A building-level education leader applies knowledge that promotes the success of every student through a substantial and sustained educational leadership internship experience that has school-based field experiences and clinical internship practice within a school setting and is monitored by a qualified, on-site mentor.
ELCC Standard 7.0
Clinical Field Experience D: Beginning Teacher Observation and Feedback
I had the opportunity to work with a first year teacher, teaching an eighth grade algebra class. Mr. Mango is an enthusiastic new teacher who cares a lot about students being excited about content and at ease in his classroom. During the pre-conference I asked Mr. Mango to tell me about himself and his approach to teaching. I asked him to share his reflections with me regarding his observed areas of strength and growth, as well as current action steps with his current coach. He explained that he feels comfortable with lesson planning and content but that classroom management is a challenge. He further shared that he is working on building relationships with tier two students in his class and that he feels unsure of how to reset the whole group when they become distracted.
When I observed Mr. Mango’s class, I noticed that he was well prepared with his instructional materials and obviously excited about the upcoming lesson. His class began with lots of fast paced student behaviors that seemed to leave him frazzled and at a loss for how to respond. He executed a successful entry procedure and students entered and began working within the allotted three minutes. However, because voice level was not effectively addressed before entry, students continued to be escalated and talkative while working. This presented Mr. Mango with the challenge of resetting the voice level when the Do Now ended and he was ready to transition into his lesson. He was able to do this eventually, but had to use multiple attention getters and decrease his positive to negative ratio.
While teaching his lesson, Mr. Mango stayed at the front of his classroom, utilizing his computer, the projector and the whiteboard. After several minutes of his teacher talk time, students closer to the back of the classroom became distracted and audibly off task, which soon rippled throughout the classroom and lead to another reset by Mr. Mango. I also noticed during this time, students were expected to take notes along with him, but did not have any direct tasks that were observed by Mr. Mango.
In the post observation, I made three suggestions to Mr. Mango. First, I commended him for his enthusiasm and visible effort to establish rapport with students. I encouraged him to stand still and use a firm voice when resetting the voice level, before students enter the classroom to better prepare them to enter efficiently. The second suggestion I made to Mr. Mango was to circulate the classroom while teaching and utilize a supportive device like a hand held “clicker” or laser pointer to free him from the front of the classroom. I pointed out that this would help keep all students on task throughout the lesson due to his proximity. Finally, I suggested that Mr. Mango add some check for understanding questions into his lesson that students would be tasked to answer individually, or perhaps with a shoulder partner, to keep them engaged. He would easily be able to check their work, either visibly or with written feedback, while circulating the room.
These simple changes to his current practice will make him more effective and confident as a teacher, and allow students to gain access to the enthusiasm he
brings to his work regarding content. Harvard Graduate School of Education recommends that teachers “engage with students throughout the room both verbally and nonverbally. Making eye contact with students who are not front and center welcomes all students into the fold rather than the select few.Be expressive. Students are more likely to pay attention to instructors who employ vocal variation, humor, facial expression, movement, and gesturing. Plan your routes. Pick a couple of paths you might take in your classroom and consider how standing in those places might change the gaze and attention of your students” and perfectly captures Mr. Mango’s dilemma “although the physical setup of a classroom typically points toward a lectern or podium, moving around the space intentionally can send important nonverbal signals to students. In this video, Dan Levy describes how he rarely stays “tethered to the front of the room,” especially when trying to elicit participation, stimulate debate, or encourage a particular student to venture deeper on a particular point.”
References
5 monitoring techniques That DEEPEN student learning. Learning Sciences International. (2020, December 2). https://www.learningsciences.com/blog/five-monitoring-techniques-that-deepen-student-learning/.
Webster, J. (n.d.). 49 techniques from Doug Lemov's teach like a champion. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/techniques-from-teach-like-a-champion-3111081.
Circulating the room to elicit participation. Instructional Moves. (n.d.). https://instructionalmoves.gse.harvard.edu/circulating-room-elicit-participation.
Supervising and Coaching Special Education Teachers
While every classroom is different, as a leader preparing for a pre-observation meeting, there are general questions I would have of any classroom. The same is true of observing a special education classroom, though those questions, and their supposed answers would be different. Basic questions I would intend to ask a special education teacher in a pre-conference would include inquiry about what is going well in the class, what can they identify that needs improvement, and what area of their practice they are most interested in receiving feedback on. Along with these questions I would want an overview of the classroom composition to include the number of students, a profile of their IEPs, overall areas of strength and growth for them as individuals and as a class. Finally, I would want to know current action steps for all teachers in the room.
When seeking to learn about lessons I would be curious if students were working on the same material or if small groups or one to one instruction was used to differ their instructional blocks. I would want to know what accomodation were being provided to students both whole group, if applicable, and small group or one to one. I would expect the teacher to be able to share with me which students required accommodations like text to speech, additional time to answer, visual aid, and/or translation support. To assess how instruction is being differentiated, I would ask what the lesson objectives were for students, how their materials have been modified, and what their respective assessments would look like. Instructional goals set in IEP meetings would also be crucial information to have, as they would determine what differentiation was required. Learning more about these goals would of course reveal student’s respective areas of strength and growth. The teacher would ideally be able to share general information like student’s reading level and grade level achievement as demonstrated through assessment. I would expect them to be able to share exactly how instructional activities supported the development of student’s desired skill sets and what connection they have to plans devised by the team in IEP meetings. To better understand student’s tasks in context, I would like to know what the scope and sequence for the class looked like and where teachers were in quarterly progress. This would point to how current assignments are building on prior knowledge and building toward quarterly goals. Hopefully, in inquiring about the teacher’s areas of concern for the class we would note management struggles and reflect on the classroom management plan and how well it is working. Given the rapidly evolving needs of students with IEPs, it could be possible that management needs are shifting and teacher’s are working daily or weekly to adapt to keep students supported. Evidence of this I would look for would be posted reference information regarding behavioral goals, incentives and consequences. Overall, this process doesn’t differ too much from that of preparing for the observation of a general education classroom. Preparation requires focus on the same key components of a successful classroom, but in much greater detail.
References
30 classroom procedures to head off behavior problems. Scholastic. (n.d.). https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/30-classroom-procedures-head-behavior-problems/.
Cipriano, C., & Barnes, T. N. (2021, March 23). The observation of special education classrooms by school personnel. Learning Environments Research. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10984-021-09359-w.
Observations. Impact of Special Needs. (n.d.). https://impactofspecialneeds.weebly.com/observations.html.