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Audrey L. Karr

Grand Canyon University

EAD:530 Benchmark

Dr. Scot Beckerman

June 9, 2021
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Summary of Pre-Conference, Observation, and Post-Conference

Mrs. P is a new kindergarten teacher this year who is considered a long-term sub while

she finishes her teaching degree in elementary education. She has been a substitute in the district

for the last few years and more so at Southside than any other school. Prior to observing her, I

asked what lesson she was going to be teaching and how it related to the grade level standards. I

also asked her to give one strength she felt she had and one area of improvement she needed to

work on. Last, we discussed what a typical day looks like in her room. She was able to give

insight into her teaching style which hasn’t quite been established yet. Mrs. P also mentioned

that her and the class have a bond, but yet struggle to stay on task.

During the observation, I was able to quickly identify with Mrs. P’s strength in building a

nurturing and caring classroom. Students were freely talking, walking up telling her stories and

hugging her. It was obvious the class felt safe with their teacher, and she reciprocated it back. At

the same time, I was also able to see why Mrs. P felt she struggled with classroom management.

Most of her instructional time was spent quieting the class down, sending them back to their

seats, and reminding them to pay attention while she walked around grabbing items students

were playing with. Mrs. P spent most of her time talking to students during the lesson (mostly

no-academic); therefore, student engagement was a very low percentage and most of the class

was off task. At the end of the observation, I was able to see students given a task to work on

while the teacher walked around and monitored behaviors which seemed to help a bit.

The post conference was probably the most beneficial for both of us because it allowed

me to see what Mrs. P has gone through her first year which hasn’t been normal due to the

pandemic. I wanted to let her know how evident it was how much her students loved her and

that she has created a very loving and nurturing environment for her class to keep her confidence
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level high (Mitchell and Bott, 2015). I then asked her to reflect upon the lesson, and she

immediately said that fulfilling the lessons objectives have been a challenge all year long. She

felt that she has not been able to teach to the best of her ability, student time on task is low and

having students fully engaged has gotten even worse over the course of the year. Together we

discussed why, and she felt that it’s because she has never been given the training on how to

implement effective classroom management strategies and instructional techniques.

With the support of administration, we devised a plan in seeing that she will get to be a

part of the new teacher induction program (coming back this next year), go in to watch some

veteran teachers with established classroom management and intensive instructional practices

that she can use, be a part of professional development training that allows former teacher

leaders to come in once or twice a month and work with Mrs. P in developing strategies that will

work with the demographics of the class and grade level expectations along with a mentor

teacher (within her grade level) who she can feed off of and get ideas from. These steps will

now be in place to support more conversation and help Mrs. P work toward the same student

learning and instructional goals within the school’s vision, mission and grade level norms

(Danielson, 2016).

Recommendations for Effective use of Technology

Knowing that Mrs. P’s struggles with classroom management, one way to get students

engaged is through online programs where students are learning and having fun at the same time,

especially when it comes to letter recognition, letter sounds and reading words, which are part of

the kindergarten standards. These can include Google Classroom, Padlet, Canvas, Seesaw or any

other interactive online platform. Students enjoy the graphics, sounds and the immediate

feedback it provides. This is a great way to get younger students to collaborate especially if they
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are having to share a tablet or work together to solve a problem. This helps with expanding

student knowledge as well. Another benefit is it helps students for future endeavors in upper

grade levels and potential career opportunities when they get into high school and college. The

use of technology can be incorporated into any lesson and can benefit any teacher needing more

class structure and ways to support the current curriculum (Walden University, 2021).

Promotion of Collaboration, Trust, and Personalized Learning Environment

To promote collaboration and trust, there must be honest, ongoing powerful professional

conversations about the shared learning goals and instructional ways within the school. Every

leader needs to make time in the beginning of the school year to go over the essentials and see

that the school’s culture is created by all staff, students and parents so that student engagement

and improving student learning are the key factors (Danielson, 2016). Discussing how they will

get there has to do with implementing effective instructional strategies, school-wide

expectations, professional development opportunities, getting the community involved,

discussing data and working in grade levels to personalize the learning environment. This

includes using essential content standards, lesson objectives and curriculum that aligns to each

school’s diverse group of students.

Mrs. P works with six other kindergarten teachers, but since they all have different prep

times they are limited to when they can meet. Making time for her to collaborate with her grade

level, gain each other’s trust and learn new ideas where she can personalize in her own

classroom would help create confidence and rejuvenate her ways of teaching.

Self-Awareness, Vulnerability, Transparency, and Ethical Behavior

Being a true leader whether it comes from a teacher’s perspective, a student’s outlook or

from an administration role, requires oneself to reflect on their practices. To be effective, leaders

must push the boundaries a bit to see what they are capable of accomplishing while still keeping

the common goal and future outcome for all staff and students in mind. With this power comes

resistance from others, which may cause vulnerability making a leader feel alone and unsure of

their choices, but persevering through the challenges and showing what is right for student

achievement will build self-confidence and reassurance for everyone around them that the

decisions made are based off of staff conversations, student data and knowing the school’s

culture.

In the case with Mrs. P, she is going through many uncertainties knowing that it’s her

first year of teaching. She wants to do well and needs some support with establishing a well-

behaved group of students through classroom management techniques and ways to keep her

students interested and focused especially through the use of technology. This also includes

collaborating with other teachers with activities that will help slowly relinquish the learning to

the students.

Having the opportunity to fulfill a coaching cycle not only benefits the new teacher, but it

also allows the administrator to see the highlights of classroom teachers along with their

struggles. In the end this can really help determine what a school is lacking and how to best

support the needs of all staff and students.

References

Danielson, C. (2016). Talk About Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations. (2nd ed.)

Corwin. https://www.gcumedia.com/digital-resources/sage/2015/talk-about-

teaching_leading-professional-conversations_2e.php

Mitchell, M. and Bott, T. (2015). Preparing Student Teachers and Beginning Teachers for the

Post-teaching Conference, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, (86)2,

10-13, DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2014.988375.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2014.988375

Walden University (2021). Top 5 Benefits of Technology in the Classroom.

https://www.waldenu.edu/programs/education/resource/top-five-benefits-of-technology-

in-the-classroom