Post-Observation Reflection

After the post observation, I had the opportunity to review, analyze and reflect on the video conference that was held. It was clear that at the start of the post-conference video we both seemed a little antsy. I think it was difficult for Mr. Novice to see me in the role of a supervisor than his “everyday” colleague. But I think my nervousness was stemming from the anxiety of fulfilling the conference video presentation requirement.

We meet in my classroom at a round table that is normally used for parent-teacher conference or grade-level meeting. I felt this was a non-threatening place to meet because we have had several meetings together here before. I chose to sit adjacent to Mr. Novice as oppose to, across the table from him. I chose this seating arrangement because I wanted it to be a comfortable meeting so that the dialogue would be free, friendly and flowing. As an aspiring school leader, I want to be able to be a “democratic” supervisor that creates a reflective atmosphere for the staff that I work with. Hence, I did not want to seem as if I was “playing principal” but in fact, the information that I was to provide from the observation was information that could be utilized to enhance his performance as a classroom teacher.

One thing that I learned in “communication 101” years ago is that making eye-contact helps to create an effective environment for communication. The person you are communicating with will observe you as someone who is attentive and listening to what they are conveying. So this is what I strive to do from the onset.

Interestingly enough, we had to stop and rewind the recording three times because it was almost impossible for Mr. Novice to keep a straight face whenever I gave the introduction to the post-conference. I was taken aback because I realized that his thinking was as if I was “playing principal” and that I was going to have to switch my position if I was going to appear as a supervisor during this post-conference.

After the third time of rewind, I told the volunteer that was recording to keep rolling the tape and do not stop and start over even if Mr. Novice continued to “act out”. At that moment in my mind, I think that I was thinking that as an administrator there may be some instances where some of my staff may not take me serious or would challenge my authority during times of conferences or disciplinary action meetings. And I would need to be able to successfully conduct a conference without letting those types of antics become interferences.

When the recording started again, I watched my disposition and body language on the video. I observed my body language as if I was trying to exert power from the onset. Initially, I was speaking very fast and my eyebrows were lifted. I was also using finger gestures that appeared as if I was demanding attention. To confirm my observation, I rewind the recording and muted the sound to watch my actions. I seemed very frustrated and in a haste pace to finish the conference.

Contrary to my actions, Mr. Novice changed his course of disposition as well. He suddenly demonstrated a rather closed body language with his arms and legs crossed. At that moment I think that I was backing him in a “defensive” position, which is what I was striving so hard not to portray.

My tone was soft and firm and as I commended Mr. Novice on the areas that I revealed to be his strengths. His arms almost instantly unfolded. He then began a steady nod of agreeance as I praised him for relating the context of vocabulary to real life situations so that the students in his classroom could understand. He then responded with “ it is important to me that students understand the context of words and not just memorize the definitions so I believe providing them with examples can help apply an association with the word.” That statement open positive doors for me and at that moment I knew that we were very close to to the reflectivity that I was aiming for with this conference.

When I pulled out the classroom observation form, I asked him had he had the opportunity to look at the observation form that I previously sent him via e-mail. He interjected and stated that he wanted me to know that I did a very thorough job at capturing the events of the lesson. He continued by stating he was impressed to see that I had forwarded it to him for review before the post-conference and that I should mentioned the process to our current principal. I then asked him how did receiving a copy of the observation before this post-conference make him feel? He answered that it helped him to recall the events of the observation which creates dialogue in the meeting. He continued by saying that he has had two informal observation and both times they were rushed or he didn’t recall the lesson because he wasn’t given the opportunity to reflect on the lesson. At this point, I felt that the post conference had taking a turn for the best.

In retrospect, it was a complex meeting. I am not one for center-stage but what consistently raced through my mind was that my professor was going to view this video and I could not look as if I could not handle a post-conference. It started out rocky but as it continued I think that my novice teacher took a different perspective of my role and advice. All and all, I think that the post-conference was collaborative and it offered an enormous amount of reflection.

At the end of the video, Mr. Novice thanked me for the recommendations and said that even though this was a video for my class he wanted to try some of the suggestions and provide me with feedback on the outcome. (I smiled.)