Clinical Supervision

 Before I begin to discuss this reflective piece focused on my clinical supervision I would like to define what supervision means and how it relates to teaching and learning. According to DiPaloa and Hoy (2008), “The purpose of supervision is to work cooperatively with teachers to improve instruction, it is to engage with teachers in the study of the processes of teaching and learning, (p. 82). This can only be achieved if supervision is long- term and continuous and is done through collaboration, reflection and cooperation.

Supervision serves multiple purposes however, I believe the main goal of supervision is to allow a teacher time to reflect and be committed to improving classroom and practice over a long period of time. According to Glickman et al, “ the observations obtained should be used as a base of information to create an instructional dialogue between supervision and teacher.”  However, for this to occur there needs to be a protocol that can be followed. Greene, in the article titled Teacher Supervision as professional development: does it work, identified eight phases for clinical supervision, “establishing a relationship, planning with the teacher, planning for observation, observing instruction, analyzing the data from the observation, planning for the conference conducting the conference and renewing the initial planning, (p 132).

Most importantly, it is important that principals acquire and skills necessary to give effective feedback. To become an effective leader of leaders a principal must be trained in sharing, facilitating and guiding decisions about instructional improvement (DiPaloa and Hoy (2008 p. 83). Principals need to establish a school culture where professionals can be open and honest with each other, where principals and teacher work together to foster teaching and learning and both parties are satisfied.

Pre-Observation Conference

The pre-observation conference is the place where the principal or administrator sits with the teacher and helps the teacher clarify the logistics of the lesson. According to Jorissen (2006), “ pre-observation conference fosters dialogue and communication, reduces the teacher’s anxiety, and gives the teacher a change to conceptually rehearse the lesson” (p. 24). This opportunity should be more of a reflective one as the teacher walks through the plan and assess whether there is “clear flow”. Moreover she goes on to state that this opportunity, “ gives the principal a sense of how the teacher sees the impending lesson in the context of instructional objectives.” Instructional objectives provide for the teacher a sense of where the lesson is going, how it connects to student’s prior knowledge and connections to curriculum as a whole. Another item to look at during the pre-observation conference are learning targets. Learning targets differ from instructional objectives; instructional objectives are derived from content standards, written in teacher language, and used to guided teaching during a lesson or across a series of lessons, they are not designed for students but teachers (Moss et al, 2011, p 67).  On the other hand a learning target is good for only one lesson, describing the lesson’s unique learning intention: why we are asking our students to learn this chunk of content in this way on this day (Moss and Brookhart) Learning targets contains the immediate aim for the lesson.

The second aspect of a pre-observation is to discuss what instructional strategies will be used. Instructional strategies are the different approaches that a teacher might take to achieve the learning targets for the class. Instructional strategies should activate students’ prior knowledge, engaged them in learning, keep them on task and foster their critical thinking skills. Instructional strategies are one of the elements of effective pedagogy and should be centered on the particular needs of students in the classroom. The third aspect of the pre-observation conference is the discussion around assessment of learning. During this time the discussion is centered what form of assessment will be used to check for student’s understanding of content and learning.             

Pre-Observation with Matt

Matt and I started by discussing what is the overall purpose of the lesson. He stated that the student’ finally project is an exhibition that addresses the essential question, “ Is Bronx River healthy to sustain life?”, therefore his lesson will be entered around the Water Cycle, the components and how it effect the ecosystem and biodiversity in a particular. He continued by stating that he will begin with a “Do Now” that will be student led, fostering critical thinking and discussions around the importance of water. He mentions that the lesson will have the students collaborating with each other and will conclude with a complex text where the students will respond to questions using google form after which the students will discuss their responses as a class as a whole. (summative response)

Matt goes on to mention that he will provide the students will multiple diagrams of the Water Cycle as he knows that some of his students will need simplified versions this will foster clear content understanding. It seems that the lesson is focused more on student discussions and questioning from the teacher. His overall objective is for students to use their prior knowledge of the pollution of the Bronx River, also connecting to The Lorax resulting from a destroyed ecosystem and the impact of water pollution on that.  In a nutshell, he identified the purpose of the lesson, how it connects to the big picture, what activities he will use, how he will engage the students and assess them. I mentioned that I would be using Kim Marshall SOTEL framework to assess his mini-lesson (Marshall 2009, p. 73)

Observation

Observations provide a clearer picture of what is happening in classroom, and the goal of the administrator is to describe what is observed, not to judge. There are multiple ways that a supervisor can make observations within the classroom. However, videotaping a classroom captures “the closest representative picture of actual occurrences” (Glickman et al p 243). I do agree with this method of recording what is happening in classrooms because it provides for the teacher, administrator and school a way of sharing the best practices and also means of providing effective feedback and necessary and effective support. 

Video taped lessons can be used during the post-observation conference. It also provide for the teacher and administrator time to reflect on the lesson, instructional strategies used and other classroom foibles.  

The role of the administrator is connected to the discussion and guidelines set out in the pre-observation conference. According to Jorissen (2006), “ principals need to use the methods their district’s supervisions system requires or those more appropriate for the observation purposes they have agreed on with the teacher in the pre-observation conference.”  Administrators can be better prepared to provide effective feedback.  Using the videotaped lesson administrators can make sense of the information to prepare for the post-observation conference. According to Jorissen (2006), the collect data can include reflection on assessment, student writing, student products, and questioning”.

Videotaping and Assessing Matt’s Teaching

  As I reflect on the video- taping of Matt’s lesson the product showed what we discussed but also other interactions. This videotaped observation was done during 1^st period (8:45) in a 9^th and 10^th grade science and math class. There were 8 students on time and so he began by having a brief morning conversation with them. I began videotaping at 9:00am. Matt began with his “Do Now” and the students were all engaged and the discussion was centered around, “Hold old is the water that Matt has in his bottle?” Students responded by say 10 minutes old, however one student pointed out that water does not expire and that it is found in the ocean. The “Do Now” ended after five minutes and by then there were an additional five students in the class. At this moment Matt began his mini-lesson that was on the Water Cycle.  He began by activating their prior knowledge on the water cycle and asking them to draw what they already know about the Water Cycle. Many students began collaborating with each other and multiple vocabulary words emerged such as precipitation, condensation, evaporation and collection.

After about 10 minutes he redirected the class to the smart board and began by drawing the water cycle based on what he observed as he was circulating the classroom. There were two friends sitting far-left of the classroom and were engaging in other discussions not related to the lesson and Matt kept “calling” on them to respond to questions asked that were centered around the different components. This helped to keep them focus but only for a short period of time. After the sketching of the water cycle he distributed multiple/ different diagrammatic examples of the water cycle and prompted the students to write a respond as to “where do they think the water cycle begins”. Many of the students responded by suggesting evaporation, however one student stated that is no starting or ending point, all components depend of each other.

Matt continued the lesson by giving the students a Chapter (3) from “Reclaiming the River,” “Another Clean Up,” “The Amazing Bronx River Clean Up,” “Reclaiming a Natural Resource,” by Maarten de Kadt, The Bronx River: An Environmental and Social History. New York: The History Press, 2011. The students were already provided with questions using google form and they were asked to read and respond to the questions. Matt circulated the classroom and provided assistance and directions to the students.

Post-Observation Conference

The post-observation conference I believe is one of the most important aspects of any clinical supervision. According to Jorissen (2006), “ The post-observation conference is an excellent catalyst for teachers’ self-reflection and individual professional growth.” However for any post-observation conference to be successful, preparation is important, in two aspects; questioning and feedback.

According to Feeney (2007), “ Feedback should have a positive impact on teacher growth and student learning.” There should be collaboration between administrators to establish professional goals that address student-learning outcomes. What this does is presents to teachers a clear focus with specific goals together with the necessary support. However, for effective feedback supervision needs to be connected to a framework/rubric. Moreover, teachers need to be able to read and comprehend the recommendations that are provided. In addition, administrators need to be well trained to provide teachers with effective feedback that will enhance teaching and learning in the classroom. Strategies should be suggested and time should be allowed for implementation, teachers should, “ collect and analyze student work to assess whether the strategy was effective in helping students meet the learning objective “ (p 194).

Post-Observation with Matt

Before I began my post-observation conference with Matt I decided to address four specific observations I made and to provide recommendations around that. One was related to the overall learning targets for the students, the lost of instructional time, providing clear procedures for students and providing with him a reading strategy. I began my post-observation conference with asking Matt to provide a holistic picture of where he wanted the lesson to go. He was very clear about the connections he wanted to students to make as they begin to write their exhibitions. However, I recommended that he provide those learning targets for the students because it was very clear that they were just following his lead. We discussed his interaction with the students as he circulated around the classroom and how proficient he was in facilitating their learning by answering questions and keeping students focused and on task. The students were all engaged and he definitely activated their prior knowledge.

During the mini-lesson, we discussed using the student’s work (as the diagram of the water cycle) rather than his drawing and he could have eliminated instructional time lost by having a student’s product on the smartboard. I also recommended that he provide the students with a vocabulary word wall as this will help. Thirdly, he needed to provide clear directions for the students as he was asking them to read the text and respond to the questions. I recommended that he use a strategy that he can use is reciprocal teaching which will provide support for students struggling with reading. I also recommended that he ask for student volunteer to read the title of the chapter and also have students predict what they think it will be about. Finally, we had a dialogue related to assessment and whether he thinks that the students had obtained the content that he was hoping for in his lesson. I recommended that he use an exit slip or a written summary in their science journal.

As mentioned using a performance rubric helps with quality feedback. The rubric used was communicated to Matt during the pre-observation conference and I believe that the feedback was meaningful.  Using Kim Marshall’s feedback I evaluated his lesson (see Table 1: SOTEL based on Matt’s Lesson)

Personal Critique

As I reflect on my role as a future administrator, I realized that during the process I was a bit nervous and sometimes unsure of how to be clear on the recommendations I was suggesting. I decided to meet with Matt in his classroom, as I felt that he would be comfortable to talk with me. In addition, I asked him to decide on a time that would best fir his schedule. We did not sit across the table but side by side because I though that he would also be more comfortable. We were polite and even shared a few jokes before the conference. Throughout the conference there was respect, listening, clarifying encouraging and reflecting as well as brainstorming of new ideas. This was collaboration.

However, there a few things that I would like to work on for instance I heard myself saying “I think” rather than “I recommend” and it made me question whether my recommendations would be taken seriously. Also, there were missed opportunities where I asked Matt to tell me the big picture and I recommended him sharing that with the class but I did not provide a format of what that can look like or some form of resource to give to him at that moment. Moreover as I was looking at the video I realized that I gesture a bit too much and that can be very distracting. Finally, it can be very overwhelming for a new teacher to be asked to fix a handful of things at one time therefore I would the next time only recommend two things and then check back and continue to work on the missing pieces. The two recommendations that I would suggest are having a clear picture for the class (Learning Targets) and to have a form of assessment.

Conclusion

 The goal of clinical supervision is to foster teachers’ learning skills, improving instruction and student learning. Principals should therefore support teachers in all aspects through collaboration, and being focused on teachers’ individual needs. Supervisors should work with teachers the same way teachers work with students. According to (DiPaola & Hoy, 2008), “Principals then become teachers of teachers, who induct, mentor, and coach teachers throughout their careers (p. 85).  Finally, once recommendations are made to teachers implementation and evaluation should be done and the outcomes should be looked at.

Bibliography

DiPaola, M. F., & Hoy, W. K. (2008). Principals Improving Instruction. New York: Pearson.

Feeney, E. J. (2007, March/April). Quality Feeback: The Essential Ingredient for Teacher Success. The Clearing House , 80 (4), pp. 191-197.

Glickman, C. D., Gordon, S. P., & Gordon-Ross, J. M. Sypervision and Instructional Leadership: A Developement Approach (Eighth Edition ed.). New York: Allyn & Bacon.

Jorissen, K. T. (2006). 3 Skillful Moves to assessment for the busy principal. Journal of Staff Development , 27 (1), 22-30.

Marshall, K. (2009). Rethinking Teacher Supervision and Evaluation (First Edition ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Moss, C. M., Brookhart, S. M., & Long, B. A. (2011, March). Knowing Your Learning Target. Educational Leadership , 66-69.