Better Supervision better Teaching: A Handbook for Teaching Practice Supervisors

Part C: Summing-up

Summing-up฀ The purpose of this third part to the handbook is to bring together the various opinions that have been expressed in different context s about effective ways to conduct pre- and post-lesson observation conferences. At the end o f most chapters, we have provided a n Action Checklist . Thes e contai n ou r suggestion s o f wha t supervisors might do and what they should avoid, based on what supervisors and student teachers said to us. At this point, it would be useful t o look once more at those lists. For the convenience of the reader, we have summarized in Table 3 much of what is written in those Action Checklists. Many of the points are repeated in a number of chapters, so we have presented our advice in a general, non-topic specific form. The suggestions in Table 3 do not follow the chapter sequence. Rather, they begin with points on conference discussions in general, before going on to aspects more concerned with the ways that problems can be addressed and how solutions can be reached. Table 3 Summary of key points from the Action Checklists 1. Remembe r that the most important person is the student teacher. 2. Buil d genuine rapport. 3. B e sensitive to the feelings of the student teacher; avoid being in too much of a hurry. Examine฀the฀points฀made฀in฀ Table฀3฀Wha t฀genera l฀abstractions ฀ca n฀yo u฀mak e฀ about฀how฀to฀facilitate฀better ฀supervisor y฀confer ences ฀(for฀better฀teaching)?฀ 182฀Bette r฀Supervision,฀Better฀Teaching:฀A฀Handbook฀for฀Teaching฀Practice฀Supervisors฀ 4. Conduc t discussions as soon as possible after the lesson; electronic communication is a last resort. 5. Us e a discreet and conducive environment for discussions. 6. Befor e discussion, clarify in your own mind why something is a problem for the student teacher. 7. Ge t the student teache r talkin g an d ge t his or her views of the lesson before sayin g much yourself. 8. Liste n attentivel y an d carefull y t o the student' s views ; avoid talkin g yourself t o fil l voids. 9. Sho w you are interested in what the student teacher has done and is saying. 10. Us e the informal agenda implicit in the student teacher's comments. 11. B e aware of student teachers' 'avoidance strategies'. 12. Ensur e there is a common view on what the problem is; start with the student teacher's perception of the problem. 13. Bas e th e discussio n o n wha t actuall y happene d i n th e lesso n a s evidenced b y th e observation record. 14. Hav e written evidence from lessons observed on a lesson evaluation sheet to back up your opinion. 15. Giv e detailed written comments, suggestions, and encouragement which students can refer to later. 16. Th e sort of form you use sends a message about what you think is important. 17. Ascertai n underlyin g reason s for a particular problem ; do not assum e ther e are no t good reasons for what is done. 18. Ge t th e studen t teache r t o conside r ho w th e particula r issu e affect s th e learnin g environment. 19. Us e terms that evaluate the effectiveness o f their teaching rather than their personality. 20. Discus s the situation early so that something can be done (the problem may be in only one class). 21. Sharin g one's own experience, including difficulties, helps build empathy, acceptance and rapport . 22. Ge t the student teacher to explore possibilities by asking questions of them. 23. Whe n it comes to telling the student teacher, tell it gently but directly; the words used matter. Summing-up฀18 3฀ 24. Us e questions instead of statements and hedge suggestions with words like maybe or might. 25. Giv e positive advice; avoid being negative; make alternative suggestions rather tha n being directly critical. 26. Sugges t methods/activitie s tha t ma y solv e problems; offer helpfu l 'models ' o f th e teacher. 27. Dea l with mistakes within a teaching /learning context; avoid an admonishing / critical manner. 28. Tr y an indirect approach at first; if it does not work, address directly, do not ignore. 29. Discus...