Bonni: Today on episode number 423 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, a classroom observation story.

Production Credit: Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.

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Bonni Stachowiak: Welcome to this episode of Teaching in Higher Ed, I’m Bonni Stachowiak and this is the space where we explore the art and science of being more effective at facilitating learning. We also share ways to improve our productivity approaches, so we can have more peace in our lives, and be even more present for our students.

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I’ve been fascinated with teaching and learning since I was five years old. I can vividly recall sitting in my room and playing with the stuffed animals and dolls and turning the entire thing into a classroom. Which if you want to hear more about, you could go back and revisit episode 208 because the number that happened to be on my door at the time, was 208, and it remains my favorite number in the world. I continue to love the whole idea of how does learning happen and how can we as educators make it more possible that another might be able to learn something.

In late March of 2022, my friend Elizabeth Powell invited me to come watch her class. This is, for me, it was a very special invitation because she is an exceptionally exquisite teacher. Today, I’m going to be sharing you what I learned by going to observe her class that day. Before I do a little bit about teaching observation or peer teaching observation, I first even knew that such a thing formally existed in a higher education context, when I had the opportunity back in 2016, to speak with Isabeau Iqbal. She talked about the Peer Review of Teaching. This was the first time that I became again aware that these types of entities or paradigms or tools existed, and in fact, she knew so much about it that her dissertation was at work on that.

She talked about in that episode, that formative peer reviews of teaching, as in reviews that are helping us grow and develop, offer the opportunity for growth, both for the reviewer and the person doing the reviewing. She said on that episode, despite the fact that you might have decades of experience, and high student evaluations of teaching that that experience can still be nerve-racking. While Elizabeth Powell didn’t mention being super nervous the day I came to see her but I know for myself, whenever those reviews are taking place as a summative evaluation, it tends to be pretty nerve-racking for me. It was just great to have this opportunity to connect us friends, and people who care a lot about teaching.

One of the other things that I’ve learned over all of these years is about classroom observation protocols. In fact, I went through and earned a certificate in college teaching and learning in Hispanic serving institutions through ESCALA Educational Services and they introduced me to a few of the protocols. When I went to go attend and watch Elizabeth’s class, I should tell you first actually, it was a pretty bittersweet moment because I found out just prior to going to observe her that she has decided that that would be her last semester of teaching, at least for this season in her life.

I was imagining, of course, selfishly, how long do I have to wait until you come back? [chuckles] Excited for her, of course, and hope that we will, and we’ll plan on continue to be her friend and extend those friendships since it extends well beyond a particular institution or a particular profession for her. It certainly was bittersweet sitting there that day. One of the things she had mentioned that was the impetus for why I came to observe her class in the first place was not just her excellent teaching, but also the opportunity to see a different side of Zoom.

Many of us have used Zoom, the web conferencing platform, but in this case, this particular classroom was configured from a hardware standpoint, as well as a software standpoint with something called Zoom Rooms or a Zoom Room. I was interested in seeing the technical setup that she was using that day. She was doing what a lot of different words and phrases get used to describe this, but she had people that were sitting there in a physical classroom, and she had people who were joining a classroom that was taking place on the Zoom Room. Sometimes we call this multi-modal teaching and those words sound yucky just as I even have them coming out of my life.

Sometimes we call that hybrid or high flex. This is where our definitions get a little bit convoluted because sometimes what we mean by that is an option for asynchronous, kind of at your own pace learning, versus synchronous learning, so at anyway, I was there to watch her teach people who were sitting in the classroom with her, and also people who were joining via a hardware and software setup made possible by Zoom Rooms. I found myself that day, yes, of course, being fascinated by the technology, of course, who am I if not fascinated by technology, but also I found myself really starting to think in terms of her behaviors.

Too many times we tend to ascribe good teaching to a personality trait or sometimes even charisma. Stephen Brookfield is someone among others who really cautions us against these things. He talks about a lot in his writing, we should think carefully about teaching awards and are they actually awarding based on charisma and extraversion as opposed to other things that might make up good teaching? Here I was, watching this person and of course, enjoying watching the art of her teaching, and the beauty of it and magnificence of it, but also thinking about what might others learn from what she seemingly effortlessly, although I don’t believe this was effortless, was able to create in that room that day.

I wanted to mention a little bit back about classroom observation protocols. The one that I learned from ESCALA Educational Services, it’s actually based off of the acronym COPUS, Classroom Observation Protocols in Undergraduate Science, but they have a little spin on the one that they use to include inclusive teaching, not just what students, in general, may have engaged, but actually looking at it from a gender, racial, and other means of ensuring that we’re being inclusive in our teaching.

I started out that day, just simply making tick marks, little marks on my paper, like so many of us did or at least saw other people doing in junior high school, you picture the extremely boring teacher, and every time they say, “Umm, umm, umm” and writing those tick marks down. I will admit, I had at least one professor in college, who I recall doing that on my own notes but I do remember getting awfully distracted by that. Filler words, of course, aren’t always a terrible thing and in fact, recently Alan Levine had on his blog, some explorations of some real research about perhaps they even could give us time to think. Imagine that.

In this case, when our filler words get in the way of learning because they are distracting, then that’s not going to be particularly helpful to us at all. I started making some pretty simple tick marks at first, every time she asked a question, down went to mark on the paper. Every time a student might talk, or ask another type of a question, a tick mark went down, but then I started to find I was enjoying my scorekeeping game because again, I could be more precise in observing what is it that she did behaviorally that helped create this kind of dynamic.

If you picture the students, they were engaged, I could see the ones that were there online, with one exception, who had apologized, did not seem that there was any kind of a rule that you had to have your camera on, it seemed people really wanted to have their camera on because they were able to simulate eye contact with people in the room and see facial expressions and share laughter and all of that, but anyway, I could see their facial expressions and attempt to gauge some attention level.

Then I could also see, of course, the people who were in the room and what she had created there was a culture of curiosity, a vibrant community of people who both shared examples, asked questions, and appeared to be learning from one another, in addition to the materials that she had prepared for that day. Way back on Episode 277, when I had Derek Bruff on to talk about his book Intentional Tech, he introduced me to this research study, called A Time for Telling by Schwartz and Bransford. Essentially A Time for Telling, to me, I shortened it a little bit for a spark of curiosity, a time, a purposeful and intentional way that we might get learners wondering about things, being curious about things.

I saw Elizabeth Powell doing this so often throughout the entire class that I had the opportunity to witness. Josh Eyler has a quote in his book, How Humans Learn, that I have quoted on many occasions, he writes, “In order to learn something, we must first wonder about it.” This idea of creating a time for telling is where we get that curiosity going such that we open a door that may not be the best analogy, but work with me here, where then the learners are ready to hear deeper explanations.

Some might even argue perhaps willing to tolerate boredom a little bit more or perhaps negate boredom a little bit more because this time for telling really lit a spark in their curiosity and sense of wonder and Derek Bruff on the episode 277 used the example of Mentos and soda. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, I’m probably going to get it wrong too because that was quite a while ago I spoke with him, but the idea is that if you put diet Coke and Mentos and you combine them, you can get a wonderful volcanic explosion happening.

If you do it with a different type of soda, that entire explosion process doesn’t happen. You might naturally see kids and adults alike looking at something like that and starting to wonder, well, what was it about the diet Coke one that made it work whereas the other ones didn’t have the explosion? That is a time for telling. That is an opportunity then for us to listen to those deeper explanations.

Elizabeth Powell was so good at creating a time for telling. In one case, she showed a clip from the movie, Bruce Almighty. If you’re not familiar with this, this is from a movie basically about God coming and trying to teach a lesson about what God is all about. I’m not sure I’m giving a great synopsis of it. I remember watching it quite some time ago, but regardless, that day, the clip got me laughing and everyone else in the room and joining us via the Zoom room.

Also got me thinking about the questions that she was wanting us to ponder that day. She gave us a time for telling. Another time that she gave us a time for telling involved, Build A Bear. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Build A Bear. They are, at least in my estimation, quite expensive teddy bears or other stuffed animals but you get to go in and select the fabric or the outline of the bear or a cat or what have you. Then you get to actually participate in stuffing it with stuffing and sometimes you can actually even include other things such as a little mechanism that lets you hear the sound and vibration of a heartbeat. She gave this wonderful analogy that actually she had heard from one of her college professors about the outline of the bear and the stuffing as it relates to this particular section of the class was about something called God image and God concept.

I have never taken a class like the one that she taught that entire semester and I was only there for a single day and I can still so vividly remember that analogy and how it connected. A final example I’d like to share of my time with her was her showing another clip. Although instead of evoking a sense of laughter and delight and silliness, this particular one really got me thinking as well as the other students, I could see them pondering this. This was more of a research type of a context and it was a toddler and she was talking about attachment theory and we were to watch as the mother would leave the room and what the toddler would do and in reaction to having that parent that she was clearly attached to suddenly be absent from the context and be left with a stranger there.

I found myself at the time and I could tell that the others in the room too, without Elizabeth needing to pause the clip and ask us to predict what was going to happen next, it happened automatically. In the book, Small Teaching, James Lang talks about the power of prediction. This was the first time I had really thought about that you don’t necessarily, as the facilitator of the learning, even always have to be the one asking the question or pulling up a poll quiz question or asking people to write something down or what have you. The very nature of the way this clip was constructed, the prediction almost happened quite naturally and I did find that a little bit fascinating at the time. As I think back to my own experience, observing Elizabeth Powell’s class, and as I think back to her students and what their reactions were to the different things that she engaged them in, she really did a tremendous job of what I call, very formally I say, sarcastically, mixing things up.

Instead of giving a 50-minute lecture and then spending five minutes for questions, she had two movie clips, The Build A Bear analogy. There were times where people shared in pairs or groups of two to three. There were lots of times where what was happening changed. Again, not just a lecture, but we’re hearing even from God themselves. What else could you ask for? Lots of ways that she mixed things up. I think back to lots of what I have heard in terms of how do we gauge that? Here I am observing Elizabeth Powell’s class and I’m thinking in terms of the kinds of questions she’s posing, the very purposeful, intentional questions. I’m thinking about the questions that students are asking quite naturally and the ways in which they’re engaging and addressing her questions, and so that’s part of what I was thinking about.

We’re thinking about these classroom observation protocols and yes, sometimes those could be done by an external observer. In fact, this could even be done taping yourself. Doing a video or an audio tape, which I actually did as a part of that, a scholar certification that I was mentioning earlier on. I was asked to video myself for 45 minutes and then fill out this score sheet, essentially fill out a classroom observation protocol on my own class. There are some different ways that we can think about how much we are gaining the attention. It’s not about trying to get all the attention 100% of the time. That’s impossible for any of us.

Like James Lang talks about in his book, Distracted, I think he makes such a compelling case that we should never be thinking about trying to get all that attention but constantly making invitations for people to come back and focus on what is at hand. There are two people I want to talk a little bit about here in terms of how do we get the students to help us get some feedback on how well we’re doing it, making those invitations toward attention, or making those times for telling.

The first person I’d like to share about is back to Stephen Brookfield. Stephen Brookfield has been doing research around what he calls the Critical Incident Questionnaire for decades now. Using the Critical Incident Questionnaire, he invites students to take about five minutes to respond to questions about the most recent class. He suggests that they not put their name on the form, keep those responses anonymous, and if nothing comes to mind for any of the questions to just leave the space blank.

Then at the next class, he commits to sharing the group’s responses with the class and you think about this question, the series of questions is going to help him inform his own teaching, but also help the learners, help the students think about what got them engaged and to help to reinforce some of those opportunities to have those times for telling that I talked about earlier. Here’s the questions that get asked anytime we use the classroom Critical Incident Questionnaire from Stephen Brookfield. He asks, “At what moment in class, this weekend, did you feel most engaged with what was happening?”

He uses this weekend, but it could have been this week or any variation whenever this particular class session or sessions that you’re wanting to focus on. Of course, for me, as I think back to Elizabeth’s class, I’m thinking about the times when she showed the clips, I definitely felt most engaged with the Bruce Almighty clip and the little attachment theory clip example that she showed.

Of course, if I were to draw a chart of my engagement, it would’ve been very high almost 100% of the time so it is hard to narrow down. Then it asks at what moment in class were you most distanced from what was happening? I think for me, I probably was most distanced from what was happening just as I thought about mourning the loss of her as an educator at our institution and that did happen a little bit as I spent some time on this side thought process from what was happening in the classroom of just being sad and that wasn’t necessarily relevant or what she had planned for that experience.

Then the next question that Stephen Brookfield’s poses is, what action that anyone, teacher or student, took this weekend or during the class that you most found affirming or helpful? As I talked about earlier, I found very helpful the analogy of the Build A Bear. I’m going to be keeping the bear analogy with me. I found that to be something that didn’t feel like her trying to push her own perceptions onto me, but almost the Build A Bear that I got to put my own stuffing in it. I’m probably, really extending this analogy a little bit too far, but I did really find it affirming and helpful.

The next question from Stephen Brookfield, what action that anyone took in this class, did you find most puzzling, or confusing? I didn’t really find anything puzzling, or confusing, so if I was filling this out, I would leave this question blank. Last, what about the class surprised you the most? (This could be about your own reactions to what went on, something that someone did, or anything else that occurs) As far as surprises go, I don’t know that I had– I was surprised the entire time just because my attention kept being invited to come back and center on what was planned.

I guess what surprised me the most just as a teacher was how incredibly engaged everyone that I saw there was without Elizabeth needing to rely on pure extroversion, charisma, et cetera. That was certainly, surprising to me. I was also surprised about a lot of the things that came out in the content, and what I learned about attachment theory and other subjects.

That is a look at Stephen Brookfield’s Critical Incident Questionnaire. The next little class gauge that I’d like to share actually, comes from another former guest, and that is Gardner Campbell. Way back when he was on Teaching in Higher Ed, the first time he talked about something called an Apgar for Class Meetings. Apgar, if you’re not familiar with that, it comes from, “An innovator, a scientist, a physician, a mentor, an altruist who was a physician who gave her name–” I’m quoting from a blog post by Gardner Campbell, “Gave her name to the quick, simple assessment of baby’s condition at one and five minutes after birth.”

Apgar understood that doctors and nurses needed such an assessment to guide their approach to early intervention and treatment. She also understood that without such an assessment, current practice was unlikely to change as there was no baseline from which to work. Gardner Campbell across a couple of blog posts, at least probably, more, and many times speaking, and teaching other educators had this whole idea, what if we used an Apgar for our classes, and what if instead of putting it all on the educator to be responsible for sometimes entertaining our way into trying to gain that attention, we put some of the responsibility to the learners alike.

He suggests that we might ask the following questions. Did you read the material for today’s class meeting carefully? No, yes, one time, or yes two, or more times? Did you come to class today with questions of the items to discuss? No, yes, one time. Yes, two, or more times? Since we last met, did you talk at length to a classmate or classmates about either the last class meeting or today’s meeting? Since our last meeting, did you read any unassigned material related to this course of study? Since our last class meeting, how much time have you spent reflecting on this course of study, and recent class meetings?

I’m going to continue reading from another blog post from Gardner Campbell. “Ideally, students would transmit their scores electronically, and the teacher would be able to do a quick class average at the beginning of the meeting. The teacher should also assign themselves a score with a colleague substituting for a classmate, for example, or perhaps with a different set of questions altogether. It would be interesting to chart the classes scores over a semester and compare one section’s scores with another. It would also be interesting to see if the class began to compete with itself to try to keep those Apgars high.

There’s also a merciful aspect here for the teacher who could see pretty quickly that a particular day didn’t go well for reasons beyond his or her own failings. It would also allow the teacher to move quickly to a plan B if the score indicated either that students were not ready for a challenging and self-motivated day, or if they were beyond the teacher’s expectations.” It does happen. As I consider these two different means for keeping a gauge on students interest, their curiosity and their sense of wonder, it reminds me a lot of a quote from a David Allen book, Getting Things Done. He writes, “If you don’t pay attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.”

I am thankful to my colleague Elizabeth Powell for inviting me to your class and allowing me to share in such a brilliant learning community, and to the students who were there and invited me in, and made me feel welcome. I so enjoyed getting to be a witness, and think through my own teaching, and how I might improve from your example. This is the time in the show where I get to share two recommendations. The first recommendation comes from the other night, me laying in bed, randomly watching TEDx talks, which I don’t do very often, but I was on YouTube for some reason, and you know how they have the videos off to the right-hand side.

I happened to see one, a TEDxSUNYPotsdam video, and the name looked a little familiar to me. I thought that I knew this person from Twitter. My first sense was, yes, that’s famous teaching, and learning person from Twitter. That was the first memory that came into my thought. I thought, “Oh, okay, this could be good.” The name of the video was Learning Out Loud, and so this sounded like a good thing to me. Well, the name that was the presenter for this particular TEDxSUNYPotsdam video was Karen Caldwell. First, I want to recommend to all of you to watch this video from Karen Caldwell.

She shares surprising research, and concrete tips to take charge of your learning, and I would argue your teaching, with powerful, and sometimes uncomfortable strategies. Toward the beginning of the video, she talks about studies that have been done about our stated ways that we claim that we learn, and then what actually helps us learn often being those uncomfortable, those messy times that we generally would not sign ourselves up for. [laughs]

This is where things get a little messy in terms of the scholarship of teaching, and learning, because how we espouse that we learn best is often in direct conflict from those things that will actually facilitate the deepest most sustaining types of learning. The second thing that I want to recommend actually came when I went over to see Karen Caldwell’s website. Right there on her homepage is the instruction to be curious. She has a quote there from Albert Einstein. “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

Speaking of curiosity, I mentioned that Karen’s name sounded familiar to me, and I couldn’t quite figure out why. This continued to stay with me despite the fact that I was incredibly tired and really on the brink of sleep, except that she kept me so energized, and alert, and curious about what she had to share, that I kept going with those last little bits of endorphins, but I decided to go over to my email because I just thought there’s something. I feel like we’ve had this connection beyond just, “Knowing her from Twitter.” Sure enough, I went back in my email and we had exchanged some emails ironically about learning out loud. [laughs] Here it was all this time later. I had really the impression at the time because I wasn’t putting the Karen Caldwell from the email together with the Karen Caldwell, I feel like I know/knew on Twitter.

Since in my head, those two people were not one and the same yet, I was expecting that the person who had contacted me over email probably, didn’t know a lot of things about what she was asking me to share about. Perhaps, she didn’t by the way, because perhaps that just happened to be an aspect of whatever it was. She was curious about at the time that she was looking to know more about, but boy, Karen Caldwell, what an opportunity you’ve given me.

I hope I can pass on some sliver of this to anyone listening right now, to be curious, to learn out loud, to get messy, to fail to hold ourselves such that we are always in a position to be learning more, failing, getting feedback, being curious, and perhaps, as educators passing that on to others.

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Bonni: Thanks to all of you for listening to this episode of Teaching in Higher Ed. Thank you to all of the people that I mentioned on today’s episode for being so instrumental in my own teaching, and thanks to Elizabeth Powell for allowing me this chance to tell a classroom observation story. By the way, I did a write-up of this experience sitting in her class on my column on ed search. In the show notes, you can find that column if you’d like to learn more.

Today’s episode was produced by me, Bonni Stachowiak, and was edited by the ever-talented, Andrew Kroger. Podcast production support was provided by a wonderful teacher, herself, Sierra Smith. Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you next time on Teaching in Higher Ed.

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Teaching in Higher Ed transcripts are created using a combination of an automated transcription service and human beings. This text likely will not represent the precise, word-for-word conversation that was had. The accuracy of the transcripts will vary. The authoritative record of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcasts is contained in the audio file.