Post-Observation Thoughts......

The post observation conference was held in the classroom of the teacher, during one of her and mine free periods. There was a small table in the back of the room that we used during the hour long follow-up. We sat next to each other rather than across from the table creating a more collegial environment and open for discussion and sharing. One thing that I noticed was how I would use a cup of coffee to help me divide up the conversation. During the first part of the post observation, I summarized the observation with the teacher listening. Through her visual clues, I knew if we agreed on an observed behavior or item and when we did not agree or clarification was needed. Since the beginning was a summary, I ended up doing most of the talking. A few times, I would ask some questions to clarify what I had seen. The observation sheet has a space for writing questions which helped a lot in the post –observation. I had many questions that guided the conversation towards academics, rules, physical space and other ideas. As I asked a question, I would sit back
(take a sip of coffee) and visually let the teacher know that it was her time to talk and analyze the situation. The whole observation process was smooth and we were both pleased with the results. I have done observations in the past and new the process to help the teachers best I could. We both were able to learn from this experience while helping student learning. The teacher was given some great ideas to use for the same lesson next year, but also ideas that can be implemented immediately in the classroom to improve the atmosphere. I do feel that the meeting was a bit long and felt bad taking away from the teacher’s planning period, but it was a great form of individual professional development. Another issues that I was worried about was the grade level (4th) having never taught it before, I was worried that the teacher would not value my input. In the future, I would like to email the summary to the teacher, along with some of the questions that I had jotted down before the post observation. This might help the teacher to have more thoughtful answers, reduce the stress, and shorten the time of the meeting. Overall, it was a great experience and felt awesome to be able to share knowledge with a co-worker through observation.