This teaching method was implemented when we were consulted about a child who was struggling at multiple times in the school day. The team thought it would be beneficial to take data on the child's behavior and narrow down some possible triggers and times of day that the child had the most trouble coping with the tasks he needed to accomplish.
This method worked well because it did not disrupt the teacher's regular teaching. At first, some of the students noticed that I was in the room but they quickly forgot about me and continued with their routine. It also worked that I was able to go observe the student at multiple times and on different days. Going on different days allowed us to figure out that the student's educational day was greatly affected by which parent he was staying with that particular week. This is just one example of how critical it is to think about all the opportunities to take data and to critically analyze the data and use the information that is given.
Initially, the students paid attention to the teacher that was observing the class and were changing their behavior from the way they typically acted. However, it did not take the students very long to forget about the observer and to act the way that they typically act in the classroom.
In order to implement this teaching method effectively, the teachers must understand why they are observing and specifically what they are observing. Having a specific purpose in mind keeps the focus for the observations. The teacher that is teaching needs to make sure that they are continuing with routine like normal. If the teacher singles out or changes instruction because of the observer the data and observations will be scued or tainted.
This is a great teaching method to use when problems have arisen in the student's educational day and the team needs to collect data to determine what the problems are stemming from. It is also a great method to use if there are problems with off task verses on task behavior. These are just a few examples of types of observations that can be conducted, but overall this is a great method if any kinds of observations need to be made or data needs to be collected.