"My ECE Assignment" series is meant to demystify ECE and make it a more pleasurable endeavour for those of us who are willing to commit to it :
Module: Supervision
Individual Assignment: Case Study Project – Mechanics of Supervision
1. Profile of Supervisee
a) Name : Teacher J Age : 31
b) Period of Knowing the Teacher : 13 months
c) Adult Development Stage : Stage 6 - Intimacy vs Isolation
d) Teacher Development Stage : Stage 2 – Consolidation
e) Needs of the Teacher:
As an adult, J is looking at establishing a stronger sense of self. She relates strongly to her role as an early childhood educator. As a parent herself, she seemed intent on making a success of both her roles as a parent and as an educator. This seems to be her primary need, at the moment.
As a teacher, J seeks to consolidate her experiences she has gained over the past 3 years working in a childcare centre environment. She believes she has the skills to focus on individual students and help them in furthering or accelerating their individual developments.
2. Plan – The Model
a) Introduction
Teacher J is grappling with the issue of managing a specific focus child in her class. The child, M (5.3) has been exhibiting behaviours that she regards as aggressive. M bites, kicks and punches other children in his class. His behavior has caused frequent disruptions to J’s class lessons. More importantly, it has caused the parent of 1 of the children affected by M’s (5.3) behaviour to lodge a formal complaint to the Centre. The affected child has described to her parent about M’s (5.3) unruly behaviour towards her in class.
b) Objective of Plan
To provide J with the support necessary to better manage M (5.3) in her class environment so that disruptions to her lessons are minimized, and M (5.3) can be put on a path of more acceptable behaviours in class.
c) Short-term goals
i) To give J an objective view of her lesson delivery in class and of M’s (5.3) behaviour through my observations, as her supervisor.
ii) To give her the support necessary to manage M (5.3) better in class.
d) Long-term goal
i) To bring about a positive change in the behaviour of M (5.3) that will be for the long term.
e) Process and Strategies
i) To observe J’s class, when M (5.3) is present, for 30 minutes.
ii) To provide a lesson observation record of a typical class she is teaching..
iii) To provide feedback to J, and draw up an action plan to meet both the short-term and long-term goals.
iv) To involved the parents of M (5.3) if his behaviour has not improved after 4 weeks of closer observations.
3. Self Evaluation
a) Reflecting the Supervisory Process
The supervisory process that I have deployed here gave a methodical way of dealing with a specific issue that a teacher was facing, in this case, managing the challenging behaviours of a focus child, through a lesson observation.
The process enabled both the teacher and I, as her supervisor, to be clear about our objective of the plan. Both short-term and long-term goals were discussed and clarified. More importantly, they were agreed to. This process gave me the sense that the teacher was committed to meeting the goals, precisely because they were jointly discussed and documented. The teacher had a stake, as it were, in making sure that the goals were met.
However, what made this process a little more challenging for the both of us, was the factor of time. Or the lack of it, to be precise. Within the rigours of a typical day, the time available for following up on the observations and analyses was the most pressing. But with both of us taking a committed stance to wanting to make a positive change for the focus child, M (5.3), this supervisory process lent itself well to managing issues of this nature.
b) Beliefs and Values as a Supervisor
As a supervisor, I carry these 3 beliefs and values:
i) that a teacher will always want to do her best for the children in her class if given the right environment and the right level of support. By environment, I mean both the physical and emotional aspect of the environment within a preschool. By support, I refer to the support from the management. If both of these conditions are made available to the teacher, it is my belief that the teacher will deliver her best work.
ii) it is incumbent upon the teacher to act as the “first-port-of-call” for the children in her class. By this, I mean that the children must view the teacher as the first sanctuary when they feel that they are in trouble, when in school. This puts the teacher’s role as that of a counselor, as well as her primary role in teaching.
iii) as a supervisor, I value honesty and character on the part of the teacher. This means that the teacher has to be truthful in situations where conflicts between them and the parents, or their colleagues have arisen. Only then will the real character of the teacher be brought to the fore. As a supervisor, I understand the daily pressures of delivering the duties of a teacher in an early childhood education setting. But the honesty from a teacher must never be compromised.
c) Strengths and Weakness as a Supervisor
Strengths:
I view my clarity in communicating the goals of a project as my strength. As part of management, clear communications to staff members is a very important job requirement for a supervisor. This will allow for common objectives to be relayed to the staff succinctly and as accurately as possible so that everyone in the team is fully synchronized to achieve those common objectives.
Being a supervisor for only 1 year, my level of experience in the supervisory field is relatively low. This, I regard, as my weakness. There are numerous challenges in supervision that I have yet to experience, or significant challenges to overcome in the course of being a supervisor. These challenges could be a parent-centred or an administrative issue that may impact the entire centre. As such, a lengthier period as a supervisor will stand me in good stead.
e) Changes in the Future
A change that I would like to see happen in the future is in providing more proactive support for the teaching staff in my team. Instead of acting on a specific complaint from a parent, I would like to embark on a quarterly review of each teacher that involves in-class observations by me, as their supervisor.
This will enable a proper assessment to be made of the teacher’s challenges in class on a typical day. This action would enable me to detect the presence of an overly aggressive child in a class and determine if a teacher requires assistance in managing that child, therefore pre-empting another case of a parent lodging a formal complaint.
4. Appendix
(A) Journal of Meetings with Teacher J
(B) Observation Record of Teacher J
Individual Assignment: Case Study Project – Mechanics of Supervision
1. Profile of Supervisee
a) Name : Teacher J Age : 31
b) Period of Knowing the Teacher : 13 months
c) Adult Development Stage : Stage 6 - Intimacy vs Isolation
d) Teacher Development Stage : Stage 2 – Consolidation
e) Needs of the Teacher:
As an adult, J is looking at establishing a stronger sense of self. She relates strongly to her role as an early childhood educator. As a parent herself, she seemed intent on making a success of both her roles as a parent and as an educator. This seems to be her primary need, at the moment.
As a teacher, J seeks to consolidate her experiences she has gained over the past 3 years working in a childcare centre environment. She believes she has the skills to focus on individual students and help them in furthering or accelerating their individual developments.
2. Plan – The Model
a) Introduction
Teacher J is grappling with the issue of managing a specific focus child in her class. The child, M (5.3) has been exhibiting behaviours that she regards as aggressive. M bites, kicks and punches other children in his class. His behavior has caused frequent disruptions to J’s class lessons. More importantly, it has caused the parent of 1 of the children affected by M’s (5.3) behaviour to lodge a formal complaint to the Centre. The affected child has described to her parent about M’s (5.3) unruly behaviour towards her in class.
b) Objective of Plan
To provide J with the support necessary to better manage M (5.3) in her class environment so that disruptions to her lessons are minimized, and M (5.3) can be put on a path of more acceptable behaviours in class.
c) Short-term goals
i) To give J an objective view of her lesson delivery in class and of M’s (5.3) behaviour through my observations, as her supervisor.
ii) To give her the support necessary to manage M (5.3) better in class.
d) Long-term goal
i) To bring about a positive change in the behaviour of M (5.3) that will be for the long term.
e) Process and Strategies
i) To observe J’s class, when M (5.3) is present, for 30 minutes.
ii) To provide a lesson observation record of a typical class she is teaching..
iii) To provide feedback to J, and draw up an action plan to meet both the short-term and long-term goals.
iv) To involved the parents of M (5.3) if his behaviour has not improved after 4 weeks of closer observations.
3. Self Evaluation
a) Reflecting the Supervisory Process
The supervisory process that I have deployed here gave a methodical way of dealing with a specific issue that a teacher was facing, in this case, managing the challenging behaviours of a focus child, through a lesson observation.
The process enabled both the teacher and I, as her supervisor, to be clear about our objective of the plan. Both short-term and long-term goals were discussed and clarified. More importantly, they were agreed to. This process gave me the sense that the teacher was committed to meeting the goals, precisely because they were jointly discussed and documented. The teacher had a stake, as it were, in making sure that the goals were met.
However, what made this process a little more challenging for the both of us, was the factor of time. Or the lack of it, to be precise. Within the rigours of a typical day, the time available for following up on the observations and analyses was the most pressing. But with both of us taking a committed stance to wanting to make a positive change for the focus child, M (5.3), this supervisory process lent itself well to managing issues of this nature.
b) Beliefs and Values as a Supervisor
As a supervisor, I carry these 3 beliefs and values:
i) that a teacher will always want to do her best for the children in her class if given the right environment and the right level of support. By environment, I mean both the physical and emotional aspect of the environment within a preschool. By support, I refer to the support from the management. If both of these conditions are made available to the teacher, it is my belief that the teacher will deliver her best work.
ii) it is incumbent upon the teacher to act as the “first-port-of-call” for the children in her class. By this, I mean that the children must view the teacher as the first sanctuary when they feel that they are in trouble, when in school. This puts the teacher’s role as that of a counselor, as well as her primary role in teaching.
iii) as a supervisor, I value honesty and character on the part of the teacher. This means that the teacher has to be truthful in situations where conflicts between them and the parents, or their colleagues have arisen. Only then will the real character of the teacher be brought to the fore. As a supervisor, I understand the daily pressures of delivering the duties of a teacher in an early childhood education setting. But the honesty from a teacher must never be compromised.
c) Strengths and Weakness as a Supervisor
Strengths:
I view my clarity in communicating the goals of a project as my strength. As part of management, clear communications to staff members is a very important job requirement for a supervisor. This will allow for common objectives to be relayed to the staff succinctly and as accurately as possible so that everyone in the team is fully synchronized to achieve those common objectives.
Being a supervisor for only 1 year, my level of experience in the supervisory field is relatively low. This, I regard, as my weakness. There are numerous challenges in supervision that I have yet to experience, or significant challenges to overcome in the course of being a supervisor. These challenges could be a parent-centred or an administrative issue that may impact the entire centre. As such, a lengthier period as a supervisor will stand me in good stead.
e) Changes in the Future
A change that I would like to see happen in the future is in providing more proactive support for the teaching staff in my team. Instead of acting on a specific complaint from a parent, I would like to embark on a quarterly review of each teacher that involves in-class observations by me, as their supervisor.
This will enable a proper assessment to be made of the teacher’s challenges in class on a typical day. This action would enable me to detect the presence of an overly aggressive child in a class and determine if a teacher requires assistance in managing that child, therefore pre-empting another case of a parent lodging a formal complaint.
4. Appendix
(A) Journal of Meetings with Teacher J
(B) Observation Record of Teacher J
Appendix (A) : Journal of Meetings with Teacher J
(1) Monday, 22 February ( 9.10am – 9.40am)
Acting on the formal complaint of a parent that his child (T) was being intimidated by another child, M (5.3) in class, I decided to call Teacher J into the office for a discussion on what had actually happened.
I started by letting her know that the purpose of the meeting was to understand the circumstances that may have caused a parent to lodge a formal complaint.
Teacher J seemed apprehensive at first, but I assured her that I was there to assist her with the issue at hand, that is, addressing the parent’s complaint.
I described the nature of the complaint in full to her. She agreed that M (5.3) had been showing behaviours that were aggressive. She felt she had tried her best to manage M (5.3). She described an incident last week when she caught M (5.3) pushing T away from taking hold of a wooden block, thus causing her to cry. Teacher J intervened and asked M (5.3) to apologized to T, which he did. On a typical day, M (5.3) would display his aggressive behaviour at least twice. Teacher J had used various tactics to manage M (5.3) including getting him to sit next to her so that she could keep a close eye. That seemed to work, but after 2 minutes or so, M (5.3) would play up again by moving away to another area of the class, thus disrupting the class lesson when Teacher J had to respond to M (5.3).
I told Teacher J that I would like to observe her class, and with an independent eye, give her my own observations. The idea was to give her a possibly different perspective on M’s (5.3) behaviour and also J’s own class management techniques. From there, we can then discuss what other methods we could implement to provide positive guidance to M (5.3). We agreed that I would observe her class on Wednesday, 25 February, to be followed by a review meeting on Friday, 27 February.
I also mentioned that we would then follow up with T’s parent within the next month to give him an update on our actions to prevent any recurrence that would impact T negatively.
We ended the meeting after we had summarized the action steps. Teacher J appeared relieved that she was getting additional help from me.
(2) Friday, 27 February (8.40am -9.45am)
In the office, I described what I had observed to Teacher J by showing her the lesson observation record that I had filled out.
Teacher J was mindful of the need to listen to what I had to say. She was surprised by one of my observations which showed that she did not give M (5.3) sufficient time to return his worksheet to her and prepare for his next lesson. This had caused M (5.3) to push his worksheet on the floor, in so doing, caused him to irritable for about 10 minutes.
She was happy that overall, her other methods of manage the class in general, and managing M (5.3) in particular was quite effective, based on my observations.
I mentioned to her that we would draw up some short-term goals that we could achieve to help M (5.3) to better manage his emotions. We would also follow up with T’s parent to give him an update of our actions.
Longer term, we will review M’s (5.3) behaviour over the next 3 months, and if the need arose, we will meet with M’s (5.3) parents with the intention of sharing with them our observations of M (5.3) and to recruit their help in managing M’s (5.3) emotions better and developing his social skills.
Teacher J agreed to this action plan. She appeared happy that a plan to work on M (5.3) had been drawn up. When I asked her what she felt about this whole process which started with our meeting on Monday, 22 February, she stated that it was good that the focus was on ways to help make M (5.3) manage his emotions better, and not about apportioning blame as to why T’s parent had lodged a complaint in the first place. We ended our meeting with a warm handshake
(1) Monday, 22 February ( 9.10am – 9.40am)
Acting on the formal complaint of a parent that his child (T) was being intimidated by another child, M (5.3) in class, I decided to call Teacher J into the office for a discussion on what had actually happened.
I started by letting her know that the purpose of the meeting was to understand the circumstances that may have caused a parent to lodge a formal complaint.
Teacher J seemed apprehensive at first, but I assured her that I was there to assist her with the issue at hand, that is, addressing the parent’s complaint.
I described the nature of the complaint in full to her. She agreed that M (5.3) had been showing behaviours that were aggressive. She felt she had tried her best to manage M (5.3). She described an incident last week when she caught M (5.3) pushing T away from taking hold of a wooden block, thus causing her to cry. Teacher J intervened and asked M (5.3) to apologized to T, which he did. On a typical day, M (5.3) would display his aggressive behaviour at least twice. Teacher J had used various tactics to manage M (5.3) including getting him to sit next to her so that she could keep a close eye. That seemed to work, but after 2 minutes or so, M (5.3) would play up again by moving away to another area of the class, thus disrupting the class lesson when Teacher J had to respond to M (5.3).
I told Teacher J that I would like to observe her class, and with an independent eye, give her my own observations. The idea was to give her a possibly different perspective on M’s (5.3) behaviour and also J’s own class management techniques. From there, we can then discuss what other methods we could implement to provide positive guidance to M (5.3). We agreed that I would observe her class on Wednesday, 25 February, to be followed by a review meeting on Friday, 27 February.
I also mentioned that we would then follow up with T’s parent within the next month to give him an update on our actions to prevent any recurrence that would impact T negatively.
We ended the meeting after we had summarized the action steps. Teacher J appeared relieved that she was getting additional help from me.
(2) Friday, 27 February (8.40am -9.45am)
In the office, I described what I had observed to Teacher J by showing her the lesson observation record that I had filled out.
Teacher J was mindful of the need to listen to what I had to say. She was surprised by one of my observations which showed that she did not give M (5.3) sufficient time to return his worksheet to her and prepare for his next lesson. This had caused M (5.3) to push his worksheet on the floor, in so doing, caused him to irritable for about 10 minutes.
She was happy that overall, her other methods of manage the class in general, and managing M (5.3) in particular was quite effective, based on my observations.
I mentioned to her that we would draw up some short-term goals that we could achieve to help M (5.3) to better manage his emotions. We would also follow up with T’s parent to give him an update of our actions.
Longer term, we will review M’s (5.3) behaviour over the next 3 months, and if the need arose, we will meet with M’s (5.3) parents with the intention of sharing with them our observations of M (5.3) and to recruit their help in managing M’s (5.3) emotions better and developing his social skills.
Teacher J agreed to this action plan. She appeared happy that a plan to work on M (5.3) had been drawn up. When I asked her what she felt about this whole process which started with our meeting on Monday, 22 February, she stated that it was good that the focus was on ways to help make M (5.3) manage his emotions better, and not about apportioning blame as to why T’s parent had lodged a complaint in the first place. We ended our meeting with a warm handshake
LESSON OBSERVATION (Appendix B )
NAME: Teacher J DATE: Wed, 25 February
CLASS: K1 TIME: 10.05am – 10.35am
ACTIVITY: Language Lesson
PROCESSES
OBSERVATION
1. PLANNING
Clear objectives
Content knowledge
Selecting content/materials/media
· Determination of procedures
- Lesson Plan had clear objectives
- You are knowledgeable on the contents you had taught
- I would encourage you to use better props for your story
- Well thought out procedures
2. DEVELOPING THE LESSON
Arousing interest
Stimulating thinking
Encouraging participation
Maintaining pace of lesson
· Lesson closure
- You held the interest of the children in your class well
- You used good questioning techniques
- All the children participated. Although M was distracted a few times
- Good use of pace of your lesson, except at the end
- You should consider giving the children more time to prepare for their transition
3. COMMUNICATING
Explaining and informing
Questioning and responding
Use of voice
Command of language
· Using media and resources
- You explain to the children what you wanted to teach them
- The children responded well to your questions
- Good use of your voice. This is your strength..keep it up.
- You have a good command of the English language
- Please consider using the computer to reinforce your teaching
4. MANAGING
Establishing rapport
Managing behaviours
Managing group/individual work
· Managing time
- Your reached out to the children well, without showing any favourites
- M’s behaviour was disruptive. Consider giving him a role-model in class
- Well coordinated grouping. But give children more time for transition
- Overall, time management was good, except for transitions
5. EVALUATING
Using and giving pupil feedback
Monitoring pupil understanding
Encouraging pupil evaluation
Using and marking written work
- The children felt engaged with you – good job!
- Do ask a few students to write the words on the whiteboard
- Do ask the children if what they had written was correct
- Use the nap time for this
TEACHER’S CHARACTERISTICS
Task orientation -Very Good
Flexibility -Very Good
Enthusiasm -Excellent
Warmth -Good
PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDE/CONDUCT
Overall, you projected to the children a professional image. You are confident and most importantly, you are enthusiastic. Such an attitude will stand you in good stead as you progress from year to year as an early childhood educator.
Supervisor’s Signature: _______ Teacher’s Signature: _______
NAME: Teacher J DATE: Wed, 25 February
CLASS: K1 TIME: 10.05am – 10.35am
ACTIVITY: Language Lesson
PROCESSES
OBSERVATION
1. PLANNING
Clear objectives
Content knowledge
Selecting content/materials/media
· Determination of procedures
- Lesson Plan had clear objectives
- You are knowledgeable on the contents you had taught
- I would encourage you to use better props for your story
- Well thought out procedures
2. DEVELOPING THE LESSON
Arousing interest
Stimulating thinking
Encouraging participation
Maintaining pace of lesson
· Lesson closure
- You held the interest of the children in your class well
- You used good questioning techniques
- All the children participated. Although M was distracted a few times
- Good use of pace of your lesson, except at the end
- You should consider giving the children more time to prepare for their transition
3. COMMUNICATING
Explaining and informing
Questioning and responding
Use of voice
Command of language
· Using media and resources
- You explain to the children what you wanted to teach them
- The children responded well to your questions
- Good use of your voice. This is your strength..keep it up.
- You have a good command of the English language
- Please consider using the computer to reinforce your teaching
4. MANAGING
Establishing rapport
Managing behaviours
Managing group/individual work
· Managing time
- Your reached out to the children well, without showing any favourites
- M’s behaviour was disruptive. Consider giving him a role-model in class
- Well coordinated grouping. But give children more time for transition
- Overall, time management was good, except for transitions
5. EVALUATING
Using and giving pupil feedback
Monitoring pupil understanding
Encouraging pupil evaluation
Using and marking written work
- The children felt engaged with you – good job!
- Do ask a few students to write the words on the whiteboard
- Do ask the children if what they had written was correct
- Use the nap time for this
TEACHER’S CHARACTERISTICS
Task orientation -Very Good
Flexibility -Very Good
Enthusiasm -Excellent
Warmth -Good
PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDE/CONDUCT
Overall, you projected to the children a professional image. You are confident and most importantly, you are enthusiastic. Such an attitude will stand you in good stead as you progress from year to year as an early childhood educator.
Supervisor’s Signature: _______ Teacher’s Signature: _______
