Teacher's Classroom Analysis

Analyzing Teaching Practice

• Analyzing videotapes of lessons from unknown teachers allows for critical scrutiny and interpretation not possible when discussing one's own or colleagues' practice.
• This analysis enables exploration of alternative appraisals, critical concerns, and discussion of teaching and learning.
• Archival records provide access to practice, allowing for close examination of multiple points in time, multiple sources of evidence, and collaborative analysis.

Collaborative Study of Teaching Practice

• A group of seven teachers from three elementary schools studied the writing of students from other schools to gain new insights into teaching and learning.
• They examined stories, journal entries, and math class writing, focusing on issues grounded in others' practice.
• This approach allowed them to bring their own experience, concerns, and responsibilities to the analysis.

Professional Development through Collaborative Inquiry

• Creating a common ground for individual teachers and groups to work together, compare thinking, and explore alternatives can facilitate a new kind of professional work.
• This approach centers professional inquiry in practice, using real artifacts, records, and events, enabling comparative perspectives on practice.
• It contributes to collective professional inquiry, allowing teachers to learn from others' practice and develop a deeper understanding of teaching and learning.

Honoring Differences in Teaching

• Teachers need to suspend habitual notions that presume sameness and appreciate distinction, requiring the capacity to bridge social and ethnic gulfs.
• Teachers must connect with their students, seeking common ground and expecting all students to learn, without differentiating expectations.
• Teachers bring their own experiences based on race, class, gender, and culture, which can be both a resource and liability in relating to students.

Developing Ideas about Learning

• Teachers need to examine longstanding beliefs and assumptions about learning, including what it means to learn and how to facilitate learning.
• Questions to be explored include: What is the relationship between learning and fun? Do children learn best in bite-sized pieces? How do differences among learners affect how they learn?
• Teachers need to know pedagogy and have a repertoire of ways to engage learners effectively, adapting modes in response to students' needs.

Analyzing a teacher's classroom lesson videotape facilitates critical scrutiny and interpretation, allowing exploration of alternative appraisals and critical concerns that might be difficult to discuss within one's own workplace.