Factors That Are Looked Into During Classroom Walkthroughs

By Janine Hughes


Teacher evaluation is an important factor that helps a learning institution develop their mode of teaching. Through the process they are able to gauge the performance of their students, relevant to how lessons are taught. Department heads schedules this activity from time to time without informing the teachers to get an idea on how they conduct their classes.

During this visit, they are to observe certain factors in the delivery of the lesson. They may or may not take down important points to remember. Classroom walkthroughs are done from time to time but institutions are not required to do it. It is never considered as a concrete way of evaluating teacher and student performance. When this procedure is done, here are the common things that are taken into account.

Behavior of the class. The way on how the class behaves reflects how well the teacher is handling them. This also includes the level of their participation. The more pumped up they are to participate the better.

Lesson content. Institution head feel the need to know about the content of the lesson that their faculty delivers. This does not only include the information found on textbooks but more like its application to the current industry as well. The mentors level of awareness to the things that are happening in his field is a good factor that he can share to his students through the daily lessons.

Methods of motivation. To start the class right, one needs to set the mood. The method employed by the teacher in starting the session and firing up the students interest on the lesson matters here. Observers are always on the lookout for a unique way in handling classes and those techniques that generate response from the participants.

Reading and writing comprehension. The observation process also covers how well the participants understand the writings on the board and how well they perform on their reading comprehension activities. This is an important determining factor to learn about the forte of the whole class and what mode of discussion works for them best.

Feedback mechanism. A teacher needs to be open to questions and should ask his students from time to time whether they have certain clarification. If there are, then he should be ready to address them. This fosters healthy interaction from both sides and participants will be more encouraged to ask if they know that their mentor is open to questions.

Professionalism. Of course, the overall bearing of the mentor matters. From his punctuality to his ability to handle the behavior of the class, his level of professionalism will be measured. This factor is important since participants are most likely to respect those mentors who show them a good example.

Despite the popularity of walkthroughs, there are various institutions that do not employ this method. There is nothing wrong with that. This mode is done as means to gather data and to know the areas of teaching that need to be improved. Those who manage to devise a different way in getting these information may do away with this procedure.




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