11.22.10 November 2010 In-Service - Looking at this year's PDP

[Susan FitzGibbon]

11/22/10
This year, I would like to continue the observation process in a different discipline, math. I would still like to think about whether I'm giving my students timely, actionable feedback in a positive way. My typical math class consists of checking for understanding of the prior day's HW. Sometimes I get bogged down here, with kids who missed many problems in the HW and need reteaching, but that's rarely the case for all students.

What follows is a math message activity to get started on the new lesson. Sometimes this math message occurs during homeroom, which may be hours prior to the class. Following that, there's direct instruction of the lesson with some teacher guided practice. Student participation is elicited, but my focus is always on the process, not the exact answer.
The area I'd like to improve is the next portion of class, where students try it on their own. I know I have a few students who regularly need substantial help, a few who rarely need help, and several who need just a little assistance. As I circulate around the room to each and all students, I would like to apply the same skills I worked on last year of timely, actionable and timely feedback to individual students.

Post Conference:
Should be based on data. Should not be based on whether I think the lesson is good or bad. Observer should destroy the data, or give it back to the observed teacher. It should be non-evaluative, non-threatening. It should be a good reflection time, thinking back on student behavior, actual observed vs. desired. The added benefit should be that the colleague is available for shared conversation that is from peer-to-peer.