I recently recorded myself meeting with a teacher for a follow up conference to an observation I had conducted in his classroom. I reviewed the recording immediately following my conversation with "Mr. Jones". I appeared very relaxed and smiled a lot throughout our discussion. As he spoke, I wrote down comments of note. There was an informal feel to the conversation that established a connection as colleagues, not as one of evaluator. I started by sharing that I had really enjoyed the Science lesson he had conducted. As he spoke about what he felt went well, I validated his responses by giving specific examples of student behavior that illustrated his comments.
We discussed the questions I had planned, but I did not bring up all three of the lesson suggestions I was going to make. In fact, I only addressed one issue regarding the importance of assigning roles to students when they work cooperatively. I saw in the video that he had a physical response to this suggestion. His shoulders slumped and he ducked his head a bit. He explained that he used to have name tags he would hand out to students to identify their role as reporter, recorder, leader or materials manager. He did not know where they were, but agreed that he should use them again. Knowing that my pointing this out somewhat discouraged him, I decided then not to discuss the other two items I had on my list. Had I not intentionally thought about Mr. Jones’ personality and learning style ahead of time, I am quite certain I would have plowed ahead with my plan to make all three of the recommendations. I knew there would be a better opportunity to discuss that with Mr. Jones.
Completing the full clinical cycle of teacher observation with Mr. Jones solidified my belief that effective professional development and supervision of teachers requires a multifaceted approach. Just as students need differentiated instruction, self-directed learning opportunities and experiences with both formative and summative assessments, teachers, as life-long learners, deserve the same. Supervisors must understand the personality and teaching style of the educators in their building. Knowing which Clinical Language to speak can go a long way in truly communicating what the teacher needs to hear (Pajak 2003). Supervisors should offer opportunities for teachers to learn in a variety of settings, taking into account the learning style, time constraints and interest level of the staff. Pairing new teachers with teacher leaders is a non-threatening way for inexperienced educators to learn new strategies and be reflective. Additionally, frequent, informal, non-evaluative classroom visits by the administrator can create a climate of trust where teachers feel comfortable identifying their struggles and asking for feedback.
Evaluative experiences should be structured in a way that invites the teacher in to the conversation and validates them as professionals. Co-planning lessons, co-creating the observation tool and designing a meaningful follow up conference can make the formalized observation experience less threatening and more effective for the teacher. Throughout the process, educators and leaders must not forget the ultimate goal: increased student achievement.
