SITE MENTOR HOT TOPICS: INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION

Expected Outcome: Examine strategies to conference with new teachers  What conferences do and do not include  Preparing for the conference  Conference ingredients  Questions that do and don’t work  Classroom decisions and the TPEs  Giving Suggestions  Extending Strategies  Summary

What a conference is (and isn’t)  A focus on cause and effect  Looking for what is working and how to build on it.  Reflection: seeing a lesson through other eyes  Judgment  Evaluation IsIsn’t

Preparing for the conference  Ask what each student is expected to demonstrate IN THE LESSON (not on the theme / chapter test.  Ask what questions you can help answer after the observation.  Encourage the candidate to tie preparation to the Teaching Performance Expectations.Teaching Performance Expectations

Conference Ingredients Focus Question: Right now, what is the job of every learner? The goal is perpetual student engagement (TPE 5)  Provide specific feedback regarding the cause and effect examples you observed (what did the teacher do and what was the resulting student productivity?)  Answer questions generated in the pre-conference.  Present one extension idea / discuss alternatives.  Ask for commitment to try the new idea.

Questions that DO and DON’T work  What happened in the lesson that you HOPED would happen?  What happened that you didn’t expect?  Who learned and how do you know?  How did you feel about the lesson?  You should have…  If I had been teaching the lesson, I would…  It would have been better if you had… What WorksWhat Doesn’t

Classroom Decisions and the TPEs  What was the expected student outcome? Why?  How did every student check for understanding? Why?  What adaptations were made for language learners? Why?  What accommodations were included for children with special learning needs? Why?  Where were performance assessments included throughout the lesson? Why?

Strategies to increase involvement (TPE 5)  “When you called Rosa’s name before asking a question, everyone else was off the hook. How can everyone be accountable?”  “Tell your partner three uses of a comma…”  “Use your number fan to show where the decimal goes…”  “When you previewed the lesson for your learners with special needs, you made content accessible to every student (TPE 4).” When giving suggestions, refer to student action:

No judgment is challenging! Why we stay away from judgment: _it doesn’t teach new strategy. _it gives the receiver the sense of what went wrong. _it increases defensiveness. _it stops thinking.

Summary – Bringing it together  Think of volleyball: the teacher initiates the activity and hands the ball to the students to practice.  Right now, what is the job of the learner?  Instructional supervision is built on what is already working.  What can be added to a lesson to make it most effective for every learner? Cause and EffectExtension and Reflection