1. Clinical Supervision

2. …has as its goal the professional development of teachers, with an emphasis on improving teachers’ classroom performance. (Acheson & Gall, p. 1)
Clinical Supervision

3. Teachers are not born…they grow
Jones’ Law #1

4. Most teachers
Are good teachers some of the time and not so good (or downright awful) at other times

5. Classrooms are incredibly busy places
…classrooms are complex environments in which teachers often must make quick decisions while using incomplete information

6. Classrooms are incredibly busy places
Philip Jackson, Life in Classrooms (1968) - over 1,000 interpersonal interactions in a single day

7. Classrooms are incredibly busy places
Philip Jackson, Life in Classrooms (1968)
Over 1,000 interpersonal interactions daily

8. Supervision Problem #1 – Determining what professional teaching looks like

9. Consider the Inquiry Teacher
The Perfect The Perfect The Perfect
Classroom Teacher Lesson
(classroom management, instructional methods, presentation style, etc.)
(how it looks, smells, feels, etc.)
(subject, duration, type of activity, etc.)
After Borich, 2003

10. Consider the Inquiry Teacher
A Terrible A Terrible A Terrible
Classroom Teacher Lesson
(classroom management, instructional methods, presentation style, etc.)
(how it looks, smells, feels, etc.)
(subject, duration, type of activity, etc.)
After Borich, 2003

11. Wonderful Classroom Kids engaged (bad pun) Student work displayed
Cooperative Learning
Confidence level of students is high
Smells good (dissected sharks?)
Spacious and comfortable
Colorful, bright
Displays evidence of learning
Non-threatening
Teacher’s positive attitude
Warm and inviting (no yelling)
Accepting
PROBLEMS EVIDENT
Teacher is facilitating

12. Not-so-Wonderful Classroom
Cluttered in a non-organized manner
Sterile
Blank walls
Quiet, no-academic interaction
Dirty, smelling
Students uninvolved
Statements instead of questions
Austere, cold
Teacher centered
Desks all in a row
Blank stares…
Stacks of paper
Smells old

13. Teachers’ Roles Subject-matter Knowledge Action-System Knowledge
After Leinhardt, Putnam, Stein & Baxter (1981)
Teachers’ Roles
Subject-matter Knowledge
Includes the specific information needed to present content
Action-System Knowledge
Skills for planning lessons, making pacing decisions, explaining materials clearly, responding to individual differences..

14. Dunkin and Biddle Study of Teaching (1973)
Teacher intelligence, motivation, training…
Presage
Test scores, graduation rates, …
Process
Product
Class size, bussing, …
Questioning, models, management…
Context
Student background, motivation…

15. From Transactional Analysis, we know…
Pre-ignition
Afterburn

16. Success
Bomb

17. Observation Skills But toward what end? -Research?
-Teacher Assistance?
Reward/Punish?

18. Views of Data Recording (after Evertson & Green)
Everyday
Deliberate
Systematic
Deliberate
Systematic
Everyday
Tacit
Less Highly
Formal Formal
Question-
Specific
Observations
Situation-
Specific
Observations
Observations

19. Purposes of Teacher Assessment
To assist in institutional and administrative decision making
Whom to promote, place on growth plans, recommend for licensure…
To increase instructional effectiveness

20. From Evaluation to …. Inspectors
To meet contractual requirements, e.g. punctuality, attendance, extra-curricular assignments…
To certify the effectiveness of instruction to the board, public, staff.
To illuminate and made commendations for excellence in instructional practices.
To meet legal requirements as determined by legal mandates.
To apply district/school adopted criteria for judging instructional effectiveness.

21. Top Down From Evaluation to …. The power to evaluate is bestowed by
Board,
Administration, State...
Top
Down
From Evaluation to ….
To monitor professional conduct: e.g., dress, continuing to learn, participating in district improvement tasks, enthusiasm, etc.
To identify instructional deficiencies and plan learning opportunities to remediate those deficiencies.
To guarantee minimum uniformity.

22. Is it any wonder….?
“Under the supervisory structure used in many schools, teachers may view feedback from supervisors with suspicion or hostility” (Good & Brophy)

23. Leadership Styles…. Theory X Theory Y
The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if (s)he can
People have to be coerced, controlled, directed, threatened to get them to put forward appropriate effort
People prefer to be be directed and avoid responsibility; most have little ambition and want security above all
The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest
Humans exercise self-direction in the service of committed objectives
Commitment is a function of rewards associated with their achievement
The average human seeks responsibility
Imagination, ingenuity, and creativity are widely distributed
Human intellectual potential is only partly utilized
After McGregor

24. Clinical Supervision ….
To improve teacher performance
To enhance classroom climate for learning.
To improve the organization of instruction.
To align teaching processes and learning activities with theory and learner needs.
To identify and resolve school and classroom problems that may be hindering learning.

25. Clinical Supervision ….
Teacher Supervisor
Clinical Supervision ….
To identify and remediate students’ behavior problems.
A central objective … is the development of the professionally responsible teacher who is analytical of his/her own performance, open to help from others, and withal self-directing (Maurice Cogan)
Guides teachers toward self-evaluation
Bridges the real-ideal gap
The power to coach
or supervise
is bestowed by teachers

26. Supervision Problem #2 – Who should do the supervision
Superordinate
Colleague
Teacher

27. Clinical…
…meant to suggest a face-to-face relationship between teacher and supervisor and a focus on the teacher’s actual behavior in the classroom
Teacher-centered supervision (paralleling Carl Rogers’ “person-centered” counseling)

28. George C. Kyte (1930) Planning for the observation of teaching
Getting the most out of the observation period
Analyzing the teaching observed

29. George C. Kyte (1930) Identified two kinds of conferences
After a supervisory visit or the products of pupils’ efforts have been submitted to a supervisory officer
Preparatory – first conferences with a new teacher, consultations based on requests of teachers, interviews for for planning classroom experimentation

30. Approaches to Clinical Supervision (after Edward Pajak)
Collegiality and mutual discovery of meaning
Original Models (1960’s - early 1970’s)
1962 Harvard-Lexington Summer Program of Harvard’s MAT program*
Robert Goldhammer (1969)
(Anderson, Krajewski (1993)
Maurice Cogan* (1973)
Ralph Mosher & David Purpel (1972)

31. Clinical Supervision ….
Popular assumptions
Learning to teach is easy; the preparation for teaching should therefore be short and simple
Teachers’ 12+ years as students provide teacher education students with certain models of what teachers are and do
Professionals need little face-to-face interactions from other professionals

32. Clinical Supervision ….
Big Changes…
Face-to-face relationships between supervisors and teachers
Detailed observational data
Intensity of focus in professional relationships

33. Clinical Supervision ….
– “of, relating to, or conducted in or as if in a clinic” and “involving or depending on direct observation…”
“the presentation, analysis, and treatment of actual cases and concrete problems in some special field”
General supervision subsumes supervisory operations principally outside of the classroom
Clinical supervision focuses upon the improvement of the teacher’s classroom instruction
Assumption – teacher education is continuous – becoming a teacher is developmental

34. Early Clinical Supervisory Moves
Robert Goldhammer (1969) 1. Pre-Observation Conference 2. Observation 3. Analysis and Strategy 4. Supervision Conference 5. Post-Conference Analysis
Morris Cogan (1973)
1. Establishing the teacher-supervisor relationship
2. Planning with the teacher
3. Planning the strategy of observation
4. Observing instruction
5. Analyzing the teaching-learning processes
6. Planning the strategy of the conference
7. The conference
8. Renewed Planning

35. Approaches to Clinical Supervision (after Edward Pajak)
Humanistic/ Artistic Models
(mid 1970s to early 1980s)
Blumberg
- Counseling the key
Eisner
- Artistic Approach
- “hear the music” as well as observe the action
Positive and productive interpersonal relations with holistic understanding of classroom events

36. Approaches to Clinical Supervision (after Edward Pajak)
Technical/ Didactic Models
(early to mid 1980s)
Acheson & Gall
Hunter
Joyce & Showers
Effective teaching strategies, techniques, and organizational expectations

37. Approaches to Clinical Supervision (after Edward Pajak)
Developmental/ Reflective Models
(mid 1980s to present)
Glickman, Schon, Costa & Garmston, Zeichner & Liston, Garman, Smyth, Retallick, Bowwers & Flinders
Teacher cognitive development, introspection, and discovery of context-specific principles of practice
Coaching and Cognitive Coaching

38. The Three Phases of the Clinical Supervision Cycle
After Acheson and Gall

39. Supervisory Assumptions
• Instructional improvement is not a superficial process; it requires considerable time and effort • When dealing with adult professionals, no one changes another person’s behavior • Goal directed behavior is more effective in achieving instructional improvement than behavior that is not focused on specific outcomes • Objective recording and descriptive reporting of teaching data are more useful for instructional improvement than subjective, evaluative statements • Teaching, as an intellectual and social act, is amenable to intellectual analysis • Supervisors demonstrate leadership most effectively as a participant of educational growth

40. An Effective Teacher Satisfactorily
Provides instruction in academic knowledge and skills’
Provides an instructional climate that helps students develop positive attitudes toward learning and self
Adjusts instruction in response to students’ abilities, ethnic identification, home background, and gender
Manages the learning environment so students are engaged in learning
Makes sound decisions and plans
Implements agreed-upon curriculum decisions
After Acheson and Gall, p. 44

41. … this course
Will provide you background and skills to assist in this growth by
Understanding the theory of supervision
Mastering observation skills
Becoming adept at conferencing and feedback
Being able to tie classroom efforts with a research base

42. Slides courtesy Dr. Howard Jones