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Field Experience C: Special Education Teacher Observation and Feedback

Ariana Gervasio
EAD 530
June 2nd, 2021
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Pre-Conference

As an educational leader, it is my job to observe and evaluate special education teachers.

The process of this would include pre-conferences, observations, and feedback. To maximize the

effectiveness of these measures, we must collaborate, be clear, and firm. While watching the

video, some effective measures include the observer guiding the conversation with questions and

note-taking. Asking things like what the objective of the lesson is, getting an understanding of

the prior-knowledge aspects, and seeing how we know the lesson was effective. The observer

had all the questions in front of them where they could easily note what the teacher has said.

Something I would suggest is that the teacher would have these questions prior. As a teacher, we

don’t just ask questions to students, but they are located somewhere where they can see it. I think

giving the teacher the ability to write talking points and see what we will ask models good

teaching. Further, I think asking the teacher what they would like feedback on is a critical portion

of supporting teacher growth and development. 

Observation

Something I noticed right away is the recognition of desirable behavior by stating the

action and student’s name. Students just want recognition, and they will show these behaviors to

get that recognition. The teacher uses an informal assessment by using Kagan structures. Before

having students complete this strategy, she models with a small group to demonstrate the

expectations. This structure helps her see what students know and also helps students collaborate

to get a better understanding from their peers. She then guided the entire class, by having

students share and ask clarifying questions to have students explain why they chose that word. I

saw a lot of independent work from a small group to an entire group. Besides stating what I saw

during feedback, I would also like to ask what the sentence frames students completed showed.
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My suggestion would be to have shorter passages so that students have more time to talk and

collaborate on what they saw. 

Formal Evaluation Tool

I talked to my mentor about ways they use our formal evaluation tool for our special

education teachers. He stated we do not use a separate tool for these teachers, but he thinks he

does a good job of asking probing questions to these teachers to better their growth. My mentor

talks a lot about it is not about the tool, but more about how you guide the conversation to

understand what is going on in the classroom within student achievement and what measures

could he support the teacher to grow. He states it is always important to talk to our special

education department to hear of new strategies and implementations they have heard and seen, so

he could either suggest these strategies or look for certain developments in his teachers. 

Reflection

Throughout this process, I have learned numerous strategies that will be beneficial for me

when observing a special education teacher. Based on what my mentor stated, I think it is

beneficial to see the guidelines and policies my district has on observing special education

teachers. Then talking to my special education teachers about what they need and reflecting this

conversation with our special education department at the district level. The National Policy

Board for Educational Administration (2015) explained, in standard 5 section c, the importance

of having coherent systems set in place to meet the needs of students. Like I said before, I think

it is important to first see what the district wants and what I can implement to create a tool that is

feasible and would then benefit student achievement because we are investing in the growth of

our teachers. 
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Reference

National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2015). Professional standards for

educational Leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author. Retrieved from http://npbea.org/wp-

content/uploads/2017/06/Professional-Standards-for-Educational-Leaders_2015.pdf