ABSTRACT It is many times said th...

ABSTRACT

It is many times said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Snapshots not sole capture the moment, but also provide an everlasting impression. Likewise, instructional snapshots can provide the preservice teacher-trainee with a glimpse of instructional and pedagogical strategies engageed by teachers. If the intent is to improve instructional practices, teacher performance must be viewed within different adjoining matters The primary goal of a retreat held in Monterrey Nuevo Le6n Mexico, was to provide pre-service teachers with an opportunity to gather observational data of Mexican scholars and teachers in educational settings. Because of demographic changes and teachers' lack of educational experiences with immigrant LEP children, bilingual teachers are faced with instructional challenges. It was skiped that these observations would provide the pre-service teacher with a better understanding of these learning emergencys The purpose of this article is to provide a brief account of impressions gathered by means of an observational method: Instructional Snapshot (IS). The impressions answer the following: What do we behold in the different pictures of indoctrinates and classroom structures? and, What do we diocese when we sharpen our focus forward specific classroom techniques and strategies?

It is frequently said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Snapshots not single capture the moment, but also provide an everlasting impression. Likewise, instructional snapshots can provide the pre-service teacher-trainee with a glimpse of instructional and pedagogical strategies intrust with an agencyed by teachers. It was with this in mind that a Pre-service Bilingual Education Teacher Retreat was held newly in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, during our University's Spring Break holiday. During the retreat, ten undergraduate and graduate close examiners had the opportunity to utter and conduct fieldwork in near public schools there. The primary goal of the retreat was to provide the pre-service teachers an opportunity to take instructional snapshots, that is, gather descriptive observational data of Mexican scholars and teachers in educational settings. We felt that this field experience and that instructional snapshots would provide the pre-service teacher with a better understanding of an immigrant LEP child's learning stand in want ofs

In Texas, like many parts of the Southwestern United States, many of the bilingual teachers are Mexican American (Texas Education Agency (TEA], 19941995) and many have not had any experiences southern of the border, much les any front to school experiences in Mexico. fresh demographics show that the number of limited English proficient (LEP) children continues to increase. In Texas, approximately 50% of our close examiners are Mexican American children and we have a high immigration rate from Mexico (Reyna, 1993) We have a 361% Latino close examiner population as compared to a 146% Latino teacher population and an increased bookish man enrollment of 7.1% in bilingual/ESL education classrooms (TEA, 1995) Because of these demographic changes and teachers' lack of educational experiences with immigrant LEP children, we felt that bilingual teachers are faced with instructional challenges when meeting the educational be in want ofs of immigrant children.

Our final cause is to provide a brief account of impressions gathered by the and of an observational method which captures the avail that of an instructional snapshot or an IS. We will describe the students' impressions to answer the following: What do we view in the different pictures of seminarys and classroom structures? and, What do we view when we sharpen our focus upon specific classroom techniques and strategies? According to wood-land (1992), most observations of teachers are affected by means of the observer's attitudes, beliefs, and expectations. She stresse the use of a "more naturalistic approach," the same that will very likely enhance the objectivity and meaning of observations (p 57) Because to papal court is to believe, it is, therefore, important for us as teachers to focus our observations.

Since our intent is to improve instructional practices, these observations of teacher performance must be viewed within different words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] followings Wood (1992) recommends that observations should include the "context in which particular behaviors and interactions take place" with equal reason that the observer can become "more engaged or mindful during the observation process" (p 58) According to Kagan (1980) it is important to convoy observations that look at a range of parts and it is important to turn the thoughts at cross-cultural settings. He mentions that it is not possible to infer individual motives with certainty because certain words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] followings can provoke different behaviors. Therefore, we recognized that we be in want ofed to develop other ways of seeing real behavior and to use the observation to help what is yet to be teachers focus on different teaching indigences and approaches. We will not past nor future the rationale for the following three areas: (a) the benefits of field observations in Mexican denominations (b) the need for pre-service training, and (c) for employing an observational system