CLASSROOM CLASSROOM SUPERVISIONSUPERVISION

For Educational Administrators at whatever level-pre-school, elementary, secondary, college, university- one of the most difficult responsibilities of the job is the supervision of staff.

. You will put your personal stamp on any process for which you are responsible. That is the nature of education.

You bring with you your personal strengths to all your work. And that is the way it should be. This is a personal business.Most educational administrators began their careers as classroom teachers.

When you become an administrator you must never forget you’re a teacher first and an administrator second. You’ve traded a classroom of students for a school of adult teachers for whom you are responsible.

What is Formative Supervision?

The term formative indicates forming or developing something through changes.

Supervision is the act of overseeing something.

Formative supervision is the process of one person (administrator) assisting another person (classroom teacher) in order to improve instruction(teacher) and learning (students)in the classroom.

The ProcessIt includes not just a classroom visits (including

the pre-visit and post-visit consultations)but goal-setting, follow-up visits to the classroom, provision of additional support to implement changes, mentoring and coaching, provision of professional development opportunities, feedback on progress, along with many other aspects.

Improvement of Instruction in the classroom is the primary goal of the process. Through proper supervisions teachers the way they work in the classroom. One of the goals to keep in mind with formative supervision is to make sure that very good teachers continue to be very good.

Student learning is also a major focus of the process. As an administrator you cannot directly affect student learning to any great extent. It is through the continuous improvement of instruction in each and every classroom in your school that you have the most impact.

The primary function of classroom supervision is to effect changes in teacher behavior that will result in improved instructional skill. Among the problems associated with supervision are lack of time, lack of specific supervisory techniques, and poor interpersonal relations.