Appendix

[Date]

 

Peer Observation of Teaching Report: Dr. [Redacted]

Class: [Redacted]

Lesson Topic: Communication Modalities

Conducted by: [Redacted]

This peer observation of teaching report is confidential and is the sole property of the course instructor. The peer observer will not share this report nor discuss it with anyone other than the course instructor unless explicitly authorized by the course instructor.

This peer observation report details my observations concerning the course session taught on Tuesday, February 8, 2023. Prior to this date, Dr. [Redacted] and I met to discuss the course in general, objectives for this specific class period, and specific items on which Dr. [Redacted] sought feedback. In addition to general observations about the class session, Dr. [Redacted] asked for feedback on the possible extent to which any personal preference for recommended communication modalities affected [pronoun redacted] impartial presentation of the various methods.

Classroom Observation Narrative

Prior to Class

I arrived in the classroom approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled class time (8:00 – 9:15 am) and sat in the back row at the (instructor’s) left center of the classroom. The classroom was arranged with 5 rows of long tables (seating approximately 60 students) with moveable chairs and center and outside aisles. Twelve students were present when I arrived and were engaged in quiet conversations with near-seated classmates. All students had laptops open to UA apps, with most being logged in to the course Blackboard site.  Dr. [Redacted] arrived at 7:51 and engaged in friendly, professional conversation with students as [pronoun redacted] prepared the technology for the presentation. At 7:59, Dr. [Redacted] walked around the classroom, stopped in front of each student, and called the student by name. [pronoun redacted] knew nearly all of the 40 students present. For the 2-3 students Dr. [Redacted] did not know, [pronoun redacted] asked, “What’s your name?” and students responded readily with their names and smiles. Dr. [Redacted] had fun with this, remarking that some students had changed seats to throw [pronoun redacted] off on names. Overall, these before class interactions had a good “feel” to them and indicated a high degree of rapport between the students and Dr. [Redacted].

During Class

 Start of Class

Dr. [Redacted] began class at 8:02 by greeting the students as a group, “Good morning! 70s today, but someone put snow in the forecast. Who did this?” referring to the weather forecast. This effectively gained students’ attention and injected some humor into the class. [pronoun redacted] then indicated that the day’s lesson was [pronoun redacted] favorite topic in the entire course and reminded students they would be learning about and discussing communication modalities. At 8:06, [pronoun redacted] then had students break into small groups (3-5 students) for 5-minutes of discussion about four questions that were based on an out-of-class reading assignment. Students readily engaged in lively discussion in their groups, with all students participating. During discussion, Dr. [Redacted] walked around the classroom and briefly engaged with almost all the groups. At 8:11, Dr. [Redacted] announced that groups were to wrap up discussion and select one of the four questions to report out on to the whole class. At 8:12, Dr. [Redacted] said, “OK, let’s come together,” and students immediately ceased discussion and attended to [pronoun redacted]. Dr. [Redacted], then called on 2-3 groups per question to briefly report out their discussions. As students reported, Dr. [Redacted] provided positive encouragement with comments such as, “Great! I love that!” and relating student comments back to previous class sessions saying, “If you go back to the documentary we watched. . . ”  and “As you have seen from the research we have read . . . .” I was particularly struck by [pronoun redacted] comment that, “Every outlier [in the research study] is an actual kid.” This served to effectively make the connection between research and actual people/clients.

Dr. [Redacted] conducted the classroom discussion in an effective manner. Students were very engaged, and their responses gave clear evidence that they had done the out-of-class reading assignment. Dr. [Redacted] managed the discussion and the whole class reporting in an efficient and productive manner that facilitated student participation and learning. The discussion was an excellent learning experience and served to focus student attention on Dr. [Redacted]’ subsequent lecture presentation.

 Instructional Core

At 8:25, Dr. [Redacted] transitioned from the discussion to the lecture presentation about communication modalities. [pronoun redacted] lowered the lights in front of the class to make the projected slides and videos incorporated into the lecture more visible for students. Students had the lecture slides, and all were either taking notes using their laptops/tablets and/or had the slides open during the lecture. I detected little if any non-class activity on student screens.

The lecture began with the viewing of a brief video on, “The Great Divide,” which served to effectively frame the issue of communication modalities within the communications disorders discipline. Students were very attentive to the video. Dr. [Redacted] began the lecture reminding students that “You are the experts in SLP,” and “You know how to define . . .,” and that today’s lesson on communication modalities was designed to “put more tools in your bucket” to help clients.  These comments engaged students in the lecture, while establishing that students will soon be the professionals responsible for helping clients decide the most appropriate communication modality or modalities.

At 8:36, Dr. [Redacted] began discussing the five specific communications modalities: American Sign Language (ASL), cued speech, signed exact English, sim-com, and pidgin signed English.

The lecture was presented in clear, engaging manner. Dr. [Redacted] showed several brief videos demonstrating these communication modalities. During the lecture, Dr. [Redacted] effectively varied the tone and pitch of [pronoun redacted] voice to gain and maintain attention and effectively used gestures and movement to emphasize important points. The lecture was delivered in a clear and organized manner, with appropriate visuals so students were able to readily understand the salient features of each modality.

At 8:56, I scanned the room and noted several students (about 25%) who seemed to be losing some degree of focus on the lecture as evidenced by looking around the room or engaging (one student) in non-class computer activity. At this point, Dr. [Redacted] asked a content-related question about a recent ASL Club meeting, “Who was at ASL Club when Priscilla was there?” This simple question and the ensuing brief anecdote seemed to be effective in reengaging all students with the lesson. From this point on, Dr. [Redacted] asked multiple questions as part of the lecture which seemed to keep students engaged for the rest of the class period. At 9:08, Dr. [Redacted] stimulated excellent class engagement while discussing the positives of exact signed language, by asking, “What question am I having [about exact signed language]?” to which a student immediately responded, “Why doesn’t everyone use it?”  Dr. [Redacted]’ responded, “”What do you think?” which led to an excellent three minute back and forth discussion about the positives and potential negatives of exact signed language. Dr. [Redacted] ended this discussion with an affirmative, “I love this!”

End of Class

At 9:14, Dr. [Redacted] ended the class with an overview of the next class topic and a brief video snippet of a TED talk, made as an adult, by the same little girl as in the opening “Sound and Fury” video. This appeared to stimulate interest in the upcoming class topic and served as a satisfying “full circle” conclusion for the day’s lesson. After class ended, Dr. [Redacted] remained in the classroom and visited with two students who had questions.

Specific Observations based on Pre-Observation Meeting

In the Pre-Observation meeting, Dr. [Redacted] specifically asked that I watch for any potential hints of personal bias as [pnoun redacted] discussed each communication modality and my impressions of whether students reacted in a way indicating they picked up on any personal bias. As a non-expert, I found the presentation to be balanced with Dr. [Redacted] discussing both the positives and negatives of each modality. [pronoun redacted] indicated the modality (or modalities) to be used depending on the preferences of the client (and client’s family) in consultation with the speech language pathologist. [pronoun redacted] emphasized this was why it was important for students to be able to use more than one modality. Dr. [Redacted] was passionate in [pronoun redacted] declaration that, “When I see an academic environment using sim-com I am cringing.” [pronoun redacted] then followed up with reasons why sim-com was not appropriate in an academic environment. These reasons seemed logical and valid. The students seemed to accept this as an expert judgment about the suitability of a specific method in a specific context as opposed to bias on Dr. [Redacted]’ part.

Strengths and Suggestions

Dr. [Redacted] clearly has great rapport with students and has their respect. The class was conducted in a business-like but friendly manner that was very conducive to student participation and learning. It was apparent that Dr. [Redacted] has a high degree of credibility with [pronoun redacted] students. The fact that [pronoun redacted] knew and used student names throughout the class helped maintain student focus and helped build rapport. In addition, [pronoun redacted] use of situational, non-offensive humor also contributed to gaining and maintaining student attention. For example, in discussing student preferences for communication in everyday life, [pronoun redacted] said, “So you are all texting, nobody calls on the phone. Who calls on the phone?” [Several hands go up.] OK, so show me wrong!” This lightened the tone of the class and elicited smiles and quiet laughter from the students.  Again, a sign of a positive classroom dynamic.

The discussion at the beginning of class was especially well-planned and conducted. The level and quality of student participation clearly indicated students had done the required outside reading and were fully invested in discussion of the content. Dr. [Redacted] did an excellent job of encouraging and briefly touching bases with each discussion group, keeping students on task and providing opportunities for personal interaction. Requesting 2-3 groups to report out their discussion on each of the four discussion questions allowed all groups to contribute to the class, while conserving class time.

Dr. [Redacted]’s lecture presentation was logically organized, used excellent graphics and well-selected brief videos, and was delivered in an expressive manner which helped to gain and maintain student attention. As  a non-expert in the subject matter, I was easily able to follow the flow of the lesson and see the relationship between the pre-class reading, the small group discussion and reporting out, and the lecture content. Dr. [Redacted] did a very good job of concluding the lesson and provided an excellent overview of the topic for the next class period.

Overall, this was an excellent class session, conducted in an expert manner, by an outstanding teacher. I have just a couple of observations and questions Dr. [Redacted] may wish to consider.

Despite your very expressive lecture style, at any one time, approximately one-half of the students tended to be looking at the pre-posted slides on their computers instead of focusing on you or the projection screen. Thus, they missed many of your gestures that emphasized important points and, more importantly, your example use of the manual communication modalities. Given the effectiveness of your presentation style, would it be worthwhile to consider what you pre-post in order to encourage students to focus more on you during the lesson?

Your use of questions and discussion during the lecture portion of the class was very effective in regaining student attention and engagement. Would planned questions or short discussion prompts every 10-12 minutes during the lecture be worth considering in maintaining this high level of attention and engagement throughout the lecture?

Dr. [Redacted], thank you very much for the opportunity to observe in your [redacted] class. I learned quite a bit about different communications modalities and picked up some great ideas about how to better use out-of-class readings and discussion in my own classes. I hope this has been a beneficial experience for you; I know I have certainly grown as a teacher by observing in your class!

Respectfully,

[Redacted]

TFSC Peer Observer