Not surprisingly, most of the qualities he mentions are qualities we expect of our students (see, for example, IB learner profile). Modeling for students and collaborating with them are two that stood out for me. Check out the list and see what you think.

I’m constantly looking for new ways to help teachers via supervision, and I began using the tool below which provided a great jumping off point for improving instruction. What I like about the tool is (a) it’s something different; (b) it’s less threatening to the teacher as the supervisor is mainly focused on the students; (c) it’s fairly subjective as a quantitative tool should be.

It works this way:  The observer takes sweeps of the classroom at 5-minute intervals. During each sweep, he or she spends about 15-20 seconds on each individual student and records the specific type of on-task/off-task behavior the student is engaged in at the time. Here is a shot of the form:

Click to expand.

I won’t interpret the form for you, but there are some clear areas in which there can be improvement. What do you see? I gave the observed teacher the raw form without analysis before our meeting. When we met, she saw some of the same things I did, but not what I considered the most serious. As we discussed the data and worked on improvement goals, I think we both felt that the instrument was valuable for showing us things we might otherwise miss. If you’re in a supervisory role in education, give the form a try and let me know how it works for you.