Teacher Support

1. Teacher Observation:   Supporting teachers through frequent, and meaningful observations is truly important to me. I believe that ongoing feedback is a support that is invaluable to the development of teachers no matter how long or short they have been teaching. 

Below you will find an example of: 

• a 30 minute classroom non-evaluative visit conducted with a teacher in a mathematics classroom to provide coaching support 

• a complete feedback cycle that I conducted with a teacher. Included is a teacher profile, a description of our pre-observation conference, observation notes, as well as a description of our post-observation conference. 

2.  Professional Development:  Conducting meaningful professional development is another way in which I believe can truly support teachers. When introducing a new concept whether that be standards or curriculum, my philosophy is to immerse teachers in it so that they can understand it. This is how I like to design and deliver professional development. Below are three examples of PDs that I conducted. The first one is a session I conducted after discussion with school leaders as it pertains to the overall needs of teachers based on observation data. The data indicated that after the second cycle of observations teachers were scoring the lowest in the domain of questioning & discussion. As a result, I designed and delivered in partnership with the UFT Teacher Center, a series of sessions focused on strategies that teachers could implement in their classrooms to lift the level of their practice in this particular domain. The second one is a Crash Course on the Danielson Framework for our teachers. Most of our teachers were new to the NYC Department of Education, so providing an overview of the rubric was beneficial to their success.  The third one is introducing the social justice standards and how it aligned to the work we were already doing in SEL. 

 4.  CR-SE Framework Implementation: As a school that was participating in our district wide focus of implementing CR-SE practices across the school, I had the opportunity to initiate and develop ways to support teachers and students in ensuring that these practices lived within our school. I participated in district professional development sessions, and used the information to support teachers in planning lessons that were culturally responsive and had these practices embedded. I also supported the implementation of a school-wide I-AM Walls project to encourage a welcoming & affirming environment. We also hosted an inter-visitation cycle that was focused on showcasing CR-SE practices in the curriculum. Lastly, I supported our Social Studies department to lead our Civics initiatives as part of being a Civics for All school. 

 4.  Resources:  Sometimes being able to develop and deliver a professional development session is not feasible due to a number of reasons. A way to mitigate that might be to create resources that allow teachers to read or explore on their own time and at their leisure.  Below you will find examples of handouts and structures that I have created to share information with teachers as a means of support.  The first example is a handout of consolidating the information from the book "Teaching Advance Literacy Skills" - Nonie Lesaux.  The second example is the slides from a quick "club" discussion that I was able to facilitate after teachers were given the time to familiarize themselves with an article well in advance. 

  5.  Content Framework Development:  Accountability and consistency are two ideas that I also believe in as an  educator. Students perform better when they are aware of what is expected of them as well as when those expectations are consistent. Below is a framework that I developed in collaboration with other instructional leaders at my school to develop consistency across the social studies department when it came to grading.