Course Description:
Pembina Trails School Division (PT) employs two distinct paths within its professional growth model with the intent of best addressing the needs and abilities of both novice and experienced teachers. The professional learning model is designed for all educators, while the performance assessment is designed primarily for teachers who are new to the division or to the profession. The formal assessment process in PT is quite similar to a conventional clinical observation process, which involves a pre-conference, a planning conversation, observations, and a post-observation conversation. This process is required to be completed for teachers who are new to the division.
To complement this performance assessment, I am interested in applying Marshall’s mini-observation system with my 5 new teachers who need to be formally evaluated this year. Marshall’s process involves the principal observing in classrooms often, through regular unannounced visits, for short periods of time. These visits are followed by brief, casual face-to face conversations with the teachers, where key points, questions or clarifications can be shared. These conversations are then followed-up by a concisely written follow-up comment. Marshall refers to mini-observations as “an artful blend of supervision, coaching, and evaluation” (Marshall, 2013, p. 81).
I am also interested in applying the skills and concepts of Learning-focused Interactions, Structured Conversations and Invitational Inquiry by Lipton and Wellman (2013) when meeting with the teachers about my observations. This school has maintained a stable staff for well over a decade so there has been little need for teacher supervision and evaluation. With a third of the staff being new to the school, and division, supportive teacher supervision will be an important factor in maintaining the high standard of excellence that our school provides to our school community.
Campus Supervisor: Dr. Cathryn Smith
Spring 2020
To complement this performance assessment, I am interested in applying Marshall’s mini-observation system with my 5 new teachers who need to be formally evaluated this year. Marshall’s process involves the principal observing in classrooms often, through regular unannounced visits, for short periods of time. These visits are followed by brief, casual face-to face conversations with the teachers, where key points, questions or clarifications can be shared. These conversations are then followed-up by a concisely written follow-up comment. Marshall refers to mini-observations as “an artful blend of supervision, coaching, and evaluation” (Marshall, 2013, p. 81).
I am also interested in applying the skills and concepts of Learning-focused Interactions, Structured Conversations and Invitational Inquiry by Lipton and Wellman (2013) when meeting with the teachers about my observations. This school has maintained a stable staff for well over a decade so there has been little need for teacher supervision and evaluation. With a third of the staff being new to the school, and division, supportive teacher supervision will be an important factor in maintaining the high standard of excellence that our school provides to our school community.
Campus Supervisor: Dr. Cathryn Smith
Spring 2020
Reflection:
Cathryn and I had set out the expectations for me as I would complete the supervision and evaluation requirements for five novice teachers from February to June. I wanted to create templates or checklists that I could share with teachers and used for focused observations and then conversations.
I spent the first several weeks focusing on supporting teachers with classroom management strategies. This seemed to be the biggest challenge for new teachers. I wanted to support them by helping them put in place routines and procedures that would help students be more independent in self-management. Based on prior experience and classroom observations, I had created a classroom management checklist for me to use when I am observing in a classroom. This checklist was shared with teachers in advance so they knew what I was looking for when I was in the room. I was pleasantly surprised at how this simple checklist helped me focus in order to provide specific feedback. This, in turn, led to more learning-focused conversations that dealt with one specific area. I was excited to see where this course would take me! Of course, we had no idea that remote learning would suddenly throw a wrench into this process.
Once remote learning was suddenly required, Cathryn and I discussed whether or not I could continue with my plan, and we decided that it would be possible for me to continue with minor adjustments to allow for virtual learning. It turned out that this online learning opportunity gave me insight into those teachers that I don't think I would have seen in the actual classroom.
It was fascinating to be able to see these five teachers in a different light. Two of the teachers who were having challenges with classroom management were finally thriving in their online teaching practices. Lessons were engaging, well-organized and thoughtfully scaffolded. It was now apparent in their lessons that they loved teaching. Students were engaged and learning.
The most significant learning for me in this course resulted from the change in practice due to the switch to remote learning. Because teachers were working from home, the learning-focused conversations and debriefing discussions needed to be done virtually. With permission, I was able to record these conversations and watch them at a later time. These videos were powerful. I took note of the use of my words, voice and body language. I was able to assess my use of pausing and paraphrasing and watch for improvement as future meetings were recorded. These videos gave me the ability to self-reflect like never before. I could see the things that I missed the during the actual conversation when I was focused on what I was saying - I could now notice the subtle facial expressions in the teachers as I spoke.
I am thankful for the opportunity to grow and develop my supervision and evaluation practices. I believe my learning will allow me to better support teachers as they begin their career in education.
I have attached three of my checklists that I created and used with my novice teachers during this course. The checklists were edited after teacher input. I plan to continue to develop more ways to facilitate formative and supportive supervision.
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