critique of each
class. Please limit each report to one
page, single spaced.
A good format is
one paragraph describing the class, including class topic, format
(lecture,
discussion, lab),
relevant features of the setting (seating, for example), flow
of activities during the class session, and any observations
of instructor or
student response to the class. Try to
limit such descriptive material to one-third (or less) of your report.
The remaining one or two paragraphs should be
your commentary on the class. Here you
can talk about some of the
aspects of a course that we have discussed. Was
the style of presentation appropriate for
the topic, type of student,
physical setting?
Was the content clearly presented?
Was there interaction (instructor-student, student-student),
was the
interaction appropriate, relevant? Was
the amount and pace of material presented appropriate.
What worked and what didn=t,
in your opinion? How might things that didn=t
work have been done differently?
If you observed two classes on the same
topic, you can compare and contrast the two.
You are, of course, free to comment on other
aspects. You may write a separate page on
each class,
or write a report that combines the two.
Your commentaries are due on Monday, February 21st.