Name Becky L.

Hines Coach Annice Williams

Project I4
End of Semester Reflection
Fall 2019

The reflection serves as a final “project” or assignment for receiving the three graduate credits
for the fall 2019 semester. Your attention for about an hour to fully respond to the questions
will be helpful to the Project I4 team in framing the Spring micro-credential course.

We need quantitative data on observations and EC-NIC meetings.

1. Approximate number of teacher observations you conducted this semester: 6

2. Number of observations of EC-NIC members this semester: 4

3. Number of EC-NIC meetings you facilitated this semester: 4

In all of your responses to the questions below, we need specific and complete examples that
support your perceptions of what happened and how effectively the observations and
conversations contributed to your growth and development and how teachers make decisions
about changing their practices.

4. Describe your efforts in cultivating relational trust* with your EC-NIC (i.e., activities you
facilitated to cultivate trust and create interactions among your EC-NIC).

Relational trust was the topic for 3 out of our 4 meetings. Each meeting we had a prompt
about trust either to define it, relate it to our roles within the school, or to discuss how we
can build trust amongst all stakeholders within the school. As an EC-NIC the relationships
have grown and the teachers have become very vulnerable in sharing their weaknesses and
asking for help on how to turn that weakness into a strength. Several teachers have been
into other’s classrooms to see how they facilitate certain activities and/or conversations
amongst students. When check-in scores came back I had conversations with each math
teacher in the EC-NIC at their request to discuss how to improve student proficiency.
Overall the trust amongst this group of educators has grown significantly over the semester
and I look forward to it continuing to grow.
 *relational trust fosters a set of organizational conditions, some structural and others social-psychological,
that make it more conducive for individuals to initiate and sustain the kinds of activities necessary to affect
productivity improvements

5.Describe the specific factual evidence/data you collected using the Calling-On and Question
Form observation tools.

Utilizing these specific tools was very enlightening to me. I found them to be quite a profound
tool to be able to have factual conversations with teachers about specific equity situations in
their classrooms. With the Calling-On tool I found that teachers need to expose more students
to opportunities to share in their classrooms. Wait time I feel is what we lack because students
are expected to answer so quickly so that teacher can move on to the next question. The lack
of wait time excludes students that need more processing time than some of their peers.
Having students do more think-pair-share will give students more of an opportunity to
contribute to the class versus just calling on the same 30% of students all the time. The
Question Form provided a lot of insight as well, showing me that teachers are not spending
much time if any preparing deeper level questions. Most of the questions were “give me the
answer” versus “explain to me how you came to your answer.” Once again, the wait time was
nearly nonexistent, except for the one class where the teacher was extremely conscious during
her math talks of having all students get their answer prior to asking for students to tell her
how they came to that answer. The only time students were able to talk was when the
bilingual students were translating to the Spanish only speakers.

5a. How did you organize and/or use the data in the conversations with teachers?

For the follow-up conversations with teachers I used the prompts provided and also took
guidance from Linda’s video introducing the new style as an experiment. The teachers took the
conversations well and walked away with a tangible item to work on.

5b. What are your takeaways from using these data in conversations?

The biggest take-away was being able to have a factual conversation with teachers that in no
way was judgmental or my perspective. The teachers at both of my schools continuously meet
or exceed growth so this was helpful for them to see that there are things that can be improved
upon to help build more equity within all of their classrooms.
6.Describe the conversations you are having with your teachers after observing them team
(i.e., have your conversations changed from how you conduced observational feedback in the
past? If so, describe how. Be sure to expand on the use of data in your conversations).

Yes. Previous conversations, no matter how hard I tried, came across as what I liked, did not
like or perceived, with no factual observation points. These tools have transformed the way
post-conference and general teacher conversations have occurred this year. The conversations
are more focused on equity for each and every student versus what the teacher did or did not
do. With the conversation focusing on what is best for students versus the teacher it is hard for
the teacher to be upset or not take the feedback and turn it into a tool for bettering their
practices. When I have a piece of paper detailing what occurred during a 20 or 45 minute
observation versus my anecdotal notes the conversation is not based on perception or bias but
facts and my teachers have responded well to that. These few tools have been such a success
that next year I want to give the staff 4-5 of the tools to choose from and have one of the areas
a part of their PDP goal. This will allow teachers to really work on an area that they choose and
the feedback is something they have essentially asked for versus me choosing a tool for them
during their observation.

7.Describe your most significant accomplishment this Fall (e.g., perhaps an initial challenge
that you were able to overcome).

I believe the biggest accomplishment is giving factual, quantitative, and precise data from which
any teacher can grow his/her practice has been the biggest accomplishment this semester. This
has also helped with the building of trust since the data is black and white, no gray. Last year I
was not involved in observations at Roseboro so this year, compelteing these observations with
the tools was a way to show teachers I am truly vested in teaching practices that provide an
equitable education for every child.

8. How have your leadership efforts changed this semester? (e.g., your approach to observing
classroom, post observation conversations, facilitating meetings, etc.)

This has been the start of my second year as assistant principal at my two schools. The
difference in what I know now versus last year is tremendous. Last year I had the opportunity to
build relationships and make some incremental changes in processes and functions at the
school level. This year has been exciting from the standpoint of coming in with a knowledge
base and clear vision for what needs to happen this year. I am fortunate to have two principals
that allow me to work my strengths at both places. I have taken on the curriculum leader in
both schools and work constantly with teachers reviewing data and trends.
Having this base knowledge of student and teacher performance from last year has provided
me the opportunity to really dig in to how we can serve our students better. Taking from the
Project I4 experience this summer I have been able to build a better understanding of
mindfulness and its role in helping not only students, but teachers as well, to be more in control
of their thoughts and actions. Some of our most vulnerable students need self-regulation
strategies more than academics at this point in their life. Although, we cannot stop teaching
them we have been able to provide them strategies and tools to help calm themselves as
needed and focus their attention on the current task.

As well, my overall focus had been on equity for each and every child and how we can make
their school experience the best possible. Last year, I did not look through the equity lens as
much as I would like to say I did. But this year, each account or situation I look at how it effects
the equity of my students and their capacity to learn in a safe and inviting climate.

9.With particular attention to equity challenges that need to be addressed, what are next steps
in working with the school-based EC-NIC (e.g., what are your plans for the Spring 2020
semester)?

The plan for next semester is to continue the equity conversations during the EC-NIC meetings
and one-on-one meetings. How can we (teachers and admin) provide an environment where
every child is empowered to learn and explore topics through academics. I would like to do
more of the calling-on and questioning observations so that we can improve those two
practices to the point where we no longer see inequity in the classroom on those two specific
points.