Observation Skills for Effective Teaching

The fifth edition of Observation Skills for Effective Teaching focuses on one of the principal means by which you can become an effective and professional teacherâ by observing others and incorporating the best of what you see and hear into you own practice. You will learn to observe in the following eight areas: learning climate, classroom management, lesson clarity, instructional variety, task orientation, student engagement, student success, and higher thought processes. These eight areas have been found by researchers to be related to desirable cognitive, social and emotional outcomes in learners.

Gary Borich grew up on the south side of Chicago, where he attended Mendel High School and later taught in the Chicago suburban school system of Niles. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University, where he was director of evaluation at the Institute of Child Study before joining the faculty of the College of Education at the University of Texas. He has been a member of the Board of Examiners of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and is the author or coauthor of Effective Teaching Methods, 5th Edition; Authentic Assessment in the Classroom; Educational Testing and Measurement, 7th Edition; Educational Psychology: A Contemporary Approach, 2nd Edition.; Clearly Outstanding: Making Each Day Count in Your Classroom; and Becoming a Teacher: An Inquiring Dialogue for the Beginning Teacher. Dr. Borich lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife (who is a schoolteacher) and two children.

Contributor Debra Bayles Martin received her Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin and was formerly an Associate Professor in the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University. She is author of Bridges: Activity Guide and Assessment Options for Effective Teaching Methods, 5th Edition.