Job Discussion Forums

[PanamaTeacher]

I am giving an optional SAT class at a private HS (one hour twice a week). The principal has asked me if I would like to make a few extra bucks (which I desperately could use) by coordinating the other english teachers. Then he told me my job would include sitting in the classrooms observing the other teachers from time to time.

I was horrified because I thought it was like a police state. The principal told me it was normal. He does not do it himself cause he doesn't speak English. The school is not bilingual, english is just one class in the curriculum.

I did some internet research and found that it is a common practice called Clinical Supervision of Teachers, and is explained as follows:

Clinical supervision has as its goal the professional development of teachers, with emphasis on improving teachers classroom performance. The three phases of clinical supervision include a planning conference, a classroom observation and a post-conference.

I have never been observed, and I don't really want to do it. Has anyone been observed or done any teacher observations?

Thanks

[C76]

I'm not too keen on that label. "Clinical supervision" conjures images of men in white coats.

But yes, I'm used to the idea of teachers observing other teachers. One of my classmates had to be observed last week. She's applying for cert with TESL Canada. It's a requirement of some sort.

Do you know why your supervisor picked you to observe your colleagues? Do you have more experience than them, etc?

Again, aside from the name of the procedure, don't worry about it.

I should point out that I do empathize with you, though. I've had to evaluate my peers as they worked. It felt very, very odd.

[denise]

PanamaTeacher,

Obervations aren't all that bad (as I am discovering, having just been observed this week, and after having to observe & give feedback to more experienced teachers for my MA program...), provided that the oberver honestly wants what's best for the teacher (and, of course, the students), and, judging by your post, I'd say you fit into that category. Why not make the observation collaborative or teacher-centered? Before the lesson, ask the teacher what he/she plans to do and why and whether there is anything in particular he/she would like you to observe. During the post-observation conference, instead of just reporting back what you saw & thought (as if going down one of those dreaded checklists...), ask the teacher for his/her own impressions. You could also share some of your own experiences, particularly any difficulties that you have faced as a teacher that might help. Good luck! (And sorry about all of the parenthetical comments!)

d

[Celeste]

A school I used to work in did peer observation once. In general, they tried to put inexperienced teachers in experienced teachers' classes and vice versa. The point was not to evaluate anyone, but to offer up advice as to how they could become more effective. I think it was a very positive experience, but this was only because the staff chose to make it one.

Now that I teach in Japan (and also when I used to teach in Korea) I teach in the public school system and my classes are often observed. Sometimes it is a formal observation session with several observers, a formal written lesson plan submitted to them before hand, and a post mortem session after. Sometimes it is just a teacher or a supervisor from another school or district who wants to get some ideas. Sometimes it is a member or members of the PTA. It has never bothered me. That's part of being in the BIG LEAGUES. You have to prove your worth to the powers that be. (Generally I find the criticism that is given to be very mild and helpful. The most annoying part for me is those formal lesson plans with everything scripted.)

[PanamaTeacher]

Celeste--In my research I found a some stuff about peer observations. How can it be done so that peers are sincere? I personally hate to comment about what my peers do cause it can create problems.

C76--I give private English classes to the principal (that helps). My English is the best in the school (that is important in Lat. Am). I have a US education and US teaching experience. The school's English program is sub-par and no one seems to have a clue how to fix it. Really it's a matter of luck (luck cause I need money).

[Ben Round de Bloc]

PanamaTeacher,

As a public school teacher in the States for nearly 20 years before moving to Mexico to teach EFL, I can answer yes to all of your questions about having had observation/evaluation experiences. I've been on both sides of the fence. In every public school where I taught, teacher observations and evaluations by administrators were required. I also supervised student teachers and field experience students, so I was on the observing/evaluating side as well. In a couple of schools where I worked, peer observation programs were in use.

In my opinion, much depends on the purpose of the observations/evaluations. If they are part of professional development to help teachers realize their stronger points and improve on their weaker points, I think they're great. If they're used only to decide who keeps his job and who doesn't, I think they're pretty bad, mainly because they can become very subjective.

I might add that it does take training to be an effective evaluator. If you're not in a position to take a university course or two in supervising, observing, and evaluating teachers, you might want to see if you could get copies of some of the basic texts used for those courses and read up on the material.

Actually, that's my plan when I make my annual visit to the States in August. It's been 8 years since I was last involved in any type of observation-evaluation process, so I need to do some brushing up. I plan to visit my alma mater's campus bookstore, check out the required texts for those courses, and pick up a few of them. I'm being pressured by the director of a local government EFL program to assess teachers' performance and provide some specific teacher training for them. At this point, I feel a bit rusty in that area.

[PanamaTeacher]

Hi Ben--Thanks for your input, your ideas are great. I found a course on supervision in the internet; it seems to be free (anyway, I copied all the material free):

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~gjs8/edl725/class/index.html

Let me clarify. This job is in the discussion stages, the principal wanted to know if it would interest me. If I start to do it, it would be next year. I also have to meet with the owner of the school. So nothing is firm. Still it is a good thing if I can get it.

I have two reservations 1) I don't know anything about supervising teachers; 2) I am not comfortable in the role of administrator, I like to teach.

The reality is that for seven years I have ducked jobs. But Bnix told me in my first post that I had to secure myself for the future. So now I am more inclined to consider this job as a good thing. In fact it is what started me writing in the forum, my uncertainty about what to do in the future.

[Marcoregano]

PT...you should see this as a different form of teaching...teacher training. I don't like being observed but as everyone above says it's pretty common, especially during training. Mostly I'd say it's a matter of common sense. Experienced teacher watches inexperienced teacher. Observes mistakes/areas for improvement. Gives feedback and encouragement.

[Celeste]

One of the things that I always found useful when I was doing peer observations in Canada was to write down everything that worked in the lesson and then categorize it by way of teaching methodology and through that process, explain why it worked. Then I would look at one of the things that didn't work in the teacher's lesson and suggest to them that they could apply some of the techniques of the more successful methodology in that area. I think that it is very important tofocus on the positive aspects of someone's teaching first, and then deal with areas that need improvement second. I also think that is very important to have a conference with the teacher in which you do not simply critique their weaker points, but elicit from them what they felt worked and didn't, provide some possible reasons why something didn't work well, and then elicit some possible solutions from the teacher. If I simply tell a teacher "You did X and it failed. Do Y next time." that does nothing for them. If you go through the process of analyzing theeir teaching with them, then they will come away from the session feeling empowered to improve any lesson that they put together. If you simply deliver compliments or criticism without involving the teacher in the process, they will either come away relieved or dejected depending on how well they did, but it won't be very productive. As marcoregano said, it is a different kind of teaching. Employ some of the same methods that you would when teaching any other subject.

[PanamaTeacher]

Thanks Marco--It does seem simple as you put it. I'm cool with telling people their english teaching or test-giving style could improve. I just wish I had a benchmark to follow, so that I didn't judge people based on my style/their style. (Remember our discussion about L1; I was wrong, but at first I thought you were wrong.) If I have to pass judgment, I want to know what is correct in the textbooks, not just in my opinion.

The irony is that they all trained to be teachers, but I will observe them only because I speak better english. It doesn't seem fair, but I need dinero, amigo.

[Marcoregano]

PT....Yes, it will be different assessing local teachers as opposed to trainee gringos. At a guess I'd say you'll have to be very diplomatic....their techniques might be very different and might not take kindly to your advice. Don't rock the boat too much.... muy bien hecho hermano!

[PanamaTeacher]

Celeste--My problem is that I'm afraid that I will do a Peter Principle thing (you know--In an organization every employee eventually rises to his level of incompetence). I'm not good with people in the way you describe, I'm not nice. I have a tendency to be blunt. People here like things to be done indirectly, and I get impatient. When I had secretaries they all hated me after a while, and I couldn't blame them. My live-in girlfriends all moved out, and Panamanian girls don't like me. I'm a disaster. Also English teachers from Panama have big egos because people want to learn english here. I really don't want to do it, but I need money and maybe this could be stable. I can't turn it down at this point in my life.

[johnslat]

Just a general opinion of " clinical observation " - having had to do some of that when I was the cooridinator of the English Langauge Center here:
I'd say it's fairly useless in most cases, although sometimes, thanks to " administrative policy " it's required. Why is it " fairly useless "? Well, mainly because of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which, although it's a dictum in physics, has, I'd say, relevance to this subject. It states that when you observe something, you change it. The presence of an " observer " in the classroom alters the whole situation - the teacher's behavior and that of the students. What you, as the observer, will see may have little or no similarity to what normally goes on in that classroom on a regular basis. Actually, I finally managed to convince the Director of this and we haven't had " clinical observations " here for quite a while. Another thing to be considered is - if you hired the guy/gal, you must have been convinced they could do the job. So, unless you're getting a LOT of " student complaints ", why observe? I guess that's the only time I'd consider it a possibly worthwhile procedure - many student complaints. But even then, what you see in the classroom on that day may well be very unlike what goes on there " normally "
Regards,
John

[Marcoregano]

JS, I heartily agree with your comments....that is precisely how I've always felt about them, without being able to supply a technical term. Being observed certainly clams me up....and affects the students....the observer doesn't see the real me, or the real class. Unfortunately there are those out there (eg. the British Council) who see it as an integral part of teacher development. Geeks.

[PanamaTeacher]

John--I agree 100%. What you get is a pantomine, not the real deal. Question: if it is so bad, why is it so prevalent. As a scare tactic or are truly bad teachers unable to shape up even while observed? Further, I need money--should I turn down the job or, since it is harmless, try to get the job and try to help as much as possible.

I will say this, I remember sitting in two classrooms to observe local teachers for purposes of my own training when I was new here. Both were trying to show off. One was leading a class discussion about a reading passage and it was obvious to me (but not to the students) that he did not understand the passage well. The other was teaching a class of middle- level students, and I thought he went too fast in order to get through the lesson and somethings were not explained clearly enough.

John--there is a little more to the story. I teach private SAT classes. The students of this school have been getting low SAT scores for years. Last year, I gave a private SAT class to a kid from that school. I spoke to his mom a lot by phone explaining that his level of english was too low. I told her that part of the fault was the school's poor english program. Anyway the mom is a big donor at this school. She convinced them to have an SAT class at the school. I agreed to teach the class, but I pointed out to the principal (who is taking a private beginner's class with me after school) that the problem is the english program. Based on my advice they want to change the program. The current English coordinator is not up to the task; therefore, the principal is thinking about putting me in charge of changing the program, of training the teachers and of coordinating this mess for a year or two. I would still be the SAT teacher, so it's extra money.

I want the money and it is an exciting challenge, but I don't know if I can do the job. It is one thing to criticize, it is another to bear the responsibility for change. Hence, my dilemna. I will meet with the owner next month to further the discussions. I don't have a clue about what I should say. The principal told me not to worry, since this is all preliminary, but I still worry about the idea of having to observe and correct a bunch of other teachers with my lack of education and experience in that area. It seems wrong.