Running head: GIVING FEEDBACK RELATED TO TEACHER PERFORMANCE 1

Benchmark – Clinical Field Experience D:

Leading Leaders in Giving Peer Feedback Related to Teacher Performance

Crystal McShane

Grand Canyon University: EAD 533

Submitted: April 24, 2021

Benchmark – Clinical Field Experience D:

Leading Leaders in Giving Peer Feedback Related to Teacher Performance

As an administrator, it is necessary to identify and coach other school leaders to promote

distributed. Administrators must understand, develop, and supervise the instructional leadership

capacity at their school (NPBEA, 2011). School leaders must be familiar with the coaching

cycle and understand how to provide meaningful feedback and promote effective use of

technology to support teaching and student learning. This field experience involved a complete

coaching cycle with a first-year kindergarten teacher at Grammar #2 Elementary that recently

completed her teaching licensure credentials.

Develop and Supervise Instructional and Leadership Capacity

A pre-observation conference meeting was scheduled with the teacher to begin this

coaching cycle. Prior to the meeting, the teacher completed the EvaluWise questions and

submitted a copy of her lesson plans. During the pre-observation conference the teacher

discussed how she would progress through the scheduled observation time. The teacher shared

her concerns for a few students in her room that struggle to stay focused on the learning activities

as well as the progress made by some of the students with severe behavior issues. The building

administrator was positive in her response to the improved behavior of the students that were

known behavior issues and acknowledge the concerns for the students that struggled to stay

focused.

During the observation, the principal documented what the teacher and students were

doing directly in the EvaluWise program. The principal observed and documented without

interacting with the teacher. She did lean closer to listen to student responses and document those

as well in her observation notes.

Prior to the post-observation conference, a discussion with the administrator revealed

what she had noted from the observation for feedback that would be discussed with the teacher.

Constructive feedback that was provided during the post-observation conference was specific to

the observed call backs to gain student attention where the teacher did not wait for all students to

stop and give the teacher their attention before continuing. The principal was firm, but positive

providing the feedback that call backs need to be an end all, nonnegotiable action where all

students stop and listen. The administrator acknowledged the teachers previous experience with

daycare and how it is slightly different from teacher as there were many adults working together

at the day care, while there is only one teacher leading a group of students. Post-observation

conference dialogue ended on a positive note to the teacher for actively engaging all kindergarten

students in learning.

Develop Leaders for High-Quality Instruction and Student Learning

Developing leaders within a school applies not only to extra activities and projects, but

also developing leaders within each classroom. Teachers must be able to effectively and

efficiently lead their students to maximize instructional time and align to the school’s vision with

high expectations for learning. Leaders develop and sustain high-quality instruction by setting

clear expectations, goals, and steps to accomplish those goals. High quality instruction and

student learning are also supported through the coaching cycle.

The coaching cycled is focused on discovering areas of strengths and areas for

improvement. According to Levin and Schrum (2016), “good leadership includes figuring out

what is working well and what areas are in need of improvement” (p. 104). Leaders for high-

quality instruction and student learning are developed when administrators or instructional

coaches conduct a pre-observation conference to outline the purpose, observe a teacher, and
GIVING FEEDBACK RELATED TO TEACHER PERFORMANCE 4

conduct a post-observation conference to discuss what was observed to work well and where the

teacher could improve. Dialogue in the coaching cycle “can lead to enhancing teachers’ critical

reflection and development” (Congreve, 2015, p. 19). The administrator developed an

instructional leader in this kindergarten classroom by focusing on providing constructive

feedback to decrease lost instruction time by making call backs nonnegotiable.

Distributed Leadership Structure

Grammar #2 Elementary is a small elementary school that does not have an instructional

team or additional instructional coaches to support the principal in conducting coaching cycles.

The principal distributes school leadership by assigning a mentor teacher to support new

teachers. In the case of the observed kindergarten teacher, another kindergarten teacher with

twenty years of experience was assigned to be her mentor. These two teachers have

collaboratively developed lesson plans to support the new teacher regarding curriculum and the

veteran teacher to improve in her use of technology.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, each grade level would also meet bi-weekly for

Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings. These meetings have not been encouraged or

supported as much as they were and should be supported to discuss student learning, data, and

ways to improve. The entire grade level team should meet regularly to promote a community of

shared learning and avoid leaving out the third kindergarten teacher to allow the entire grade

level to benefit from shared practice (Beaton, 2017).

Additionally, it would be beneficial for the new teacher to observe her peers and see a

single teacher classroom modeled. In turn, the mentor teacher should have the opportunity to

observe the new teacher to learn how she uses technology in her classroom. According to
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Standstead (2015), “each teacher has different strengths and needs” (p. 80) Providing time for

teachers to observe one another allows the teachers to improve by learning from one another.

Reflection

School administrators must understand, develop, and supervise the instructional and

leadership capacity of their school (NPBEA, 2011). This includes conducting coaching cycles,

providing support to teachers to improve instruction, distributing leadership, and promoting a

school culture of professional respect. Effective school leaders must promote instructional

practices that support high expectations for student learning and use student data to monitor

student progress (NPBEA, 2015). Administrators need to identify and coach school leaders to

promote distributed leadership because “no one person can possibly accomplish everything

needed to run a school well” (Levin & Schrum, 2016).

References

Beaton, A. M. (2017). Designing a community of shared learning. Educational Leadership,

74(8), 78-82. Retrieved from https://web-b-ebscohost-

com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=3a618cf3-a53f-4710-

a2b1-78a9a15c9143%40pdc-v-sessmgr03

Congreve, R. (2015). Using diagnostic lesson observations and participatory action

research to support teacher development. Education Today, 65(3), 16-20. Retrieved from

https://web-a-ebscohost-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?

vid=1&sid=61fd5092-8ec2-4c72-a1cb-b4730b4dea0f%40sdc-v-sessmgr0

Levin, B. B., & Schrum, L. R. (2016). Every teacher a leader: Developing the needed

dispositions, knowledge, and skills for teacher leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Retrieved from http://www.gcumedia.com/digital-resources/sage/2016/every-teacher-a-

leader_developing-the-needed-dispositions-knowledge-and-skills-for-teacher-

leadership_1e.php

Standstead, M. (2015). Cutting watermelon: Lessons in instructional coaching. Educational

Leadership, 73(4), 78-81. Retrieved from https://web-a-ebscohost-

com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=43ca6b12-f756-41e1-

bf58-c9e16aae0db5%40sdc-v-sessmgr01