Now that you have a completed TIM profile for the lesson from either the question-based or matrix-based method, it’s time to add comments and document links, and preview your observation. You can also download a PDF of the observation or email it to the teacher you’ve observed.
Figure 1. A completed lesson profile. On the menu, you’ll see links for Notes and Comments, Document Links, and Observation Preview.
A decision is sometimes made at the school or district level to record additional information about observed lessons. Perhaps the district wants to capture whether the Internet or a particular piece of technology is used in each observed lesson. Or the district might want to use each observation as an opportunity, for example, to document the extent to which a particular online service is used so that decisions may be made around extending or terminating a subscription. Since this is an open text field, any sort of additional data may be collected in conjunction with an observation. If some sort of standardized format is used in the text (e.g., “VidService=yes” or “VidService=no”), it will be fairly easy to search all published observations to collect the data.
There are three sources that will help an observer when it comes to writing constructive comments that will benefit the teacher.
1. My Notes on This Observation. Many observers find it’s easier to take rough field notes than try to write up finished comments in the field, particularly on a handheld device. If you don’t have to worry about spelling or complete sentences, you can keep your focus on the lesson. Perhaps you prefer to enter the final Comments at your desk where you have a full-sized keyboard. Anything you’ve entered into My Notes on this Observation is visible only to you. You may want to take notes to yourself about a follow-up observation or the sort of coaching you plan to implement.
Figure 2. Observation comments on left, rough notes on right.
2. Lesson Detailed Indicators. If formal comments are expected with each observation, you may wish to copy appropriate sections of text from the extended descriptors tab and paste them into the notes field to give yourself a head start on comment writing. Just be sure to click the Save Notes or Save Comments buttons as needed before you navigate away to the Indicators section.
3. My TIM-O Notes. Every observer has a separate My TIM-O Notes file available from the TIM-O menu. Since new observations open in a new tab, it’s easy to switch back and forth between the current observation and the My TIM-O Notes window. In addition to contact info, bell schedules, and other practical information you like to have with you when doing an observation, this is a great place to save some typical comments that you can copy here and paste into the Comments field of an observation. Whereas the My Notes on This Observation are your personal notes regarding that one observation, the My TIM-O Notes are available to you from any observation you’re working on so it’s the perfect place to store boilerplate text for comments.
Figure 3. An observer’s My TIM-O Notes. The observer has added the bell schedule, a few content links to recommend, the names of teachers awaiting observation, and a list of words the district is encouraging observers to use in comments.
Document Links allow the observer to link appropriate lesson artifacts to the observation. Links might point to an online plan for the lesson observed, a class website of student work, or lesson content posted to video or photo sharing services. You can link any number of documents to the observation. Each link should have a descriptive title and a complete URL. Just add the title in the Title field, the address in the URL field, and click the Add Link button. The system checks to make sure that the URL is properly formatted and will alert you if it is not. Links are saved automatically. Any link already added can be edited by typing directly in the text field, or removed by clicking the Remove Link button.
Figure 4. The observer has added one document link. Each time a new link is entered, it is added to the bottom of the list.
When you are finished with comments and links, select Observation Preview to see what your observation will look like. From this screen you can select the options to Download or Print PDF of Results or Email PDF to Teacher.
Figure 5. Left: Observation Preview screen displaying the TIM profile and comments. Right: Corresponding PDF.
An observation is NOT PUBLISHED until the observer publishes it. Each time you start an observation it is added to your Dashboard and listed as Not Published. If you started a dozen observations in a single day, they would all display in the Dashboard as Not Published. It is not until you toggle the Not Published / Published button that the observation is released to the system. Until then, only you are able to view the observation.