Task



		EDL725 : The Class : Data Collection : Task : Task

At Task

Researchers have found a strong link between students’ at task behavior and their learning. Consequently, it is useful to obtain data on whether students are actively engaged in a task during the lesson. Acheson and Gall are careful to point out that the teacher is the one who decides what constitutes being "at task." To an observer a student talking to another student in the back of the room may appear to be off task, but the teacher has indicated that working together at the book cart to find resources is okay and considered on task.

On Task Image

The simplest way to record data on a seating chart is to use "A" for at task and "B" for off task. Of course, you can always expand your legend to obtain more information i.e. "C" for talking, "D" for out of seat, etc.

At Task

On Task

This data can be used to indicate how well an entire class or an individual student attends to the task and for how long. By looking at the percentages, a teacher can examine what factors influence student engagement. Was there a substitute teacher in the class that day? Was it the day of Halloween? Was it before or after lunch? Was the instructional pacing too fast or too slow? Were the students given too much time or not enough for the seatwork required.

Percent

Look at the data and ask questions such as the following: How many students were on task at the beginning of the lesson? What were the others doing? When were all students on task? When the teacher or activity lost or gained student engagement, what was the teacher doing that may have been a factor? How many students were on task during closure? From these questions the teacher can process the situation and begin to identify potential changers needed his/her teaching or student seating.

By using a formula, you can determine the percentage of students on task for the entire lesson or for any given sweep.

What if you forgot to get a seating chart from the teacher before the observation? No problem. You can make your own even if you don’t know the students’ names. In fact, this may be necessary if the students are seated on the floor around the teacher or at tables scattered around the room. Indicate gender or some other characteristic of the student to guide subsequent analysis. List your coding letters and times of each sweep at the top of the paper.

You may be wondering how many sweeps are necessary to complete. There is no set number, but three to five should be sufficient. Try to break them up to see how many students are at task at the beginning, middle, and end of the lesson. You may also want to record what the teacher was doing at the time of each sweep. This may be useful for review and analysis later.

Sit in the front of the room facing the students. To gather data, look at each student for a few seconds each, determine if the student is engaged in learning that is appropriate according to the teacher, and record a letter code on the seating chart. Move on to the next student in a consistent pattern around the room and repeat the process. When you have looked at each student in the class, you have completed one sweep. It is not as easy as it sounds because of the many distractions in the room.

At task is clearly a powerful set of data since teachers are expected to actively engage students in the learning process either overtly or covertly. Most of the students must attend to the task most of the time if they are to meet this expectation.

To complete this Topic successfully, please complete the following activities in the order shown below:

icon VIDEO: At Task

Once you have completed these activities you should:

Go on to Teacher Movement
or
Go back to Data Collection Techniques

E-mail Dr. Gloria Smith at gjs8@jan.ucc.nau.edu
or call (480) 854-7673