Looking for the Big Picture:

Macro strategies for L2 Teacher

Observation and Feedback

Protocol Observation

Spencer Salas and Leonardo Mercado

• Spencer Salas is an Assistant Professor in TESL Education in the Department of Middle, Secondary, and K–12 Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. 

• Leonardo Mercado, originally from Queens, New York, is the Academic Director at the Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano (ICPNA) and has been an ESL/EFL teacher, teacher trainer, program administrator, and certified language proficiency tester for more than 15 years.

Six macro strategies for supervisors

• The six macro strategies enumerated below are specifically directed toward supervisors. Teachers working by themselves or wanting to work better with their colleagues can consider how these guidelines might enrich their own reflective practice.

Strategy 1: Examining subjectivities

• Own teaching experience or as a language learner will influence the criteria for classroom assessment.

• Interaction supervisor and teacher will benefit from individual and collective examination and reexamination

• There must be specific outcomes or goals that pertain to instructional practice or learning.

•  • Parrot said: “Teachers are guided by internal frames of

reference grounded in personal experiences: academic and others, and their interpretations of them”

Strategy 2: Articulating institutional values

• Supervisors and institutions need to articulate their stances toward teaching and learning

• Powerful Learning: CELIA: Continuous , interactive, learner centered, inclusive, authentic

• Open dialogue

Strategy 3: Understanding teachers as individuals

• Not all teachers are the same they all are at very different points in their professional lives.

Strategy 4: Talking across the data

• Focus driven data enables supervisors to talk in a more convincing manner.

• Look for both: strengths and areas of improvement.

Strategy 5: Looking for the big picture Strategy

• What to focus on?

• What happened or did not happen during a particular observation?

Or

• What students are taking away from a lesson?

Strategy 6: Providing alternatives and resources

• Continuous professional learning enhances credibility and leads to a greater willingness

• On the part of teachers to engage in collaborative efforts

Videos to reflect on

Conclusion

• Effective supervision requires flexibility and attention to the bigger picture:

“teacher Development”