observational lenses

The article “lenses For Observing” was a basic overview of what to look for when observing a classroom. It probably gave most of us a bit of comfort in understanding what is expected in our observation session. It was nice finally to see an education article that took into account observer biases. It also did a decent job of boiling the issues at hand down to something that still seems believable and relevant. In my experience with writings on education I often feel that many authors oversimplify to the point of their arguments not being very believable. It is almost as if many of these authors forget that teachers are dealing with complex human beings. There seems to be great trust in and worshiping of various research in the field without much acknowledgement of how complex human interactions and relationships are. It would be nice to get away from so many simple prescriptions for oversimplified human relationships. This article is a start in the fact that it reminds the reader how complex a classroom can be and urges the reader to observe with a grain of salt since most human relationships and interactions one sees in the classroom are not very simple or clear.

Roger