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Post-Lesson Discussions
Mariam Bedraoui Center for Educational Inspector TainingInspector Trainee Rabat; Morocco
Limited timeUnfavourable physical conditionsManagement of dataNo clear strategyResistant attitudes
Based on your recent practicum experience,
what challenges does the Post-lesson discussion
present?
Outline
1. Definition2. Functions3. Approaches 4. Influential Factors 5. Possible
Challenges
Post-lesson discussion: definition
Post-lesson discussions are “practices that follow the observations to exchange the trainer’s knowledge and evaluations of that specific teaching practice of the trainee.” Tuncay (2003:157)
Post-lesson discussions are “conversation sessions between supervisors and teachers over instructional and assessment issues with the aim of improving the performance of teachers.”Caruso & Facett (1999: 22)
Post-lesson discussion: Other Labels…
Post-lesson chat
Post-observatio
n conference
Debriefing session Post-lesson discussion
It is more than debriefingThe limited amount of time
may not help holding a conference.
‘discussion’ suggests: negotiation+ achieving goals
Post-lesson discussion: Rationale and FunctionsRational
e
“The Post-lesson
discussion is
predicated on the
concept that
teaching can improve by gaining feedback.”Bailey (2004:14)
Functions
To identify less-effective teaching;To note effective teaching;To promote positive change.(Bailey:2004)
Post-lesson discussion: More FunctionsPLDs can have more functions:
………………………………………. ………………………………………… To provide rewards and satisfaction for teachers.
(Goldhammer et al.: 1980) To help teachers solve pedagogical and didactic problems.
(Stones: 1987) To help teachers develop skills of analysing their teaching
with the aim of promoting a self-supervision approach. ( Holland: 1989)
To help teachers conceptualise their teaching experiences. (Orland Barak: 2002)
To communicate to teachers final decisions about job status. (Bailey:2004)
Post-lesson discussion:Some Approaches… Freeman (1990) identified three approaches to
conducting Post-lesson discussions:The Directive
Approach• The role of the
supervisor is to direct teachers to better ways of teaching and to model good teaching behaviours.
The Alternative Approach
• The role of the supervisor is to provide a variety of alternatives for teachers to try out as effective solutions to their problems.
The Reflective Approach
• The role of the supervisor is to give teachers the chance to evaluate their behaviours and help them analyse their practices and reflect on their performance.
Post-lesson discussion:Some approaches…
Acheson& Gall (1992) placed these three approaches on a continuum of behaviours that supervisors may produce in different PLDs.
•Criticise
•Give directions
•Lecture
•Ask questions
•Use teachers’ ideas
•Give encouragements and praise
•Accept and use feelings
Direct Indirect
A continuum of supervisors’ behaviours in PLDs
Post-lesson discussion: Influential Factors
There are three major factor areas that affect the quality* of PLDs
Logistic factors
Affective factors
Professional factors
*A successful PLD= Teachers are responsive to supervisory feedback.Teaches reflect on the supervisor’s remarks and suggestions.Teachers show aspects of positive change in subsequent observation sessions.
Post-lesson discussion: Logistic Factors Some of the logistic factors that tend to have
an impact on PLDs are: o Length of time to allow for the
conference; o The place where the conference takes
place;o The seating arrangements that are
possible to make;o Protection against distractions;o Available equipment.
Post-lesson discussion: Affective Factors
Supervisoro The conference is in itself an
observable example of the supervisor’s performance.
o It provides teachers with concrete data about how well the supervisor is capable of analysing the lesson and providing real help.
Teachero The conference is led by a
more powerful person:o The supervisor has a higher
ranko The supervisor has better
training.o The supervisor has
administrative power over the teachers being supervised.
The PLD is one of the most difficult interactional moments between the supervisor and teacher.It “carries the potential of being an agonizing experience for both”. (Shrigley and Walker,1981: 560)It can be face threatening.
Post-lesson discussion: Affective FactorsTeachers react to these unequal power relations in three major forms (Waite: 1993)
Passive teachers
• Accept the supervisor’s suggestions and authority.
• Try to align their views and teachers with the supervisor’s beliefs.
Collaborative teachers
• Select which suggestions to respond to and how to apply those suggestions.
• Show signs of reflection and negotiation.
• Ask questions and seek further resources to check how sound the suggestions are.
Adversarial teachers
• Show reluctance to sit for the conference.
• Talk about their achievements in other areas or in the past or with other classes.
• Anxious about providing justification for every remark made by the supervisor.
Post-lesson discussion: Affective Factors
Supervisor’s
Personality
Supervisor’s
professional skills
How to maintain a non-threatening atmosphere during a PLD?
Post-lesson discussion: Affective Factors
Supervisor’s Personal Qualities
The supervisor gains teachers’ respect by his/her Consistency Integrity Fairness Flexibility
The supervisor loses teachers’ respect by: Lying Gossiping Going back on promises Being duplicitous Failing to provide help
Post-lesson discussion: Affective Factors
Supervisor’s professional skills
Supervisor and teacher accept their respective role: Contractual relationship; Setting a shared goal; Regular provision of feedback; Building up on previous conferences.
Supervisor’s management of the conference Acting spontaneously; Checking on teachers; Taking advantage of incidental occurrences; Being reassuring and encouraging; Avoiding overt evaluation; Controlling one’s words and facial expressions.
Successful application of these procedures can lead
toward:*Building Rapport*Establishing trust
*Developing relationships*Creating threat-free
atmosphere
Post-lesson discussion: Professional FactorsProfessional
factors: Ability to produce sound didactic and pedagogic judgments
+ Ability to conduct the different
stages of the session effectively.+
Ability to make quick decisions and change plans during the session.
Post-lesson discussion: Professional Factors
Planning the session: Analysing the performed lesson Devising a strategy for the PLD session
Conducting the session: Opening the session Making transitions Closing the session
Evaluating one’s performance: Analysing the results Reflecting on areas to be improved
A successful PLD session needs to be effectively planned, conducted and evaluated.
Post-lesson discussion: Professional Factors• Planning• Conductio
n• Evaluatio
n Collecting data during the
observation: descriptions of behaviours Numbers of occurrences Verbatim quotations Descriptions of teaching/learning sequences Anecdotal recordings
Post-lesson discussion: Professional Factors• Planning• Conduction• Evaluation
Identifying patterns of teaching/ learning behaviours in the raw data:
Patterns= repeated behaviours that belong to the same category. Detecting patterns that have an impact on learning. Making connection between the emerging hypothesis and theory. Arranging patterns in some hierarchical arrangements. Making selection of patterns on the basis of the needs of the
observed teacher. generating a core interpretive category.
Post-lesson discussion: Professional Factors• Planning• Conduction• Evaluation
Devising a strategy to adopt in the PLD session: Setting a goal to be achieved by the end of the session. Imagining a scenario: a series of questions/ presentation of
data and evidence/ checking the teacher’s understanding of a concept, etc.
Making decisions about what to start with: strengths or weaknesses?
Making decisions about additional feedback to be left to the teacher.
Highlighting evidences in case of resistant reactions.
Post-lesson discussion: Professional Factors• Planning• Conduction• Evaluation
Opening the session Having some deliberate plan to follow
and possible alternatives in case it should fail.
Starting with the good news: it helps get the session off on a positive note (though it does not always work).
Possible questions: ………………………… Asking for further details needed to
confirm emergent hypotheses. Presenting data and sharing diagrams
and numbers of occurrences to prompt teachers’ reactions.
Post-lesson discussion: Professional Factors• Planning• Conduction• Evaluation
Making transitions: Making signals for topic shift: I am glad there were many strong points
we could discuss, now…. I’m afraid, we need to talk about some other stuff..
In the area of…………, did you realise that….?
Ok, so much for the warm fuzzies. Now how do you feel about……..?
Do you mind if we look at a tough problem?
I’m afraid not all of the news I have for you is that good….
Post-lesson discussion: Professional Factors• Planning• Conduction• Evaluation
Closing the session Securing a comfortable closure. summing up and flagging areas that
need improvement. Setting an agenda for next observation
session. Praising again about areas that have
been improved. Eliciting resolutions from teachers.
Post-lesson discussion: Professional Factors• Planning• Conduction• Evaluation Analysing the results:
Was the goal achieved? Did the teacher get the message? Did the teacher show signs of
collaboration? Were the arguments clear and pertinent? Were the evidences convincing? Did I manage to make the teacher reflect
on his/her questions? Did I manage to create a non-threatening
atmosphere?
Post-lesson discussion: Professional Factors• Planning• Conduction• Evaluation Reflecting on areas that need
improvement Devise a checklist to help detect
problem areas. Make a list of alternatives that need to
be tried out in future sessions. Elaborate on successful practices so as
to consolidate and fine-tune to different situations
Post-lesson discussion: Professional Factors• Planning• Conductio
n• Evaluation
Final Task: In groups of three, try to design a checklist for Moroccan EFL
supervisors to use for self-evaluation with regard to their performance in PLD sessions. Make use of the stages discussed as criterion areas:
Planning the session: Analysing the performed lesson Devising a strategy for the PLD session
Conducting the session: Opening the session Making transitions Closing the session
Evaluating one’s performance: Analysing the results Reflecting on areas to be improved
