The purpose of the discussion for this unit to address questions, concerns, about conducting your classroom observation and supervision analysis report. Provide a brief description of your plan for this assignment (with whom are you collaborating, where, what level of instruction, what are you observing, what goals have you decided upon for observation, etc.), and a reflection of how the process is going thus far. Conclude with your final thoughts, questions, etc. for the whole group to consider and address in response.

Overview

The following information guides you through the process of completing your peer coaching experience, including

1. understanding the process of peer coaching;
2. conducting a peer coaching observation; and
3. reflecting and reporting on your peer coaching experience.

To understand the process, review information provided below specific to the peer coaching cycle. For the process of conducing a peer observation, review and follow directions for conducting a pre-observation conference, classroom observation, and a post-observation conference. After conducting your peer coaching experience, prepare your Cycle of Clinical Supervision Analysis and submit to the unit assignment.

Directions

Part 1

As directed in Unit 4, you should have already identified a colleague with whom you will work through your peer coaching experience. Ideally, you should already have a level of trust and familiarity with your colleague. (5.1.1)

Use your judgment to establish your relationship with your colleague relative to the developmental supervision continuum. In addition, interpret and apply techniques in each phase of clinical supervision that supports the goals.

Part 2

Reference the following pages for conducting a complete peer-coaching cycle including (2.1.1):

• Pre-observation Conference,
• Classroom Observation, and
• Post-observation Conference.

Ideally, these events will occur on the same day. However, if necessary, one of the conferences may take place on the day before or after (respectively) the observation. Despite time constraints within a school, try not to skip any phase of this cycle. The planning meeting, or pre-observation conference sets the tone. Without it, the integrity of the process is greatly diminished. The post-observation meeting allows both parties to collaborate in considering and making sense of classroom events. With this information, a course of action/plan for improvement may be determined.

Part 3

Once you have completed the cycle as a peer coach, respond to the prompts and questions listed in the Peer Coaching—Cycle of Clinical Supervision Analysis. Be sure to explicitly connect to and reference course readings. Your Peer Coaching—Cycle of Clinical Supervision Analysis is due the last Sunday of Unit 5 by 11:59 p.m. (ET).

Taskstream

By the end of this semester, you are required to submit this completed assignment and scored rubric (provided by your instructor) to your individual Taskstream account. If your assignment is a final project, and thus your scored rubric is not provided to you until your final grade is calculated, then submission to Taskstream upon receipt of final grade is acceptable. If your assignment is submitted earlier in the semester, then you may update Taskstream with these required materials as soon as your assignment is graded.

After completing a cycle of peer coaching with a colleague, draft a three-part reflection, in essay format, that responds to the following: (The reflection paper should explicitly address how leadership skills, as identified within the corresponding scoring rubric, were experienced and demonstrated within the execution of the peer coaching cycle.) (5.2.2)

Introduction

Begin with an overall reflection/a brief summary of the supervision analysis. Set the setting and tone for your experience. Include the grade level and topic of the lesson that you observed. Also include a statement of how your classroom/colleague was selected and how this particular arrangement served to meet your needs. Support your ideas with course content information/peer reviewed literature as appropriate. (2.2.2)

Part I Pre-observation Reflection (2.2.3)

Draft a narrative response that describes your pre-observations conference addressing the following considerations:

• As a coach, what were your goals for the pre-conference?
• What concerns or issues did your colleague raise?
• How did you translate this concern into something observable?
• Include the data collection form you developed/utilized.
• What would you do differently the next time you had a pre-conference?

Part II Classroom Observation Reflection

Draft a narrative response that describes your classroom observation addressing the following considerations:

• Briefly describe how the observation experience was for you. Problems? Surprises?
• How well did your data collection form/tool capture what you intended?
• What would you do differently the next time you conducted an observation?

Part III Post-observation Conference Reflection (2.2.3)

Draft a narrative response that describes your post-observations conference addressing the following considerations:

• What were your goals for the post conference?
• What did your colleague learn from this experience?
• What did you learn from this experience?

Conclusion

Conclude with a wrap-up statement about your Peer Coaching Experience. Include:

• What you gained from the experience/learned about your leadership dispositions (5.2.1)
• Analysis of decisions about/within observations in terms of ethical practice (5.2.2)
• Feedback from the teacher being observed about how you did as an observer
• How the peer coaching cycle might be useful in teaching/leadership practice (5.2.1)