Mr. Sam Watson has been the assistant principal at South Elementary School for six years. Before becoming an assistant principal, Mr. Watson was a 5th grade teacher for 10 years. Although he enjoyed teaching, he remembers times when he struggled with instruction and behavior and wanted support and feedback from his administrators. Mr. Watson remembers having multiple observations during which an administrator would visit his classroom for 30 minutes and take notes. The following week, he would have a meeting with the administrator and receive general feedback about the now distant lesson. The feedback was almost always positive, but Mr. Watson did not feel it helped him improve much. He wanted and needed to know whether he was using the most effective instructional and behavioral supports, so he could maximize the educational impact for his students in as many areas as possible.
Now that he is an assistant principal, Mr. Watson is the chair of the school's leadership team. At their last meeting, the team discussed national policies such as ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also called No Child Left Behind under its 2004 reauthorization) and state teacher evaluations that are raising the bar for teacher accountability. They want to provide effective support for all of their teachers. Mr. Watson spoke with his principal, Dr. Shack, after the leadership team's meeting. Dr. Shack suggested coaching since it was a major topic at their last principals' meeting. She pointed out the ways in which it can be used to enhance the current observation and support system. When Mr. Watson presented the idea to the team, they were open to it, but unsure of how to provide feedback or how teachers would respond to yet another requirement. Now that the leadership team is considering coaching, they are eager to know how feedback can be used effectively to positively impact teacher and student performance.
The goal of this module is to gain a basic understanding of feedback and the components of the feedback loop.