Benchmark - Clinical Field Experience D: Leading Leaders in Giving Peer Feedback

Related to Teacher Performance

David Salgado
Grand Canyon University
EAD 533 Wk.6
June 28th, 2023

Develop and Supervise Instructional and Leadership Capacity.

I am the Intern principal for the summer school program. I work specifically with the Executive

Director of curriculum and assessment to set forth the High Impact Tutoring program to work

alongside and/or assist General or ELL teachers. I met with the novice instructional leader; an

EL middle school teacher named Miguel to discuss how he could assist the tutors assigned to

work for the summer. Most High Impact tutors are paraprofessionals and are using a new

curriculum. We decided that the El instructional leader can go through a coaching cycle with the

tutor assigned to him to set high standards for the summer program.

All teachers were given 4 hours of planning before the first day of summer school, and it was

during that time that many teachers met as grade level teams or bands to discuss the curriculum's

scope and sequence. Miguel and I discussed the possible questions to ask the tutor prior to the

pre-conference. Miguel and the tutor shared a room, so the observation process was

appropriately implemented. He wrote down a script and filled a PQS to lead the discussion

during the post observation process.

Other than providing Miguel with a resource video on how to execute the post-observation

process Miguel was given free range in arranging the meeting and providing feedback. I did not

want to micro-manage him, especially since he is a veteran teacher and has had other leadership

type roles in the past.

Develop Leaders for High-Quality School Instruction and Student Learning.

My principal mentor shared his view on how developing in-school leaders improves the quality

of the school’s instruction. He mentioned that learning the will drive of teacher leaders can help

keep them motivated and engage during the long year taking responsibilities and duties that

promote school improvement and lighten the principal’s load. One way developing leaders can
help improve student learning is by being an extension of the principal’s outreach and cementing

the school’s goals across all grade levels. An example of how teacher leaders can help is by

having an active PLC, ILT, and data committee. In our school we do not have an ILT but do

have a leadership team that meets with the principal quarterly to go over grade level concerns

and initiatives.

Distributed leadership structure and Recommendations

Our school’s distributed leadership structure goes by hierarchy ranking of official titles such as

Superintendent, District office staff, principals, assistant principals, associate principals,

instructional leaders, teachers, paraprofessionals, etc. In other words, the school is

compartmentalizing by community members, administrative, clerical, and non-administrative

staff. They also use this organizational structure for the chain of communication. If someone has

a problem, concern or issue they are to report it to the attending supervisor and not go above

them. It was not always the case in our district; the previous superintendent had an open-door

policy, so all were welcomed to reach out to her. Employees who experienced the change have

expressed how it has also affected the district culture and weakened collaboration.

One recommendation I have for the district is to create a systematic approach to cultivate teacher

leaders so that some of the power can be shared among fellow teachers. The district’s message

needs to be about building collaborative and trusting relationships among all stakeholders. “To

build a culture for and sustain teacher leadership, the first step is to establish a vision for teacher

leadership in any school and/or district. However, this must be done collaboratively with input

and buy-in from all stakeholders.” (Levin, B. B., and Schrum, L. R. 2016). Teachers do have

teacher leadership roles as grade level team leader, chair or co-chair assignments for content-
based grade bands, but those titles are meaningless if teachers do not actively engage in

improving instruction as is the case in our schools. We need PD for teacher leaders and the

district to learn how to utilize these roles.

When it comes to instruction, I would recommend that administrators look towards the

implementation of dialogistic observation process. “The significant finding that creating a

dialogic lesson observation process relies upon creating a space where both the observed and

observer can ask challenging questions, led to researching what can threaten or support this.”

Congreve, R. (2015). It will not be easy at first, but shifting the mindset and putting trust back in

the hands of the educators can help define what constitutes quality feedback and improve the

coaching experience. It will also help the principals who are often stretched thin by utilizing and

maximizing the personnel’s expertise to help directly improve instruction. Each employee could

serve as a mentor, observer, and coach by learning what questions are important to ask to help

teachers reflect on their teaching practices.

References

CONGREVE, R. (2015). Using Dialogic Lesson Observations and Participatory Action Research
to Support Teacher Development. Education Today, 65(3), 16–20.

Levin, B. B., and Schrum, L. R. (2016). Every teacher a leader: Developing the needed d
ispositions, knowledge, and skills for teacher leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
ISBN-13: 9781506326436