Observations

The below are supervisor-mentor suggestions for observations in the special needs classroom:

¨ The supervising teacher should move in and out of the classroom to give the mentor teacher opportunities to function independently.

¨ The supervising teacher should invite the prospective teacher to observe his/her teaching.

¨ The supervising teacher should use discretion in written comments about observations.

¨ The supervising teacher may be involved in other activity such as grading papers or working with an individual during informal evaluation periods.

¨ The supervising teacher should use positive reinforcement through facial expressions.

¨ The supervising teacher should observe regularly alternating between formal and informal evaluation.

¨ The supervising teacher should follow up with suggestions for growth rather than criticism of performance.

¨ The supervising teacher should observe performance in the inclusion classrooms when applicable.

¨ The supervising teacher should make sure the prospective teacher realizes that he/she is being informally observed by others in the building.

¨ The supervising teacher should be sure to let the prospective teacher know where he/she will be in the building when out of the classroom.

· Challenge: “Stagefright”

The student teacher does not like the supervising teacher observing her teaching.

Comment:

The uneasiness of being observed may vary. A student teacher realizes that an experienced teacher is watching and making judgments about one’s abilities. However, there may be a lack of planning on the part of the student teacher or perhaps the supervising teacher is sending nonverbal messages to the student that suggest dissatisfaction with the quality of instruction being presented.

Suggested Course of Action:

Ask the student teacher to observe your teaching to identify some aspect of your teaching such as approaches used for classroom management, pacing, gender preference, or nonverbal communication. This may help the student teacher understand how observation is used for growth in teaching, even by experienced teachers.

Determine whether or not proper planning is at the root of the issue.

Make sure that observations are followed up with discussion about what was observed. Observe frequently so that the student teacher grows accustomed to your being in the room.

Informal evaluation can be effective while doing other work such as grading papers or working with an individual student.

Team teaching lessons may be an effective way to informally evaluate.

Be careful not to interrupt the student teaching unless the student teacher runs into difficulty and does not know how to overcome it. Student behavior that could result in injury should always be interrupted.