Monday, November 14, 2011

Clinical Cycle: Post Observation Commentary


Post-Observation: Environment & Tone
The post-observation took place in a sound proof room used for music lessons. It was a small room, but it was one of the few rooms available as there were after-school classes, conferences and meetings occurring in all of the other rooms. While small, the room had the advantage of being completely quiet and no one would distract us while we talked. And while the supervisor was preparing the camera, the teacher enjoyed playing music on the piano. The most significant impact of the size of the room is that the camera, which was an extremely wide-angle HD camera, could not be placed to include both participants fully. Overall, the tone of the conference was collegial and productive. Both participants were relaxed; spoke freely, rarely used transition words such as “umm,” or “ahhh,” and had extensive eye-to-eye contact. The supervisor and teacher were actively engaged in the discussion and excited to discuss the details, especially considering the technical challenges encountered. There are no improvements that I would recommend. While the room size would be considered a deficiency, the opportunity to learn that the teacher plays the piano beautifully and be in a place where we could focus on our conversation without being interrupted was actually an advantage as it helped create an intimate setting and relaxed atmosphere, rather than a deficit.



Post-Observation: Strategies to Improve Instruction
The focus of the conference centered on the success of the teacher’s use of technology as identified in the pre-observation conference. Since the teacher felt unable to handle the introduction of VoiceThread on the first day despite watching the tutorials several times, I was most interested to find out what could have been different to allow the teacher to manage this task. Donna was very honest in her assessment that she was hesitant to use it in front of the classroom since she still was learning the program. I felt that her feelings honestly portrayed the challenge of an experienced teacher faced with presenting something to a class that they are not completely confident in using (they are accustomed to having mastery in a topic when presenting at this point in their careers). This subject holds great interest for me and was the focus of my action research project when I completed a master in Education Media Design and Technology at Full Sail University. I find myself returning to this area of study naturally and consider that I would be interested in pursuing additional studies in the area over time. The strategy to improve instruction focused on how to improve the competency level of the teacher learning the new technology at the same time as the students. Donna revealed that without the generous support from me, it is unlikely she would have attempted to integrate this technology, despite her excitement with the tool. Hearing this from her, the strategy for the supervisor then is to create graduated steps of learning for the teacher, just as we created for the students.
Additionally, we both discussed the “unsuccessful” part of the lesson, as the students were unable to access the VoiceThread site to comment. Continuing the collegial atmosphere set, both of us discarded the notion that the lesson was unsuccessful because in facing the challenge, the students showed great patience and problem-solving behavior, and this part of the lesson was just a small piece in an otherwise well-prepared and appropriate lesson plan.



Post-Observation: Continuum of Behaviors
Throughout the process, the supervisor consistently used the Collaborative approach when considering the continuum of behaviors available. The school, with its Montessori and IB philosophy, naturally encourages this type of approach. Additionally, the teacher and supervisor shared different forms of mastery – the teacher in the classroom and the supervisor with technology literacy. This was the appropriate approach because each participant had a similar level of expertise though in different areas and both were involved in carrying out the decisions and solving the problems. The collaborative approach allowed both the teacher and supervisor to listen to each other, clarify problems seen, reflect on the perception of the problem, exchange possible solutions to the problem and negotiate an acceptable solution.

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