Watching the video of my post-conference was very enlightening. As a whole, I'd say I used mainly the Listening and Encouraging behaviors. As you will see, these behaviors were the most appropriate because Barbie is a very capable teacher and doesn't need much direction in order to grow professionally.
I was very pleased with the environment and tone of the conference which was very collegial; there was a nice exchange of ideas and information between the two of us. We sat next to each other in order to look at each other's notes and share information. When looking at my body language, it seemed relaxed, and we both had good eye contact. The only "quirk" I noticed was that I kept my hands clasped at the beginning of the conference. Not sure if that's because I was nervous, but as the conference continued, I became more animated and used my hands more.
I felt that there was a lot of actions of encouragement and agreement. For examples, when Barbie would present one explaination, sometimes I'd echo her thoughts with another example, or "piggyback" on her idea with a similar idea. Another way I feel Barbie felt encouraged was when I suggested that share her "N2" idea with the rest of the school. I think that was a good way to make her feel important and acknowledged in the school. Although the conference was designed to have a formal tone, because Barbie and I know each other well, I did catch my self saying many "you know's", or sometimes even ending a phrase in mid-sentence.
When looking at strategies to improve instruction, various points stand out. First, during the conference, you could see the strength of the data tool I chose (purposeful observation tool). We referred to this tool on multiple occasions. In fact, at one point I used it to suggest some more collaboration time, and Barbie asked more more information using the tool. She seemed interested in seeing how the break down of activities and the amount of time spent on each one. The tool definitely helped drive our conversation and gave us something to refer to when discussing different aspects of the lesson. The other tool that was useful to discuss instructional improvements was simply, the seating chart. Barbie had asked me for data regarding on-task/engaged behavior, and the seating chart clearly showed clusters of students who were less on-task. With this data in hand, changing seating is a very easy solution in order to find the most appropriate seating for these students.
I also saw the importance of having a pre-conference before the observation. We referred to this discussion often during the post conference and the information I learned during the pre-conference helped me to focus my observation on relevant aspects of the classroom. We also discussed different things I knew about her classroom and/or the curriculum because of previous observations or other meetings we had had in the past. I believe that is another important part of the culture of the school. Teachers and administrators must feel able to discuss classroom/curriculum issues at any time, not just in the evaluative process.
In sum, I thought this conference, while perhaps a little informal, was a very positive, constructive session. I learned a lot about her teaching style, and she was very exited about opportunities to try new things. I was very happy with how it went!
