Jennifer Wilker NELA, Cohort III, #21 April 9, 2013 Pre-Conference #1 Clinical Supervision Assignment

With input from my principal, I chose to conduct my first observation round with a seasoned teacher. Mrs. Paynter has been in the teaching profession for twenty-one years and she is someone I have worked closely with for the past three years. The pre-conference was held in Mrs. Paynters first grade classroom a week prior to the observation date. I began the pre-conference by asking the following questions: how many students would be present during my observation? Were there any special circumstances or anything she would like me to pay special attention? I asked her to explain the learning activity(ies) I would be observing and the instructional strategies that she would be using? My final question was, how would the students be assessed? Mrs. Paynter gave clear answers along with examples when explaining the lesson she would be teaching on the day of her observation.

I felt the pre-conference went well. Mrs. Paynter seemed comfortable with me asking her questions and was eager to share with me her lesson plan she was going to use on the day of my observation. Mrs. Paynters demeanor helped me to feel comfortable asking her questions during the pre-conference as well. I am glad my principal encouraged me to begin my observation rounds with Mrs. Paynter. She was someone I was already comfortable with which made the pre-conference easier.

Post-Conference #1 I observed Mrs. Paynter on a Friday and conducted the post-conference on the following Tuesday. I began the conference by telling her that her lesson went well. I told her I observed how engaged her students were and thought showing the students pictures taken of them during the fieldtrip was a great idea to get their attention. I told her how I liked how she used her proximity in the room to keep student behavior in check and engagement high.

In the middle of her lesson she demonstrated how to write a good story by writing her own story on the board for the students to see and follow. I noticed, when I was circulating around the room to see student work samples, the students were coping off the board word-for-word what she had written. I asked her if she always modeled how to write a correct paragraph on the board and kept the sample on the board while the students worked? She stated that she normally modeled everything prior to having the students work independently. I asked her if she had problems with the students being original and coming up with their own stories? She stated she did have that problem with her lower students but not her high students. I asked her if she had ever thought about trying to see what her students could come up with without her first modeling the story writing on the board? She said she was afraid that her lower students would not be able to do the writing assignment without a sample to guide them. I suggested during one lesson she try to see what the students were capable of before giving them a sample to follow.

Reflection of the First Observation Cycle I feel that my first observation cycle went smoothly only because of the person I was observing. While I was observing I felt so overwhelmed because I had this lengthy observation form to follow and I was trying to take notes and watch the students all at the same time. I felt clueless and completely loss. I was also having difficulty knowing what to mark on the sections that I could not observe during just one observation; such as all of standard one and five. After clarification from class, I understand that when doing an observation I can focus on a single standard and not try to observe all of the standards. I feel that this will make the next observation cycle easier.

I conducted my post-observation as a summative evaluation and marked her on standard one and five from my knowledge of the type of teacher she is and by knowing her professionally. I know now that I was wrong by doing so and feel that my next post-conference will be more effective because I will correctly do an observation and not an evaluation. Looking back on the first observation cycle, I am grateful I had the opportunity to begin the observe cycle with someone I was close with professionally. I feel that she will not hold my shortcomings and lack of observation experience against me.

Pre-Conference #2 I choose to do my second observation cycle on a teacher who is on my team, Ms. Carter. Ms. Carter teaches fourth and fifth grade reading at South Warren Elementary School. Following my first observation cycle I asked Ms. Carter if she minded if I observed one of her lessons with the fourth grade and she agreed. The pre-conference was held on Wednesday, two days prior to the agreed upon observation date, and took place in Ms. Carters classroom. I used the same NC DHHS Teacher Evaluation Process Pre-Observation form that I used during my first preconference with Mrs. Paynter. I asked Ms. Carter the same questions as I did Mrs. Paynter during the first cycle.

After Ms. Carter explained the lesson I would be observing, I told her I would be focusing on Standard II during the observation. I asked her if she had any questions to which she answered, no.

Post-Conference #2 Ms. Carters observation was very difficult due to behavior problems from the students. I decided to use the plus delta technique explained to the Cohort during class one Saturday. After school on the day of the observation, I asked Ms. Carter if she would do a plus delta of how she felt the lesson with her students went. I explained that we would use the plus delta during our postconference, which was scheduled for Monday.

After the students had left the building on Monday, I went to Ms. Carters classroom to conduct the post-conference. I began by asking her to refer to her plus delta chart I had asked her to complete. She explained she did not have time to put it on paper but had thought a great deal about the process. I asked her to write on her white board what she thought went well in her lesson. She began by stating the students were very engaged, which she thought was apparent by the amount of talking they were doing. She said she thought the students gave very insightful answers during the scaffolding portion of her lesson and when she graded the worksheets the majority of the students passed.

Once she finished writing her plus column on the white board, I asked her about certain things that had happened during her lesson. I began by referring to student engagement under the plus column and asked her to explain what happened when her assistant had to stop her from teaching so the assistant herself could speak to the class about being disrespectful while the teacher was talking? She explained that her assistant, Ms. Clanton, was responsible for the students behavior while she was in front of the classroom teaching. I asked her if she was aware of the students throwing pencils and paper at each other and toward the blinds while she was teaching? She stated

the students were very crafty at misbehaving behind her back and she would never be able to do any teaching if she was always dealing with behavior problems. I followed up the discussion with revisiting the student behavior under the plus column and asked her to reflect on what truly engaged students look like? I noticed she was becoming quiet so I told her we would come back to student engagement later.

Next, I focused on her second plus, student achievement. I asked her if she had a system in place to ensure she was giving every student a chance to answer? She explained she only calls on the students who know how to behave in class. At that point I shared with her strategies I use with those students in my own class. I explained that I use a system called Cold Call in my classroom where the students have no idea who I am going to call on to answer. I randomly draw sticks with the students names on the sticks so it will be fair and everyone must pay attention because no one wants to be called on to give an answer and not know what is going on.

After we had discussed her plus column, I asked her to identify areas in her lesson that could use improvement. Ms. Carter identified student behavior as an area for improvement. I agreed with her that the behavior was an issue, however I explained how I thought the student behavior was a side effect to

the real problem, student engagement. I told Ms. Carter that I had found when I have true student engagement in my classroom that alone will take care of most issues dealing with student behavior. I shared with her seven strategies proven to improve student engagement from the book, Teach Like A Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students On The Path To College, and asked her to review the strategies and choose one she would like to try in her class. She agreed to read the strategies and choose one to implement in her classroom by next week. I told her the ones I liked the best and used quiet often and assured her that she could come to me if she had any questions or concerns about any of the strategies.

After we had discussed the plus delta chart, I gave her a copy of my observation on Standard II. I asked her to read what I had scored her and why and asked if she had any comments? She took a few minutes to read over my notes and my rating of her lesson. After she was finished looking over the observation form she said she did not have any questions because of our prior conversation.

After the formal post-conference, I thanked her for allowing me to observe her lesson. I also extended an offer for her to come to my classroom and observe how I use the student engagement strategies that I learned from the

book I let her borrow. She thanked me for the book and the suggestions and we agreed to meet the following week to discuss the strategy she would implement in her classroom to help boost student engagement.

Reflection on the Second Observation Cycle I am so glad we were given the idea to have the person we observe do a plus delta chart and begin the post-conference with their feelings of how they did as opposed to the observers viewpoint of their performance. I did not feel quite as lost during this observation as I did the first. Focusing on one standard as opposed to the entire evaluation tool made it easier because I had a clearer picture of what I was looking for.

Even though my strategies were more efficient during the second observation cycle, this cycle was MUCH harder than the first. I think the second observation was harder because I had more emotions invested in the audience I was observing. I also had built up emotions that I had never dealt with, with the second teacher I observed.

I use to feel like I would be overstepping my boundaries if I confronted Ms. Carter about the way she spoke to the students, or her lack of classroom discipline. When I would hear the way she talked to students I wanted to say,

Do you hear the way you are talking to the students? No wonder they do not respect you, you do not respect them! How would you feel if someone spoke to your children the way you are speaking to these children? Now I realize I had those feelings because our team was lacking a key ingredient, relationships. With relationships true teams are formed. Teams build trust among their teammates and feel comfortable giving/getting constructive criticism and offering/asking for help.

After the observation cycle, I feel more comfortable going to Ms. Carter and asking if she would like to brainstorm some discipline strategies or mutual respect strategies that she could use with the students. I had to put away my critical judgment and the mental models that I had created in regards to Ms. Carter in order to work more efficiently as a team. If I had continued silently judging and criticizing without offering any support to my team member, the students would have paid the ultimate price. At this point it is not my job to criticize or evaluate another teacher, however it is my responsibility to offer help to a fellow teacher when the need arises.