Clinical Supervision Project

Pamela R. Hudson Bailey

George Mason University

The clinical supervision project pre-conference, observation, and post-conference was conducted with a new teacher, Ms. Y, whom the principal had some concerns. Classroom management, content/vocabulary, and questioning were some of the areas of weakness shared by the principal in regard to Ms. Y. The department head’s previous attempts to guide and mentor Ms. Y had been taken very lightly by the new teacher.

Pre-Conference

During the pre-conference Ms. Y shared that the class to be observed consisted of her best Algebra I students. She stated that there were several students that were “goof offs” but were exceptionally smart. We briefly discussed why their actions were not favorable. Ms. Y requested that I observe her vocabulary usage during the lesson along with which students she directed questions. A grid representing boy and girl seats will be used of the classroom to record those answering questions. A written log of vocabulary concerns was also to be kept.

Observation

I sat at the back of the classroom and quickly filled out the gender on the grid. Ms. Y did very well with the vocabulary until a student questioned the mathematical process being shown. She began telling the student to take “this” and do “that”. “This” and “that” became common terms in her discussion until the pressure was off from the student. A count was kept of how many times the words were used wrongly.

Students to whom Ms. Y asked questions is a major concern as only three students, seated up front in a group, answered her questions. Global questions were asked as well as student directed questions. At one point the teacher stated that she was going to call on students. Ms. Y asked her question but still selected on one of the three. The remainder of the students did not attempt to respond even when the global questions were asked.

Analysis and Planning

The data from the observation reveals that questioning students and including all students in the questioning is a serious concern. Some suggestions to help Ms. Y might be to select students to answer questions by their ordinal position in her grade book or put names on popsicle sticks that could be drawn. Grouping students so that questions could be asked of several at one time, therefore involving more students, might be a possibility as well.

Vocabulary was a concern but she was flustered when the student began questioning her with an observer in the room. The student would have benefited from the correct vocabulary to aid in clarifying the process being explained. Becoming aware of the time frame in which she lost control of the correct vocabulary usage will be beneficial to Ms. Y as she will be conscientious of the importance of clarity for a confused student.

Post-Conference

Ms. Y was encouraged to talk about the class and to concentrate on the topics chosen for the observation. She wanted to talk about student misbehavior and their non-participation so the discussion became more guided and focused on vocabulary usage and whom she chose to answer questions. The data was shared with Ms. Y regarding the word count and to whom the questions were asked. She did not realize that she had used the two terms stated above repeatedly during the explanation to the confused student but afterward returned to using the vocabulary correctly.

Ms. Y was aware that the three students were the focus and the remaining students ignored but felt she was getting through her lesson of the day. Suggestions were given and her comments and reactions to them acknowledged. Some of her concerns included that it would take longer to go through a lesson and that most of the students did not pay attention and would not answer if asked. This led to a short discussion on why the students tuned out during the lesson. The post-conference ended with Ms. Y agreeing to try different methods of calling on students.

Critique

At the end of the post-conference Ms. Y was asked about her feelings regarding the clinical observation process. She stated that it was different than the administrator looking and assessing everything she and her students did. Even though Ms. Y knew what was being observed, she stated that she had decided to proceed with the lesson as normal. With a positive attitude she stated that she was willing to try all my suggestions. We decided to set another date to repeat the observation and discussion to assess her growth.

Comparison to Current Practice

The county currently has a form called Spot Checks that administrators use when observing. All areas that need to be observed of a teacher are included on the form with many administrators looking for each during the one observation. Administrators are then requested by the county to have “strong conversations” with the teachers suggesting improvements. What happens during and after the conversation depends on the administration. Setting a date for future observations and discussion of the improvements is not part of the process.

Closure

Ms. Y has even shared the process with others with teacher buy-in and reactions to the process being favorable. My position with the county involves helping teachers become better with instruction and classroom management therefore incorporating this process has been helpful. A couple of teachers have brought concerns to my attention while talking with them during their lunch or in the hall. The clinical process was explained and additional observations are now planned. Teachers understand exactly what I am looking for but, more importantly, they are active participants in selecting the areas.