Please note: These live learning blogs are posted on the fly, and I am more concerned with capturing information rather than perfecting my writing/proofreading skills. So yes, there might be mistakes, and no, it’s not the next great American novel. We’ll live!

Presenter: Ms. Virginia Markman (American School Foundation of Guadalajara)

The steps of this process:

• Mini observation – short, unannounced, classroom visit
• The mini observation should be followed up with a face-to-fact coaching session as soon as possible. (Feedback conversations)
• Shared framework – Kim Marshall

The old system (more about documenting than professional growth)

• part 1: formal evaluation, just for new teachers. Involved the traditional system – pre-conference, a complete block observation, post-conference. New teachers for first 3 years
• part 2: informal evaluation, for returning teachers after first 3 years. Then they’d get a formal every three years (no conversation, just one-way written feedback)
• part 3: peer observation – teachers seem to really like it. Feel like it impacts their growth as a teacher. Appreciate the nudge of it being a requirement. (Maintained in the new plan)
• part 4: professional goals and reflection (teachers might not love it, but it’s a good habit of mind)
• their domains were more like a checklist rather than a scale (rubric).

Sense of urgency in international schools is different from that of US schools. The good thing about that is that we can be more flexible and make it more about growth. But the negative is that it also makes it easy to fall off the plate because we are so busy.

Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_ruv3BvHJYpD74wxJ2EVRj3OA1a3f2dfLRmisqNjN30/present?slide=id.g23d347f9763_0_6

New System

• Mini-observations and feedback conversations – totally replaced the formal observations (at least 5 per teacher per year). Any written feedback still needs to be stored somewhere and shared with teachers. Kim Marshall recommends that you visit 10 times, but ASF Guadalajara is recommending 5. Takes a lot of work to get to 5, and might not happen, but be committed to it. She scheduled 3 per day but was happy if she got 1. Visit all 24 teachers once and then go into a second cycle. Don’t binge on one teacher – if you do cycles, it spaces them out nicely. Admin visit grade level or vertical team meetings twice a month. This helps to be involved in the feedback loop.
• Framework – Kim Marshall (included in resources) https://sites.google.com/asfg.edu.mx/supportive-teacher-development/home – used as self-assessment tool. Admin doesn’t “grade” them – they don’t feel like they need to do that. Self-assessment works well and it’s powerful enough. Through their reflections, they decide what they want to work on – used as resource for professional goal setting. Admin intentionally connects the evidence to the standards/language from the rubric.
• Peer observations – 2 per year – teachers wanted to keep it.
• End of year reflection meetings with every staff member (face to face) – May or so, before it’s too crazy. Not talking about a particular lesson, but a general conversation to reflect on the year and their goals. It’s also an opportunity for teachers to give admin feedback. Best to get feedback from teachers in a one-on-one environment, rather than in a staff meeting or anonymous survey. After that, submit paperwork to HR.

Influences: Robert Marzano, Kim Marshall, Charlotte Danielson, Justin Baeder, James Stronge

They chose Kim Marshall’s framework b/c it was the most simple, least number of standards, and open source. Any school can use the model and customize to fit your context.

Book Rec: Rethinking Teacher Supervision and Evaluation, Kim Marshall; here’s the link to his article about it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YP2UABMWFqAhFO_wsOrp1wH_9ufEk-EZ/view?usp=drivesdk

Positive Outcomes

• Builds rapport and relationships (especially with the teachers who are typically more quiet). When teachers know you will have these discussions 5+ times a year, they’ll know you’re not a snoopervisor.
• Meaningful discussion of teaching and learning.
• Opportunities for Cognitive Coaching – DON’T GIVE A SUGGESTION IF YOU DON’T NEED TO
• Two-way street. You will learn so much by talking to teachers
• Creates culture of growth and common language (ps – you can put the rubric into AI and then type in something that happened in the classroom. The AI will connect what you observed to the rubric….WHAT)
• Daily pulse of the school
• Adult social-emotional learning – authentic and supporting
• Accountability and quality assurance