Arrange an opportunity to conduct a post-observation conference with one of the colleagues whose classroom teaching you have observed or will observe as part of your assignment. Arrange the post-observation conference and facilitate a coaching reflection conference after you have observed the lesson. Use the Framework for Teaching components and the focus for the observation that your colleague has requested to guide your observation, feedback, and the coaching conference. During your observation, note your feedback on the Classroom Observation Form. Although not required, it is desirable that you audiotape your coaching conversation so that you are able to review the conversation for analysis of coaching skills. Remember, this is a practice session and you are not expected to demonstrate mastery of the process. Your analysis should demonstrate an understanding of the coaching process.
When planning for your coaching conference, it is a good idea to collaboratively set a timeframe. Be flexible, but most instructors have found that it is useful to limit the conversation to 20 minutes, with another 5–10 minutes debriefing (gathering feedback from colleague).
Before the conference itself, make the purpose of the conference clear to your colleague. On one level, it gives you an opportunity to facilitate a coaching conference using skills such as clarifying, pausing, and paraphrasing to gain deeper understanding of the lesson. On another level, you hope that the colleague will find it helpful in extending his or her own knowledge base. Assure the colleague that the coaching is nonjudgmental and, in this case, is a requirement for your master’s degree course, in addition to being a learning experience for both of you.
Before beginning, let your colleague know that you will be seeking his or her feedback about the reflection conference after it concludes and that this feedback will become part of your own analysis and reflection on the experience.
As you prepare for the reflection conference the cycle of the conversation may look like this:
Summarize impressions:
“So, how do you think your levels of questions addressed the range of your learners?” (Framework Domain 3, Component 2: Quality of questions; learner participation.)
Analyze causal factors:
“Let me see if I understand why you think some of the boys at the back table never joined in.”
Construct new knowledge:
“So what might happen if you did have learners call on each other?”
Commit to applications:
“I have never tried that before either. Let us see how it will work if we try this new approach, and then we’ll get back together.”
Reflect on process:
“What suggestions do you have to increase my effectiveness as a coach?”
Throughout the cycle of the conference, be aware of your use of verbal and nonverbal tools such as pausing appropriately, seeking clarity, using matching body language, and above all, showing trust and respect.
This form has three parts. During or after your observation, complete the Observation section below. At the conclusion of the coaching conference, request feedback from your colleague about the coaching experience using the questions in the Feedback section below. Then, reflect on the coaching experience and complete the Analysis of My Coaching section of the form. Submit the form in Unit 9 for partial fulfillment of the course project for ED5501.
charkjohn
ED5501U9Assignment.docx
0
