In this step, you will guide the teacher to the right development area or areas. If you simply tell teachers which area to work on and send them on their way, that will accomplish the immediate goal of improving specific aspects of the teacher’s practice. But remember the larger goal of the evaluation process: to raise teacher self-awareness so teachers are more motivated to make improvements, and so they are thinking about and improving their own practice.
In order to achieve this larger goal, you want the teacher to do as much of the thinking as possible in this step. A technique called Levels of Questioning can help you accomplish this.
In this technique, there are four “levels” of questioning you use with a teacher. Each level is based on data from your observation, and each successive level gets more specific and provides more data to the teacher. You should always start at the first level, Encourage Reflection, regardless of how self-aware the teacher is. From there, work your way up through the levels until the teacher realizes the issue. These levels are:
1. Encourage Reflection: ask one or two general questions to encourage reflection about the development area. An “Aware” teacher will realize the issue after this general questioning; otherwise, progress to the next level.
2. Ask Targeted Questions: with increasingly specific questions based on observation data, lead the teacher toward the development area. A “Somewhat Aware” teacher will realize the issue after this targeted questioning; otherwise, progress to the next level.
3. Present Data: provide data from your observation to help guide the teacher to the development area. A “Somewhat Unaware” teacher will realize the issue once you present specific data; otherwise, progress to the final level.
4. State Issue: If the teacher has not realized the issue after all of this questioning and stating of evidence, it is best to spell out the issue and move on. Clearly state the issue, provide evidence supporting your statement, and explain why a change will benefit students. An “Unaware” teacher will only realize the issue after an explicit statement.
See “Levels of Questioning: Examples,” below, for examples of questions you can ask at each level.
Once the teacher has realized the issue, you can move on to Step 4. It is often a good idea to summarize what you have agreed on to make sure you are on the same page before making this transition.
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