The Marshall workshop was no magic bullet. However, it did provide me with some good common sense suggestions about supervision. Here are some questions that were asked:
What's the ideal frequency of school visits by supervisors?
Should supervisor's visits be announced or unannounced?
If you are supervising a principal, should the principal get a brief write-up after each school visit?
What the workshop did was NOT answer these questions. The answers change and are different for different districts. The trick is in thinking about the answers to these questions with your stakeholders. Maybe I needed help in asking the right questions.
One of the questions that was asked during the workshop really hit home with me. "Is there a secret code in your school when anyone from Central Office arrives?" Years ago, when I was in the classroom, we would send a student around with a green ruler signaling the Superintendent was in the building. I had forgotten all about that.
One of Marshall's most provocative suggestions was using student surveys. Certainly, the students are the most vested stakeholders. I was curious about how many districts do this. I think this could be really helpful. It would be a bit of a culture shift, but so helpful.
Marshall also showed the formula that NYC is using for their value added model. He reported that for ELA if has a confidence interval of 53 points. How is this possible?
This statistic smacked me in the head. We are so much more than a number.
I must remember that.
Michael Fullan said that, "Nothing undermines the motivation of hard-working teachers more than poor performance in other teachers being ignored over long periods of time. Not only do poor-performing teachers negatively affect the students in their classes, but they also have a spillover effect by poisoning the overall climate of the school."
One of my most important jobs is to thank a teacher for a job well done.
The Marshall Memo is one of the best ed publications around. You can view it at www.marshallmemo.com.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Kim Marshall
Last Thursday I attended a great workshop. It was given by Kim Marshall, author of Rethinking Teacher Supervision and Evaluation. Not only was the workshop great, it truly inspired me. I haven't felt inspired in a long time. The endless assessments, and the APPR machinations, and the results of the assessments have really bogged me down. I was not sure how I was going to lead my teachers or support them or cheer them on.
The Marshall workshop was no magic bullet. However, it did provide me with some good common sense suggestions about supervision. Here are some questions that were asked:
What's the ideal frequency of school visits by supervisors?
Should supervisor's visits be announced or unannounced?
If you are supervising a principal, should the principal get a brief write-up after each school visit?
What the workshop did was NOT answer these questions. The answers change and are different for different districts. The trick is in thinking about the answers to these questions with your stakeholders. Maybe I needed help in asking the right questions.
One of the questions that was asked during the workshop really hit home with me. "Is there a secret code in your school when anyone from Central Office arrives?" Years ago, when I was in the classroom, we would send a student around with a green ruler signaling the Superintendent was in the building. I had forgotten all about that.
One of Marshall's most provocative suggestions was using student surveys. Certainly, the students are the most vested stakeholders. I was curious about how many districts do this. I think this could be really helpful. It would be a bit of a culture shift, but so helpful.
Marshall also showed the formula that NYC is using for their value added model. He reported that for ELA if has a confidence interval of 53 points. How is this possible?
This statistic smacked me in the head. We are so much more than a number.
I must remember that.
Michael Fullan said that, "Nothing undermines the motivation of hard-working teachers more than poor performance in other teachers being ignored over long periods of time. Not only do poor-performing teachers negatively affect the students in their classes, but they also have a spillover effect by poisoning the overall climate of the school."
One of my most important jobs is to thank a teacher for a job well done.
The Marshall Memo is one of the best ed publications around. You can view it at www.marshallmemo.com.
The Marshall workshop was no magic bullet. However, it did provide me with some good common sense suggestions about supervision. Here are some questions that were asked:
What's the ideal frequency of school visits by supervisors?
Should supervisor's visits be announced or unannounced?
If you are supervising a principal, should the principal get a brief write-up after each school visit?
What the workshop did was NOT answer these questions. The answers change and are different for different districts. The trick is in thinking about the answers to these questions with your stakeholders. Maybe I needed help in asking the right questions.
One of the questions that was asked during the workshop really hit home with me. "Is there a secret code in your school when anyone from Central Office arrives?" Years ago, when I was in the classroom, we would send a student around with a green ruler signaling the Superintendent was in the building. I had forgotten all about that.
One of Marshall's most provocative suggestions was using student surveys. Certainly, the students are the most vested stakeholders. I was curious about how many districts do this. I think this could be really helpful. It would be a bit of a culture shift, but so helpful.
Marshall also showed the formula that NYC is using for their value added model. He reported that for ELA if has a confidence interval of 53 points. How is this possible?
This statistic smacked me in the head. We are so much more than a number.
I must remember that.
Michael Fullan said that, "Nothing undermines the motivation of hard-working teachers more than poor performance in other teachers being ignored over long periods of time. Not only do poor-performing teachers negatively affect the students in their classes, but they also have a spillover effect by poisoning the overall climate of the school."
One of my most important jobs is to thank a teacher for a job well done.
The Marshall Memo is one of the best ed publications around. You can view it at www.marshallmemo.com.
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