session 3: effective feedback – guidance

New York State Principal Evaluator Learning System

Day 2, Session 3: Effective Feedback

Trainers GuidanceDay 2- Learning and TeachingSession 3- Effective Feedback

February 2012V021412

301312 Trainer’s GuidanceVF021412 2


Use slide 4 to briefly introduce the aims of the session.



Use slide 5 to remind participants of the three main activities associated with Formal Lesson observations.

Explain that this session will focus on the preparation and post observation conferences.



Groups will discuss their current understandings of the pre-lesson observation conference. They should record key points and be ready to share.

Slide 7 can be will be used and discussed to highlight the reasons for preparation by the observer.

In ‘Driven By Data’, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo cites Julie Kennedy, principal of Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School, who as part of her preparation for lesson observation takes in the interim assessment results spreadsheets with her. When she is observing teacher questioning, she can then see if the students who are struggling with particular standards are being given opportunities to practice that difficult standard.



Slide 8 highlights the benefits of a pre-conference. This is not mandatory and will not take place before every lesson observation, but best practice indicates that at a minimum at least one pre-conference should take place for each teacher at least once a year. We are attempting to reduce the degree of mysticism that has grown up around this activity.

Slide 9 is an introduction to the next activity.



This slide is an introduction to the concept of the post lesson observation conference in today’s training and should support aspects of what they have learned in the shared sessions. Use the slide to ensure that all participants “get” the purpose of the feedback portion of the post observation conference just in case there are still participants who are unclear.

It is also worth pointing out that the reason why we are focusing on providing effective feedback to teachers is that it is recognized as the most critical element of the Teacher Evaluation process and it applies across all framework rubrics.

It is also the one major piece of training which can only be effective provided in face-to-face training/‘coaching’ sessions.

While achieving a consistency of judgments of the various rubrics is important, most of the training ‘gurus’ have now developed on-line/webinar systems or ‘validation engines’ which enable participants to achieve very high inter-rater reliability in matching evidence to the standards.

Go through the next four slides line-by-line. They summarize a very important process.



Other examples to share with trainees: Expand questioning techniques to stimulate students’ higher order discussions and increase

their understanding of the learning objectives. Improve planning to ensure that learning activities are fully aligned with student achievement

levels. Strengthen questioning and discussion techniques by utilizing an increased percentage of higher

order questions and create more opportunities to add rigor in questioning based on student responses.



“It’s all about the conversation.” Dialogue is key.

The next steps/actionable changes are hugely important; they have to be the right ones, understood by the teacher and doable in the time available.

The more the teacher shares them at this early stage, the better.

The more the teacher takes ownership by making their own appropriate suggestions, the better.

They should be incorporated as much as possible, so trainees need to get into dialogue in the second half of the post conference.

Have participants use their scripts from the lesson they have just observed to put together their own feedback notes. Some may find this revealing: the notes are useful and enable them to draft accurate and relevant strength statements and improvement points, or they are not able to do so if the notes are vague and lack judgment words.

Show slide 15 then assign participants to groups of 3. In each group, there will be a teacher, a principal, and a principal evaluator. Give the group an expectation that for the next 30 -45 minutes, they will role play the post lesson observation conference.



Emphasize that the principal evaluator’s role is key, that the principal needs feedback to grow and to make serious efforts to respond to the 3 foci on the slide:

Did the teacher hear and understand unequivocal messages? Did the principal use evaluative words? Did the principal establish clear next steps?

This activity will be repeated two more times until everyone has had the opportunity to play the role of the evaluator.

Give each group five minutes to discuss and agree on the key learning points for the principal and the evaluator. Post them all. Holds a Gallery Walk. If timing is an issue, participants could conduct the Gallery Walk with Post-it notes and give feedback silently during the break. Each participant should try to provide feedback to one or two of the charts.

Then, conduct a whole group discussion and draw out pitfalls and effective tips to always incorporate.



Use slide 17 to summarize the key learning points from the session.


session 3: effective feedback – guidance

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