Direct Assistance to Teachers free essay sample

Direct Assistance to Teachers Direct supervision is critical for instructors at all levels, but especially for new teachers. Its format of one-on-one support fosters the necessary acquisition of knowledge, interpersonal skills, and technical skills a teacher needs to truly excel in the classroom. Just like students, teachers need classroom feedback. Clinical supervision and peer coaching are currently two of the most popular forms of direct assistance. In an era of high accountability and rapid change, educational administrators must practice effective supervisory practices to ensure the academic success of their students. Continuous research on best supervisory practices is essential. A key component of effective supervision is effectively using clinical supervision and peer coaching to help guide and encourage teachers to grow as educators. By using diversified supervision, an administrator will be able to provide support and guidance where needed most. This essay will compare and contrast clinical supervision and peer coaching. Characteristics of Clinical Supervision Clinical supervision includes a formative evaluation that is nonjudgmental meant to improve instruction (Glickman Gordon, 2010). It often involves a preconference, an observation of a lesson, analysis and interpretation of teaching, and a post conference as well as critiquing the effectiveness of the process. Clinical supervision involves several definite and sequential steps. First, during the preconference with the teacher, known as the supervisor preconference, the supervisor and teacher discuss the reason, purpose, and focus of the clinical observation; the method, form, and time of the of observation and schedule a post-conference or debriefing (Glickman Gordon, 2010). After this process, the administrator must integrate clinical supervision with developmental supervision by determining what type would be most effective with the teacher based on needs (Glickman Gordon, 2010). Supervisors play a key role in the monitoring and the facilitating of teachers in their task: therefore the supervisor ought to have expertise in this area of evaluation in order to help the teacher to constantly improve his or her teaching. Strengths and Weaknesses of Clinical Supervision Pros included with this process of evaluation include determining an action plan for personal development, collaboration and encouragement with supervisor and peers, and the individual’s ability to self assess. Clinical supervision includes combining school needs with personal growth needs as well as a commitment to school goals. Negatives aspects of clinical supervision include poor planning and absence of feedback or follow-up. Also administrators need to make sure teachers understand this is a non-judgmental process to help them enhance their learning instead of being harshly critiques for what the instructional supervisor perceives as being ineffective. Clinical supervision should be used according to the teacher’s experience, readiness for change, instructional needs, and willingness to work with others. Characteristics of Peer Coaching Peer coaching is a method of supervision that enables a staff member to work with a peer teacher in a clinical setting to examine, refine, and enhance professional performance. The peers work in a collaborative relationship that involves the teacher identifying the area of study for the peer coach and then together conducting a series of pre-conferences, observations, and post-conferences. The process is designed to improve instruction by shared analysis of lesson planning, details of the lesson, observational data and feedback. Professionals who select this option should be looking for specific assistance in methods and techniques of instruction. Peer coaching has become more and more popular over the years. Since teachers naturally turn to each other for help more often than to a supervisor, and since supervision is concerned primarily with improving instruction rather than with summative evaluation, teacher helpings teachers has become a formalized and well-received way of ensuring direct assistance to every staff member (Glickman Gordon, 2010). † Clarifying the purpose and goals is very important and the first step should include discussing how t he peer-coaching program will fit the school and districts instructional goals. The characteristics of peer coaching include; Pre-observation conference, teacher presents lesson plan/relevant materials to peer coach, general characteristics of the class, objectives of the lesson/unit, instructional strategies, assessment techniques, and other pertinent specifics. Data is given to the teacher by the peer coach after the observation; teacher reviews data and schedules a post-observation conference with the peer coach. During post-observation conference, teacher will share their interpretation of the data with the peer coach. The teacher and the peer coach work collaboratively in order to examine data and determine plans for future growth and development (Salter, 2008). Strengths and Weaknesses of Peer Coaching The strengths of peer coaching helps nearly all the teachers implement new teaching strategies. Through peer coaching teachers are introduced to the new models to coach one another and is a way of ensuring direct assistance to every staff member (Glickman Gordon, 2010). Peer coaching allows for teacher collaboration and teacher growth. The disadvantages include: (1) lack of a substantial research base; (2) lack of responsiveness to certain kinds of schools; (3) the need for the school to personalize the approach before it can be effectively used; (4) sparsely defined and stipulated theoretical constructs; (5) failure to incorporate other than on-the-job kinds of skills into the model; and (6) failure to take into account the differing instructional needs of teachers at different stages of professional development, and/or ability. In other words, some school environments simply do not lend themselves well to teacher initiative and team problem-solving (Showers, B. Joyce, B. , 1996). † Contribution to the Supervisory Practice Clinical supervision is not consistent with summative evaluation but is consistent with formative evaluation and provides nonjudgmental assistance aimed at improving the teacher’s instruction (Glickman Gordon, 2010). The Peer Coaching Model of instructional supervision and evaluation appears to a good start toward replacing the essentially non-effective method of administrator evaluation. Peer coaching permits access to the teachers control over supervision. The fundamental purpose of a leader’s supervisory stance is to guide and assist teachers with the task of accomplishing the objective of the school based on his or her educational viewpoint. â€Å"Within the structure of clinical supervision, peer coaching is a recognizable structure for assistance that teachers can use to help each other. Furthermore, supervisors can be accessible, facilitate self- and group evaluation, arrange contact times, and refer specialists to teachers (Glickman Gordon, 2010). † In conclusion clinical supervision and peer coaching can both be effective ways to offer assistance to teachers. By using diversified supervision, an administrator will be able to provide support and guidance where needed most and allow teachers to grow as educators. References Glickman, C. D. , Gordon, S. P. , Ross-Gordon, J. M. (2010). SuperVision and instructional leadership (8th ed. ). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn Bacon. Salter, T. (2008). Exploring current thinking within the field of coaching on the role of supervision. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring. Retrieved on August 02, 2011 from http://www. business. brookes. ac. uk/research/areas/coaching/ Showers, B. Joyce, B. (1996). The evolution of peer coaching. Educational Leadership. Retrieved on August 02, 2011 from www. eggplant. org/pamphlets/pdf/joyce_showers_peer_coaching. pdf