Teacherless Observation at LAS

LAS Educational Research is set to appear in a number of publications in the coming year based on the scholarship of several LAS faculty members.

Their latest article appeared this past week on page 44 of the RIPE Research Journal of the Ecolint Institute for Learning and Teaching (Geneva). The article reports on the occasional LAS practice of observing student learning during class when the teacher is not present. With this practice we hope to raise student awareness about their need to be responsible for their own learning. Read the article here.

Keri Porter, director of LAS Summer, and Marc Ott, head of school, co-authored the article with LAS Educational Research directors Paul Magnuson and Nicola Cosgrove.

Here's a sneak peak: 

"Leysin American School, which has focused on developing greater student agency for several years, recently trialled a different sort of classroom observation, called Teacherless Observations. The regular classroom teachers volunteered not to be in the classroom during a classroom observation. Instead, an observer (a physical education teacher and three administrators; the authors) sat in during the class, taking notes. The observers documented the student interaction using running records. Teachers were allowed to prepare their students in any manner they found appropriate, from no preparation at all to assigning specific roles and leaving a specific lesson plan to follow. The observers report on their own experience and the shared experience of the teachers. The discussion includes the interesting variants of preparation, observation, and student behavior during these teacherless observations, and suggests why such observations might be an interesting addition to professional development programs focused on developing student agency."

Read the full article here!