I got some key learnings out of Thursday's experience of being profiled teaching Douglas's class.
1. It is imperative that we treat teachers with the utmost respect.
Leave the sheets in a sealed envelope immediately after the profile session, straight after photocopying them. Be sure that you pre-arrange a reflection session, preferably the day following the profile.
It is so important that we don't take the attitude, "I am an expert on teaching (or behaviour management or whatever) and I am watching you and will let you know how you did".
We are providing a service. Teachers are doing us a favour by allowing us into their classrooms. This is a sacred trust. Honour it and honour them. If we don't get that right, there is no point in doing this at all - no matter how "correct" we get the details. The feedback we give teachers needs to be respectful, honest and meaningful in their terms.
This comes back to Susan's point about having a vision. That's my vision - that we respect and support teachers. We need to convey that clearly and right from the start - or they are not going to want to know about it.
It's also of great importance that our workloads accommodate our ability to do this. If we don't have the time and the cognitive space to do it right, we can't do it. This will definitely require planning and may require negotiation about workloads.
2. It's easy to get videos made.
It wasn't perfect. I am sure to cringe when I see it. I didn't fully explain to Ian the purpose of the video and so he may have got too crafty with his shooting.
That doesn't matter. The important thing is, the video got made. We've made a start. The purpose was not to capture an exemplary lesson - it was to start to build a bank of resources that can be used for training - ie observation practice. I've done it - you can do it too. And we can only get better.
3. Another point that Susan made in conversation with me: in adult learning situations, it is not only the teacher who is responsible for behaviour management. I agree with Susan, and this is something we need to think about more.
A mature Torres Strait Islander man directed another student at one stage in the lesson to do something and this was marked as an example of 'disruptive behaviour' on the sheet. In my experience, and in my opinion, that man has more authority over other (younger) Torres Strait Islander students in the classroom or elsewhere, than I have. This (meaning the broader issue, not so much the specific example) needs a lot of further discussion.
4. The above point relates to a broader issue again. I'm much more interested in being "a guide on the side" than "a sage on the stage". Yes we do need to develop skills for sustaining positive and harmonious relations in learning situations - but I don't see the teacher's role as 'maintaining discipline'. Again, a topic for more discussion.
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2 comments:
Fisrt of all, congratulations on getting the video data collection started, Martha! Well done! I am sure the rest of us will follow. We need the data to be recorded so we can start developing our own pool of resources and developing feedback sheets on the behaviours occuring in TAFEs.
Secondly, it sounded as though your profiling experience was a little less encouraging than you thought it may be? I am very aware that we are all learning how to do this profiling thing, so there are bound to be slips and teething problems. I am glad you are willing to be part of that process.
Thirdly, I want to get another idea the boards for discussion - that of the skill a Teacher employs for linking students together for learning purposes. I see that as a very positive behavioural strategy - that if we can notice common links between learners and encourage them to learn from each other, we have enhanced the learning environment. It is an adult learning environment strategy, I think.
Anyway, lets keep sharing and discovering and discussing.
Susan
Thanks Susan. I didn't mean to imply that my experience of being profiled wasn't positive. It just gave me a different perspective and got me thinking about things. I have strong feelings about these things and so voiced them strongly.
I agree there are bound to be teething problems and some mistakes made as we work through the process. That's why I feel we shouldn't get too bogged down in details. Yes we do need to focuson the specifics of what's on the sheets and be sure that we observe and record accurately - but I believe at this stage it's far more important that we know WHY we're doing it, and I believe we're doing it because we want to support and encourage and respect teachers. If we're too hung up on details there's a risk of setting ourselves up as "experts" who can't see the forest for the trees.
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