As I prepared for the post-conference, I was nervous. I was concerned about how the teacher
would respond to my suggestions, would my nervousness show, would I sound
knowledgeable? I spent the night
before reviewing my notes and writing up my speaking points. When we sat down for the conference, I
felt comfortable with our conversation, but was more nervous about being
recorded then the content.
Megan
and I sat next to each other, one on each side of a square table. We used my office, which is the Media/Technology
office. We met at 7:15 am for
privacy, the teachers do not report until 8:00. By looking at our body language, you could see that we were
both relaxed and comfortable with each other. Megan sat up straight and seemed eager to explain her
thoughts and hear my ideas. We
maintained eye contact and were sure to listen completely to each other without
interruption. Megan nodded in
agreement with my ideas, and smiled when complimented. When suggestions were made, there was a look of concentration
on Megan’s face as she was thinking about what happened and listened closely
and analyzed my suggestions. Our
tone, enunciation, and pronunciation were all appropriate for the time. There were a few moments of stuttering
as we thought of the next topic and as I was looking over my notes to be sure I
covered all my points. Though I
felt prepared and had my talking points prepared, I felt like I could have been
smoother in my transitions and conversations. I think the reason I was a bit nervous and not as fluent was
due partly to the video recording.
Our
conversation started with Megan explaining how she felt about the lesson. I had her give more detail by asking
why she felt it went well and how she felt about the students’ performance. We reviewed the strengths and
suggestions for the lesson. We
also reviewed the points that were brought up during our pre-observation. There was one individual student that
Megan asked me to watch, along with one of her groups that she needed help with
controlling their chattiness. I
was able to provide Megan with the exact amount of time that the individual
student was off task, and how long the group spent talking before they settled.
I made a few suggestions for each situation, Megan was appreciative and agreed
to give some a try.
I
used a non-directive approach with Megan. She is very close to being able to be collaborative,
but I feel that because she is only in her second year, she still needs a
little more direction. I started
with listening to Megan’s thoughts and encouraging her to reflect on the
reasons for the outcome of the lesson.
I presented some of the findings and data that I collected about the
situations we spoke about in our pre-observation, and provided some
solutions. I encouraged Megan to
help other teachers by sharing her strengths. She agreed to have other staff members observe her lessons
to share her ideas.
Overall,
I was satisfied with the full clinical cycle process. It was a positive learning experience. I felt as if I had improved in my
observational skills. I know that
with more practice I will fine-tune the rough edges, such as fluency during the
post-observation. It was a great
feeling to be able to provide a staff member with real ideas that could help
improve student learning in her classroom.
