In many classrooms, the only time teachers experience someone observing their lesson is during evaluations. Evaluation visits can provide administrators with valuable information, but, unfortunately, rarely result in constructive feedback to teachers that help them iteratively improve their teaching. Often, the rubrics are too generally worded, not content-specific, or too grade-specific.
Instructional leaders, principals, and early math teachers express the need for a practical observation tool that looks at practices specific to math learning and can help structure professional development.
Over the last several years, the Vanderbilt team, as part of the COHERE project, has partnered with other researchers, instructional leaders, and teachers to develop an app that gives practitioners the structure they need to provide strong formative support to math teachers from Pre-K through elementary grades.
The DREME Math Observer app allows the user to focus on particular aspects of math practice. It reflects strengths and opportunities in teachers’ math practices and helps set goals with teachers in a safe, non-judgmental way.
The DREME Math Observer can be adapted to fit the needs of instructional leaders, principals, and early math teachers. Instructional leaders can use the app to target specific teaching practices as part of an ongoing coaching or learning process with individual teachers. A principal can use the app to do walkthroughs across grade levels and get a sense of broad patterns in practice at their school. An elementary level teacher can use the app in a colleague’s classroom to learn about new ways to implement a math task. This learning tool provides relevant and timely information about what goes on during a math lesson.
The app is divided into different math teaching and learning practices that the user chooses. Unlike other common observation rubrics, these practices are clearly defined and supported by short example videos and other resources embedded right in the app, so the user can be sure to know “what counts.” The practices are all supported by innovative research centered on what matters in early math teaching and learning. The practices align with the Common Core Mathematical Practices and the NCTM Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices.
There are many useful features in the app to help the user record and reflect on what they observed. For example, the user can collect and summarize notes, track which parts of the lesson were most engaging, record photos of unique strategies, and track trends over time. After each lesson, there are guiding questions based on what was observed, so that the teacher can build on the great practices they are already doing and brainstorm with the observing practitioner about new things to try.
The DREME Math Observer is easy to use across a personal mobile device or on a tablet. It is easy to drop in to see how a math lesson unfolds and then to track everything in one convenient place.
Downloading and using the app are free. It will give teachers the professional development boost they deserve and help schools become exciting places for math learning!
https://apps.apple.com/ng/app/dreme-math-classroom-observer/id6443436386
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.drememobile&hl=en
