What strengths and/or improvement areas did you notice about the environment and tone of the post-observation?
The post-conference was held in one of the small conference areas of the school. It is a place where teachers meet often. I do believe that the teacher's classroom would have been a more ideal place to conduct the conference, but due to the schedule, we had to meet during a time when her class was still in the room with another teacher. We sat on the same side of the table so that we were able to communicate easily and not have any barriers between us.
The tone of the conference was fairly relaxed. The teacher and I are comfortable around each other, but I will admit that we were both intimidated by the fact that the conference was being videotaped. The teacher expressed that she was nervous in front of the camera. We were both happy with the outcome of the conference video, but agreed that the conversation would have been more natural if it was not videotaped. I tried to be sure that we were both actively engaged in the conversation. By asking open-ended questions, I allowed for Beth to express her thoughts and ideas. There was a balance in the amount of talking and listening done by each of us.
What strengths and/or improvement areas did you notice in the conference about strategies to improve instruction?
Having taught primary grades for many years, allowed me to have a good understanding of the instructional practices that are developmentally appropriate. I tried to keep the tone of the conversation positive throughout. Even when we were discussing the areas in which improvement is needed. In the pre-observation conference, Beth expressed concern about the timing of her lessons. She feels like she is trying to fit so much into a short period of time. I told her I would focus on that during the observation so that I could help her find ways to be more effective with time management. This led to our discussion in the post conference about transition times. After completing the classroom observation and the analysis of the observation, I was planning to suggest that Beth be involved in some professional development opportunities that would focus on classroom management and work with another teacher as a mentor in order to find transition strategies that will work in her classroom. During our conference, I realized that Beth actually has some ideas about this, but was not successfully implementing them. I changed my mind about my suggestion and decided that all the teachers in the school could benefit from sharing ideas about transitions. This is why I suggested that Beth share her idea at the faculty meeting and then also learn from her colleagues. I feel strongly about the effective use of Interactive Whiteboards in the classroom. As with any technology that is being integrated into classroom instruction, IWB use needs to be used in a way that helps students learn and allows them to interact with content. They are powerful tools for differentiating instruction, but many times they are only used as glorified overhead projectors. I felt confident when discussing this concern with Beth. She understood the concern I had about the time wasted by using the IWB ineffectively. Overall, I think that the conference was very positive. We bounced ideas off each other and I think Beth left feeling good about the successes and understanding what she could do to make improvements in her teaching strategies.
In the conference, which behavior did you seem to predominantly use? Do you think this was an appropriate approach given the developmental level of the teacher?
Prior to the post-observation conference, I planned to use the collaborative approach with Beth. She is in her third year of teaching first grade, so the curriculum and effective teaching strategies for that level are her focus on a daily basis. I taught primary grades in the past, but it has been a few years since I was in the classroom. Therefore I wanted both of us to contribute equally to the discussion and work together to find ways to improve certain areas. Beth was very open to the ideas that I offered and she was able to self reflect on the lesson in order to identify ways she could have done things differently. Self reflection can be incredibly powerful and sometimes the observer/administrator simply needs to encourage this and allow the teacher time to reflect and then express their thoughts and ideas.
