Chapter Eighteen - Additional Resources

Observational field notes on assessment situations

26 February 2003

Class: Form Four students
Lesson: Mathematics
Time: 10.50 – 11.45
Topic: Pythagoras’s theorem
Number of students: 46

Seating: the teacher is at the front of a class which is set out in rows of single desks.

10.50: teacher arrives in the class

10.55: class settles, all the books are ready and the class is quiet

10.56 teacher explains that the lesson is going to be in two parts, the first part will be to explain a little bit more about Pythagoras’s theorem, and the second part will be a test of the previous night’s homework.

11.00: teacher draws a right-angled triangle on the whiteboard, with sides of 30, 40 and 50 cms length each and then constructs three squares, using each side of the triangle one side of each of the three squares. She then works out the calculation of the area of each square: 900 square cms, 1600 square cms and 2500 square centimeters. She adds 900 + 1600 (the sum of the squares on two sides) and makes that equal to the 2500 square centimeters of the hypotenuse. She write the formula to show that the sum of the squares on two sides forming the right angle is equal to the sum of the square on the hypotenuse.

Many students are not really following very closely, and the teacher does not take any time to check if students are following or understanding. If the students are not following then that is their loss! The teacher uses a radio microphone and the volume of her voice is high. There is very little movement from either the teacher or the student. The teacher simply remains at the front of the class, draws, explains and writes. There are no questions and no student talk. Many students have their homework from the previous night in front of them, some of them have it on the desk, others just below the desk top so that it cannot be seen. Many of them are reading their homework and only half-following the lesson. Some of them have their eyes half-closed, trying to test themselves on their recall of the homework. Some of them, trying not to be seen, are putting their fingers in their ears to stop the noise of the teacher’s voice, so that they can revise for the test.

11.15: The teacher tells the students to copy down the diagram and the formula, and that it will be tested at the end of the week. The students copy down all the material from the whiteboard.

11.23: The teacher tells everyone that it is time to stop and that she will check that evening how many of them have not finished copying, and that those that have not will be in trouble the next day. There is a lot of hasty rushing to complete the copying down of the whiteboard material.

11.25: The teacher collects the books and distributes blank test papers.

11.30: The teacher gives oral instructions for the students to write down how to calculate the area of a triangle, from the previous homework. They must include the formula. The class is silent, and students are busy writing. It is clear that many students are finding it difficult to write in words. The purpose and contents of the test are not explained. It appears that such explanations are unnecessary as students seem to fall into the role without question or problems. They seem used to the format of the activity.

11.33: The teacher draws five triangles on the whiteboard, none of them right-angled triangles, and marks the length of each side of each triangle. She tells the students to write down the area of each triangle. There is some initial whispering in the class, which the teacher stops very quickly. Some students cheat by looking at private papers, others have clearly written the formula on the palm of their hand. Some work fast and finish very rapidly and sit quietly; others only complete one or none of the tasks. Many students look very worried by the tasks; others seem complacent; others complete the task but seem not to care at all; the majority are expressionless. The class, overall, seems impassive in the situation, as if going through a ritual.

11.40. The test stops without warning. There is a sense of relief in the class, though they are silent. The teacher collects the papers and quickly comments harshly that [named male student] has not completed very much again. The class laughs; the boy in question tries to smile. The teacher indicates that those with a mark of less than sixty per cent will be in trouble.

11.44: The teacher sets more homework on calculating areas of triangles from the textbook, the answers to be written on their own paper, the books having been collected.

11.45: Class dismissed.