Reflective Online Teaching: Coaching in Teacher Classroom Observation

Coaching in Teacher Classroom Observation:

The real role of a teacher supervisor

Last October (2012) at CCCN (San Pedro’s location), Julie Harris –OUP Academic Consultant Coordinator for Central America- gave our teacher supervisors a training session on mentoring and coaching teachers. Harris’s idea behind her workshop was to have them reflect on the way they go about their “teacher observation” sessions and to have them realize what kind of role they were actually having when working with brand new instructors.

Although I am not a teacher supervisor (but a curricular developer), the issue of teacher supervision has always called my attention for various reasons. 1. Why are we teachers observed? Traditionally, supervisors periodically visit their supervisees to evaluate their teaching class performance, but this role has usually been counterproductive emotionally speaking. On the one hand, novice teachers are scared, confused, and intimidated by a teacher supervisor. On the other hand, the role of the supervisor is rather prescriptive and critical of what a teacher is or is not doing in class. From a professional development point of view, and due to difference in teaching beliefs between the teacher and the supervisor, not much is bound to happen: no professional development and lots of doubts for the novice or veteran teacher.

2. What’s the role of the supervisor? Unfortunately, teacher supervisors have become a “critic” rather than a “coach.” At CCCN we call supervisors mentor teachers, and I still believe that, when I was a regular teacher and was supervised by Ms. Pavanno[1], no professional development was successfully triggered. As Harris pointed out in her presentation, both my mentor teacher and I had different teaching beliefs. She used to question my way of doing things in class because she was framed in TBI, our now abandoned methodology. Ms. Pavanno did not see beyond TBI although my students were learning. My usual question was, “what’s wrong if learning is taking place?” “You’re not following the method,” said she.

3. What’s the role of a mentor teacher? A partner of ours at CCCN also participating in Ms. Harris’s training session, Carlos Vargas, pointed out what a mentor is; then I realized that my supervisor was not that person that Vargas described so accurately. “A mentor is someone I want to be like; someone I feel is up there … and that I want to replicate his/her way of doing things,” stated Vargas. I am afraid Ms. Pavanno was never the person Vargas characterized and became an intruder in my class, who came to criticize my lack of commitment towards TBLT. To sum up, a mentor teacher should be a guide that could help you spot what seems to be wrong in one’s teaching to correct and polish it, not a critic who is not realizing that a given methodology is not always suitable for everything that needs to be done and covered in class.

4. “Are your supervisors mentors or coaches?, asked Harris. Based on what was stated above, CCCN’s labeling of “mentor teachers” is not accurate, and that is because our experiential learning philosophy is seeking for coaches rather than mentors. A teacher coach can help regular instructors to really work on their teacher/professional development. Since a coach is not coming to your class to criticize why you do things in a given way, s/he is a collector of information to help them reflect on what is happening in class. The coach is not a prescriptive observer who has the panacea for all teaching ailments in class. The coach become the “ears” and “eyes” in class to help us teachers become better at we do and to try new things to solve “problems” we have.

5. What’s a teaching coach? Harris, as part of her presentation, confronted us with Dr. Jack C. Richards’ insight on coaching. As part of our realization of how important is a coach for teachers, we watched the following video and answered the reflective questions provided below by Harris.

[1] Not her real name to avoid conflictive situations

A	What is J. Richards’ view of “teacher development?” Prescriptive? Reflective? Collaborative? Other?
B	What specific “actions” from the observee reflect this perspective?
B	How does J. Richards’ perspective on observation differ from your own observation practices? How is it the same?
D	What might an observer with J. Richards’ perspective expect from an observee’s classroom teaching practices? Describe the observee’s approach to teaching.
E	What roles do observer and observee play in this context?
F	What aspects might you include in classroom observation format (form) in this approach? Design it.

Julie Harris, OUP Academic Consultant Coordinator

Harris’s Final Reflection: What changes would you need to make in your current observation practices to promote autonomous teacher development? How can coaching strategies help you in the process? What are some learning tasks/strategies that you would need to set for yourself?

My personal conclusion: Teacher development is a need in education. Finding the right symbiotic way to have teachers and supervisors (coaches) work smoothly and successfully is a requirement to achieve this long-awaited mature goal: true professional development. Redefining what is being done is a need to accomplish a more mature stage in supervision where the supervisor is not an intruder and critic of what is being done, but a coach who can help teachers develop their potential to benefit students and attain a well-balanced teacher development.

ETo fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:

1	Principles in teacher supervision
2	What teacher mentoring is and is not
3	Teacher coaching
4	Teacher observation tasks
5	Teacher development using observations