1. Doing Classroom Supervision Right SAM, Florida – Kim Marshall – January 30, 2015

2. Some mediocre practices
Teacher texting or doing during class
Going over bell work for the first 25 minutes
Round-robin reading
Teacher lecturing, students tuned out, heads down
Teaching while side conversations go on
The COPWAKTA syndrome
Accepting one-word answers and moving on
Low-quality worksheets, lots of dreary test prep
One-week delay getting work back to students
Finishing a class early and giving students “free time”
With all of these, the “Matthew Effect”

3. How much poor and mediocre teaching in your school?
A lot
Quite a bit
Here and there
Very little
None
Not sure
Answer Now

4. After hiring, what brings about continuous improvements in teaching?
A culture of purpose, possibility, and high expectations
Feedback, coaching, and support
Teacher teamwork planning curriculum units
Teacher teamwork analyzing student assessments
Effective professional development
Feedback from students
An effective evaluation process?

5. Huge differences in supervision and evaluation
Some supervisors visit every classroom every day.*
Some rarely leave their offices.
Some systematically observe and give feedback.
Some rely on an annual dog-and-pony show.
Some teachers are confident that their supervisor “knows what goes on in my classroom.”
Some teachers fear their supervisor doesn’t and dread the annual evaluation.

6. MINI-OBSERVATIONS
Supervisors having a way to see the daily reality of classrooms:
Unannounced
Frequent
Short
Systematic
Supervisors having a good eye for teaching and learning:
5. Humble
6. Perceptive and able to decide what’s most important
7. Keeping in mind teacher goals, unit plans, and data
An effective way to share insights with teachers:
Face-to-face
Courageous
Follow-up documentation

7. Are mini-observations being used in your school?
Yes, systematically with all teachers
Quite a lot, but not systematic
On a limited basis
Almost never
Answer Now

8. What might worry teachers about mini-observations?
What concerns would you predict (or have you heard)?
What push-back?
Rational and irrational
List as many as you can.

9. MINI-OBSERVATIONS
Supervisors having a way to see the daily reality of classrooms:
Unannounced
Frequent
Short
Systematic
Supervisors having a good eye for teaching and learning:
5. Humble
6. Perceptive and able to decide what’s most important
7. Keeping in mind teacher goals, unit plans, and data
An effective way to share insights with teachers:
Face-to-face
Courageous
Follow-up documentation

10. Supervisors can only evaluate accurately and intervene effectively if they are seeing teachers’ everyday practice, and they can do that only if their classroom visits are frequent, unannounced, brief, and systematic.

11. 1. Unannounced
This causes anxiety – a shift of focus with another adult
Fundamental attribution error – judging vs. understanding
But essential to getting an accurate appraisal of teaching:
“Trust but verify”
Honest quality assurance, believable praise and coaching
One more reason for teachers to bring their A game
Apple grant criterion…
But to be fair, unannounced visits must be…

12. 2. Frequent Sufficient sampling to see daily classroom reality.
Need to see different times of day, days of the week
Beginning, middle, and end of lessons
Different elementary subjects, different secondary classes
Enough for teachers and students to get used to visits
Enough to coach and praise frequently
Enough to put together an accurate picture of the year
10 per teacher per year seems like a reasonable number.

17. To see them for who they really are.
A Connecticut superintendent
She’s caught me being a phenomenal teacher, and has also seen moments of shame, but ten varied visits provide her with a picture of me that is actually… me.
Boston 7th-grade teacher

18. “Do the math” for your school
# of teachers
Minis for year
# per day
Stretch goal 60
600
3.3 4 50
500
2.7 3 40
400
2.2 30
300
1.7 2 20
200
1.1 10
100 .6 1

19. Delegation? What I should have done at Mather
With multiple supervisors, several possible models
Each takes a portion of the staff
Split up, then rotate at mid-year
Co-observing all year
APs split, principal does everyone more briefly
Peer observers part of the mix
In small buildings, involving lead teachers?

20. 3. Short – How long in a classroom to form a meaningful impression?
1 minute
3 minutes
5 minutes
10 minutes
15 minutes
20 minutes
25 minutes
35 minutes
45 minutes
1 hour or more
Answer Now!

21. Best amount of time for mini-observations: 10-15 minutes
Depending on:
How many teachers
How many administrators doing minis
How busy the school is
Note: no pre-observation conferences
See Madeline Hunter’s 1986 article (MM 464)
Maybe spot-check lesson plans during minis

22. What would be the best combination. (assuming a total of 100 mins
What would be the best combination? (assuming a total of 100 mins./teacher)
33 visits, three minutes each
20 visits, five minutes each
10 visits, ten minutes each
5 visits, twenty minutes each
2 visits, fifty minutes each
Other
Answer Now!

23. Full-lesson observations ever?
Yes, in three situations:
Rookies (ideally by instructional coaches, mentors)
Unsatisfactory teachers, by a supervisor
(the skill of doing good write-ups is vital here)
If invited by a teacher to see a lesson
The rest of the time, lots of mini-observations
But in many schools, this is a leap of faith.
Let’s get into more details.

24. 4. Systematic The challenge: keeping up a steady pace year-long
A daily target
A weekly target
A checklist
Blocking out “sweet spots” in the day for visits
Poker chips in pocket
Seeing results in classrooms
Rewarding oneself
Secretary reminding – texting?
Superintendent asking, supporting
Others?

25. Keeping track
Two styles: visits in daily schedule vs. fluid, on-the-go
A checklist of classroom visits is essential:
Equity
Seeing beginning, middle, and end of lessons
Seeing different subjects (elem.) or classes (secondary)
Natural tendency to avoid certain classrooms
Combating the tendency toward binge mini-observing

26. Other points of contact
Mini-observations don’t tell the whole story:
Teacher teamwork
Faculty meetings
Professional development
Parent interactions
Tutoring, clubs, study groups, community work
Glimpses of these fill out the picture.

27. MINI-OBSERVATIONS
Supervisors having a way to see the daily reality of classrooms:
Unannounced
Frequent
Short
Systematic
Supervisors having a good eye for teaching and learning:
5. Humble
6. Perceptive and able to decide what’s most important
7. Keeping in mind teacher goals, unit plans, and data
An effective way to share insights with teachers:
Face-to-face
Courageous
Follow-up documentation

28. 5. Humble

29. The supervisor is visiting the teacher’s “home”
Tentative stance – there’s a lot the visitor doesn’t know.
Be “present”, look attentive, interested
Things that some teachers find annoying or distracting:
Visitors talking to students during frontal instruction
Texting or talking on a phone
Observers whispering to each other
Sitting in the teacher’s chair
Asking the teacher a question
Be unobtrusive, don’t distort what’s being observed.

30. When should supervisors get involved?
If he/she wants to contribute an idea
If the teacher is not being clear
If the teacher makes an error
If a student is misbehaving
If a student asks for help
Some of the above
Only if safety is an issue
Answer Now!

31. Survey teachers 1-2 times/year
How often does an administrator visit your classroom?
How long does he or she usually stay?
How does he or she gather impressions?
Do you receive feedback afterward?
If so, in what form?
How soon after the visit?
Are you able to give your point of view?
Has the feedback been helpful?
Kim if you want a full suggested questionnaire.

32. 6. Perceptive and able to decide what’s most important
Two levels of supervision (BZAEDS example):
Generic: Common-sense basics of good instruction, contained in a good K-12 rubric
Content-specific: Specialized subject-area, grade level, best done by an instructional coach or peer observer
What’s getting in the way of thoughtful observations?
Checklists and rubrics
Electronic data-gathering
Superficiality

33. What is the supervisor’s goal?
Documentation, evaluation, and compliance
Improving teaching and learning

34. “You can observe a lot by watching”
Slow down, breathe, listen, walk around the room.
Observe teaching, curriculum, and students.
What is the learning task?
Lesson plan on teacher’s desk?
What’s on the walls?
Quietly ask 1-2 students, “What are you working on?”
A short mental checklist of key look-fors:

35. S - Safety O - Objectives T - Teaching E - Engagement L - Learning

36. Focus on 1-2 “change levers”
Don’t overwhelm the teacher with details.
Don’t dwell on superficial items.
A spelling mistake, student wearing a hat
Decide on the 1-2 things to praise or ask about.
Bite-sized, actionable chunks to spur growth
Directly connected to student learning
High-leverage

37. John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach
Don’t look for big, quick improvement. See the small improvement one day at a time. That’s the only way it happens. And when it happens, it lasts. Quoted in The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

38. Coaching messages from 3 visits
Increase your radar: when you are engaging with one student, deliberately scan the room to make sure all students are on task.
During the turn-and-talk, try to listen in so you can select a group who had a good discussion and an answer that you want to be heard by the whole group.
Do not engage. Just give the consequence with your teacher “look” and refrain from getting into the details of why (which interrupts the flow of your lesson). You can go into the why once the rest of the group is working.
Julie Jackson (for more, see Leverage Leadership p.76)

39. Do you need to be persuaded that short visits are very, very informative?
Convince me – I’m very skeptical.
I’m on the fence.
No, I believe it.
Mini-observations are the only way to go.
Answer Now!

40. Which will produce the most accurate, perceptive, and helpful information?
Detailed hand-written notes during the class
Detailed scripting on a laptop
Detailed scripting on a tablet
Scoring on a rubric during the class (paper or electronic)
Filling out an electronic checklist such as eCove
Filming with an iPhone
Observing and jotting a few quick notes
Observing and, after leaving, writing some notes
Answer Now

41. 7. Keeping in mind teacher goals, unit plans, and data
Supervisors have “3-D glasses” in classrooms when they:
Know the teacher’s improvement goals for the year
Are familiar with the unit plan that this lesson is part of
Know how students did on recent assessments and what the teacher is working on improving
Remember key points from previous mini-observations
All this greatly improves the supervisor’s “eye”

43. MINI-OBSERVATIONS
Supervisors having a way to see the daily reality of classrooms:
Unannounced
Frequent
Short
Systematic
Supervisors having a good eye for teaching and learning:
5. Humble
6. Perceptive and able to decide what’s most important
7. Keeping in mind teacher goals, unit plans, and data
An effective way to share insights with teachers:
Face-to-face
Courageous
Follow-up documentation

44. 8. Face-to-face Now the supervisor is seeing daily classroom reality…
But that can be wasted is there isn’t good follow-up.
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”
Ideally within 24 hours of the classroom visit
In a strategic location
A two-way conversation, really listening to the teacher
“Growth-evoking” coaching
Follow-up: documentation, return visits, peer coaching, PD, curriculum planning, PLC data work

45. Best location for mini feedback?
Principal’s office
Corridor
Playground
Teacher’s classroom, students not around
Cafeteria
Faculty lounge
Parking lot
A bar after hours
A phone call in evening
Other
Answer Now

46. Face-to-face feedback is the driver of change
Can quickly and efficiently cover a lot of ground
Teachers can fill in missing information
It’s less threatening, less bureaucratic
Supervisors can use cognitive coaching skills
Can differentiate feedback for each teacher
The teacher can push back, advocate for their pedagogy
Can judge if it’s a bad moment to be critical
Can segue into general talks about instruction, status

47. Debrief chats: possible openings
“What were your goals for this lesson?”
“How did it go?
(If goals not met) “How could you close the gap?”
“Here’s what I noticed…” “I was struck by…”
“Tell me something you hoped I would notice.”
“Tell me a little about what was going on before my visit.”
“I’m curious about what happened after I left.”
“I noticed Helene is really buckling down and working.”
“What worked best? What could be tweaked?”
“Did you get your intended results?”
“Can we look through those exit tickets?”

48. A good closing question to the teacher
“What was your big take-away?”

49. 9. Courageous

50. Low standards, lack of guts
Want to keep the peace, avoid conflict, be liked
Fear of grievances, lengthy proceedings
Afraid of jeopardizing other initiatives.
Wait for them to retire.
And some teachers are scary…

52. A leader who is silent on mediocrity speaks loudly
Some teachers get into bad habits, slack off.
Addressing mediocre and poor teaching depends on:
Belief – good teaching really, really matters
Urgency – every minute counts
A good eye – knowing mediocre, poor practices
Guts
How to keep a strong moral edge?
The superintendent pushing relentlessly, co-observing
Regularly look at interim assessment results

53. Unsatisfactory performance: shift gears
If ineffective teaching doesn’t improve…
The teacher must know it’s unsatisfactory.
Level 1 rubric scores.
“I can help you out or I can help you OUT.”
Full-lesson observations (unannounced, of course)
Another evaluator for a second opinion
Improvement plan
A timeline for improvement
Support, coaching

54. 10. Follow-up documentation
For nine years, I gave only face-to-face feedback.
Alex Estrella changed my mind. Her process:
Mini-observation
Face-to-face conversation
A short paragraph to the teacher summing up
Written documentation serves two functions:
Some teachers need written reinforcement.
It legitimizes mini-observations.
The danger: writing too much, not enough visits

55. A software solution A net-based program: T-EVAL www.t-eval.com
Created by three school administrators in Tennessee
Keeps track of mini-observations and follow-up debriefs, rubric scoring, teacher self-assessment, goal-setting
1,000-character limit on comments; a “whalebone corset”
These take minutes to write, electronically sent to teacher, who can respond (also limited to 1,000 characters)
Much richer material for discussions among school leaders than checklists and rubric scoring

56. Sample T-EVAL write-up
Good to talk to you about your 6th period English class today. What an enigma! The lesson was perfectly planned and differentiated, and yet, somehow, many of the students were not working as hard as I felt they could have. They had a set of questions to answer based on their reading of and listening to the short story, and several of the students were not actively answering the questions. You and I discussed when we met that you had also had frustrations with them not reading when you asked them to. One recommendation that I came up with was to try a timer and check in with them at intervals through the lesson. Grading their class work each day may also work. They also need a pep talk about college, as many of them are not currently passing the marking period. Finally, in some cases, I think a parent phone call and/or letter can help. The student aides can assist with this. I look forward to working with you to get these kids working well this semester. Sarah Scrogin, East Bronx Academy for the Future

57. Which gives school leaders the best information for teachers’ evaluations?
1-2 full-lesson observations with pre- and post- conferences and write-ups
10 mini- observations with face-to-face talks and brief write-ups
Answer Now!

59. Ten big payoffs from mini-observations
See reality, a true sense of what’s going on in classrooms
Multi-tasking: observations, visibility, problem-prevention
Embedded PD, blending coaching, supervision, evaluation
Coaching is more effective one point at a time, spread out.
Less stressful for teachers, builds skills and self-efficacy
One more reason for teachers to bring their A game
Pick up neat ideas, anecdotes, cross-pollinate, better PD
Credibility with parents and superiors; protects teachers
Humility  Authenticity  Credibility  Trust  Impact
Gather information for end-of-year evaluations

60. How would you personally feel about being supervised using mini-observations?
Strongly prefer this approach
Prefer it
No difference one way or the other
Uncomfortable with it
Very critical of it 5
Answer Now!

61. How much impact would this have on teaching and learning?
Very positive
Somewhat positive
Not much impact
No impact
Negative impact 5
Answer Now!

62. Let’s face it, this is challenging
Explaining it in a way that will convince teachers
The constant tug of H.S.P.S. – recovering, not recovered
The trapped-in-the-office spiral
Worries about content knowledge, tough conversations
Difficulty tracking down teachers.
Time for each mini: (later) = 30 minutes
But is anything more important?
“I made it my business.”

63. Barriers to successful implementation?
What would prevent your school from using mini-observations?
What steps could be taken?

64. Contact information
Kim’s Marshall Memo website for rubrics and articles (click on Kim Publications):