Teachers can develop reflection and evaluation options by keeping a classroom journal. A classroom journal is a record of the teacher's experience within the classroom itself, as well as experience outside the classroom which bears on classroom life. As an observor of one's own actions and reactions to classroom incidents, the teacher opens the…

A study was designed to provide an initial context for framing the most pressing questions in the teaching of literature. To do this, the teaching of English in the high school classrooms of teachers whose departments were considered excellent by other professionals in education was examined. The issues that emerged in the programs with…

The rationale for and nature of the videotaped portion of the pedagogy test of the Content Mastery Examinations for Educators (CMEE) available in fall 1990 are evaluated. The videotape subtest described is expansive and time consuming, but appears to be effective and acceptable for its target audience of beginning teachers. Each form of the CMEE…

This document describes a 3-day Wisconsin vocational, technical, and adult education (VTAE) workshop on instructional supervision in vocational education that was based on the University of California at Los Angeles Teaching Model, Clinical Supervision, resulting from the work of Madeline Hunter. A five-page narrative section describes the model,…

The history of test coaching has shown that positive benefits can be produced from short-term orientation, practice, and drill. Coaching on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) has been especially scrutinized for efficacy and has shown modest program effects, despite the limited scope and duration of such programs. The present investigation expands…

A classroom observation technique that describes classroom events at the level of activity and analyzes the communicative features of verbal exchanges between students and teachers within each activity is described. Activity characteristics indentified include type, participant organization, content, student modality or skills used, and materials;…

A study investigated how oral discourse affects the communicative process of teaching and learning and how that process influences and is influenced by the goals and expectations of college instructors and college students. Three college classes were observed for one semester. Data were collected in the form of field notes, cassette tapes of…

To help teachers develop an awareness of how they structure a discussion, an instrument was constructed called the Assessment of Classroom Interaction Dynamics (ACID). Two expert judges and 26 trainees then participated in a study (1) to estimate interrater reliability between expert judges in the use of the ACID, (2) to assess the validity of the…

The teaching behaviors used by successful teachers, often presumed to be measured by student achievement on standardized tests, remain largely unexamined. Baseline data on normative teacher competency is not readily available. A two-year study was undertaken to begin identification of specific teaching competencies as demonstrated by teachers…

An overview is presented of classroom observation instruments which have been created and refined since 1962. The components of teacher-pupil transactions measured by different observation methods are listed, and the complexities and difficulties encountered when using the instruments are discussed. A description is given of the Coping Analysis…

Based on observations of three first grade classrooms in Milan, Italy, this paper provides information about beginning writing instruction in Italy and offers suggestions for adapting some of the more successful techniques found there into writing programs in the United States. The various sections of the paper contain the following: (1)…

Students of the Austin (Texas) Independent School procedures, and results District who had been in first through sixth grade during 1982-83 and were recommended for retention at the end of the year were eligible to attend the 1983 summer school for retainees. The program was designed to provide additional basic skills instruction so that retainees…

This project paper reports the interobserver agreements and reliabilities for the observation procedures used in the Descriptive Study of Phase IV of the Individually Guided Education Evaluation Project. Only data from four observers--at the two Developing Mathematical Processes Schools and the two Wisconsin Design for Reading Skills Development…

This observational study examined student and teacher verbal and nonverbal behaviors in microcomputer classrooms in a high school where most of the students are Black, Hispanic, or Asian, and almost half of them are classified as economically disadvantaged. A total of 125 students in grades 9 to 12 were observed, with 47 students in marketing, 18…

The pre-kindergarten program in the San Antonio Independent School District was evaluated during the 1984-85 school year. The children's progress was measured informally by observation and was maintained individually on a checklist of skills. Interviews with principals and teachers revealed positive reactions to the program. Correlation existed…