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Field Experience D: Beginning Teacher Observation and Feedback

Wendy Gilbert

Educational Leadership, Grand Canyon University

EAD 530

Dr. Joanie Hudson

March 15, 2023

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Field Experience D: Beginning Teacher Observation and Feedback

For this field experience, I observed a teacher who is currently completing her

coursework for certification. She has been employed by the district as a long-term substitute

teacher in a fifth grade classroom for about two months. She will officially student teach in the

fall. Prior to accepting this position, she was a practicum student in my classroom. Because of

this we have a strong working relationship and a mutual interest in helping each other to grow

and develop professionally.

Summary of Pre-Conference, Observation, and Post-Conference

Prior to observing this teacher’s reading lesson, I met with her to discuss her lesson plan,

how she will differentiate instruction, assessment plan, and classroom management system.

During the pre-conference, the teacher told me that her learning intention would be, “I am

learning about what is important parts of an informative writing report,” and her success criteria

for the lesson would be, “I can describe the important parts of an informative writing report.”

She explained that she differentiates instruction during her reading block by having students

grouped heterogeneously to provide support to one another. She also circulates to provide

additional support as needed, paying most attention to groups that she knows will struggle most.

She also monitors students by walking around as part of her classroom management plan. She

circulates to hold students accountable for meeting learning and behavioral expectations.

Students in her class worked together to create a respect agreement which is used to hold one

another accountable for displaying mutual respect in the classroom.

During the pre-conference, I made the recommendation that the teacher have students use

a collaboration strategy during the lesson. Collaboration is an area of focus at our school right
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now and we are emphasizing utilizing collaboration structures to increase student engagement. I

suggested having students work with shoulder partners to answer structured questions.

The teacher began the lesson by introducing a close reading prompt, “Reread paragraph

3-6 and 15-20. What inference can be drawn from the information on these pages? Explain how

you came to that conclusion citing quotes from the text.” This assignment was projected on the

board.

The teacher assigned half the class to read paragraphs 3-6 and the other half to read

paragraphs 15-20, then monitored students to make sure they were on task and check for

understanding. Students discussed the main idea of their assigned passage of text with their

group and talked about inferences based on what they had read. Students said such things as, “In

paragraph six it’s talking about being thirsty, lonely and homesick so I think he must be feeling

depressed because he had to see people moan and he said that he saw a lot of sadness during war.

I can make an inference that war is not a good experience.” The teacher reinforced this by

saying, “So this is your inference. It’s what you understand from the text, right?”

After students read and annotated the text, the teacher had students take out their reading

packet to record quotes from the text and inferences using a two-column note graphic organizer.

The teacher used a call and response to get the students’ attention. She called on specific groups

to share quotes from the text and inferences the group came up with. The teacher modeled two-

column notes on the board using what students said. The teacher mentioned statistics that

students pointed out in the text on a previous day and asked what inferences could be made from

that information.
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During the lesson, there were multiple examples that showed that the teacher has a

positive rapport with her students. A student could not find her reading packet. The teacher

helped her look for it in her binder and reminded student to put those papers in her writing

section so she can find it easily. The teacher called on teacher helper to advance to next slide as

she was teaching. The teacher’s voice was hoarse and she was wearing a mask. Several students

asked if she was feeling sick, said she should get a fan to keep herself cool, and offered to help

her with tasks in the classroom. The students were quiet and respectful, and occasionally held

each other accountable by reminding classmates to be quiet while the teacher was talking. All

students in the class were engaged in learning as evidenced by text annotations, small group

conversations, the whole group discussion, and completion of two-column notes.

The teacher closed the lesson by having students work with shoulder partners to complete

a vocabulary activity. Students sorted words in the passage they had just read based on their

prefixes, then talked to their partners to come up with a shared definition based on context clues

and their knowledge of the meaning of the prefixes.

During the post-conference, I met with the teacher and discussed how she felt the lesson

went. I asked what she would do exactly the same in the future and if there was one thing she

would change. I also provided specific examples of what I saw and heard while I was in the

classroom. I focused on what I saw students say and do while they were working with their

groups annotating text and working with shoulder partners on the vocabulary activity. I also

brought up the fact that all students were engaged most of the time that I was observing her

lesson. I reinforced her use of collaboration to increase student engagement throughout the

lesson. It was apparent that students knew her expectations for group work and worked to reach

them.
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I asked the teacher reflective questions about her use of questioning. I observed that

during the lesson she called on the same three students a total of 14 times. She called on other

students in the class a total of four times. The teacher was surprised by this observation, but

admitted that she often calls on students who she knows will have the correct answer to keep the

lesson going. She also calls on these students because they are eager and willing participants.

Upon reflecting, the teacher said that she will use a system to call on random students rather than

always calling on students who raise their hand.

Recommendations for Effective Use of Technology

When the teacher mentioned that she was seeking a system to call on students at random,

I suggested that she use the tool on Class Dojo to call on students. There is an application on that

website that allows teachers to call on random students. Students are more engaged in learning

when they are called on at random since they know that they may have to share an answer even

if they have not volunteered to do so. “True calling of non-volunteer students means that the

possibility of students being called on more than once or even two times in a row can occur at

any time,” (Neer, 2017).

I also suggested to the teacher that she could use Google Slides to create the two-column

note template for her students. Students could use the Google platform to collaborate with one

another rather than writing their notes on separate papers. She could also project students’ work

rather than writing their responses on the whiteboard. This would increase students’ voice and

agency in the classroom, and would help students to practice 21st century skills of using

technology to collaborate with peers.

Promotion of Collaboration, Trust, and Personalized Learning Environment

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Coaching this teacher promoted a school culture conducive to collaboration, trust, and a

personalized learning environment with high expectations for all students. “Informal professional

conversations… must occur in a culture in which everyone recognizes the nature of power in a

professional organization and the responsibility of those with positional authority to use that

authority to promote high levels of student engagement and learning. That can only occur if

conversations about practice are conducted in an environment of trust and respect, and the

conversations challenge the thinking of both parties to the conversation,” (Danielson, 2015, p.

111). Because I have worked with this teacher in the past, we had a baseline level of trust so that

she was comfortable with my presence in her classroom. I have also observed her teaching

multiple times in the past, so I was able to speak to her growth and give her additional feedback

to help refine her practice.

Although I am new in my position, this teacher respects my positional authority because I

have been her mentor for most of this school year. This was also a great opportunity to show the

new teacher that I am continuing to seek opportunities to grow and refine my own practices. She

is constantly asking me for feedback and showing that she wants to improve. This was a valuable

opportunity to ask her to contribute to that collaborative conversation to improve outcomes for

all teachers and students by asking her to give me honest feedback to help me to improve as a

coach and a future evaluator.

Self-Awareness, Vulnerability, Transparency, and Ethical Behavior

This field experience aligned with PSEL Standard 2b, “Act according to and promote the

professional norms of integrity, fairness, transparency, trust, collaboration, perseverance,

learning, and continuous improvement,” (NPBEA, 2015).

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While I am very comfortable with this teacher, I made sure that I was self-aware of how I

presented myself during the pre-conference, observation, and post-conference. I made sure that

all communication with the teacher was professional, but friendly. I maintained a positive tone,

and made sure that my body language showed that I was truly present and interested in what the

teacher had to say. While it was tempting to interrupt at times, I made sure to allow the teacher to

do the majority of the talking.

This was inherently a very vulnerable experience. This teacher has expressed that she

views me as an “expert” and has been very complementary towards my teaching practices and

my professionalism as a school leader. Prior to meeting with her, I humbly expressed what I

wanted to do and told her that I wanted to use this as an opportunity to learn and grow. It was a

little uncomfortable giving her constructive feedback, even though I know that she seeks it

regularly and wants to constantly improve and refine her practice.

I also made sure that I was very transparent throughout the entire process. As an assistant

principal intern, I will be evaluating teachers next school year. This year I am evaluating

classified staff. I did not want the new teacher to view this process as a part of her formal

evaluation. I made sure that I spoke candidly and openly as I let her know that this was my first

experience going through the entire coaching cycle independently.

I acted ethically by maintaining confidentiality throughout this process. I told the teacher

that this observation would not be evaluative, so I made sure not to let the principal know

specific details about the lesson. I did not want any part of this cycle to influence the teacher’s

summative evaluation ratings. I also told the teacher that her name would be left off of all

documentation related to this assignment.

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This was a great opportunity to grow and refine my practice as an instructional leader. I

look forward to continuing to grow and develop as I work along teachers to help them to do the

same. I want to become a school leader so that I can impact change in my school and in my

community. This field experience gave me a chance to begin to impact that change.
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References

Danielson, C. (2015). Danielson. Talk about teaching! (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.

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

Educational Leaders 2015. Reston, VA: Author.

Neer, Mike. (2017, June 8). “Why aren’t all students raising their hands?” Dataworks

Educational Research. https://dataworks-ed.com/blog/2017/06/checking-for-

understanding-calling-nonvolunteers/#:~:text=And%20calling%20on%20Non

%2DVolunteers,%3B%20and%204)%20Recalled%20Information.