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If We Provide It, Will They Come?

Creating Professional Development for Cooperating Teachers and University Supervisors

Tina Selvaggi and Sally Winterton

West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Abstract

            Responding to a national accreditation agency’s directive to provide professional development for cooperating teachers and university supervisors, two faculty members developed a series of workshops to provide information about teacher candidate evaluation and mentoring skills.  This article shares the development of the initial workshops and the preparation of the second tier of workshops.  The information included might assist those facing the task of developing a similar program.

Background

            Traditionally communicating with cooperating teachers regarding the responsibilities, requirements, and completion of the various paper work related to working with a teacher candidate was the responsibility of the university supervisor.  The depth of conversation and manner of communication varied as much by department in the College of Education (COE) at a large regional comprehensive university as it did by university supervisor with in the each department.  Program information for university supervisors was communicated through each department’s program coordinator resulting in a lack of consistency across the programs.  These inconsistencies were recognized and cited in a national accreditation agency report as a need to be addressed.

            Prior to the accreditation visit, two Saturday morning cooperating teacher workshops held on campus had 12 and 30 cooperating teachers in attendance.  Since approximately 350 teacher candidates work in classrooms with cooperating teachers each semester, the attendance was disappointing.  The content of these workshops centered on the COE Conceptual Framework, the Pennsylvania Department of Education Evaluation form (PDE 430); the teacher candidate orientation program, as well as a question and answer session.  In an effort to attract cooperating teachers, a continental breakfast and lunch was provided at one of the sessions.  Options such as an evening workshop with dinner were attempted but attendance at this session was sparse.  Attendees at all of these sessions were asked for suggestions for improving the workshops and topics.  Among the suggestions received, several participants indicated the difficulty of getting from their schools to campus in a timely manner and suggested that the sessions be offered at other locations and a variety of times.

The Task

            As a result of the accrediting agency’s feedback and that of the cooperating teachers, it was apparent the task at hand was to create a more convenient professional development opportunity for cooperating teachers, and to design one for the university supervisors.  A plan of action with procedures for workshops had to be developed.  A series of pre-implementation meetings were held to draft a plan and it was presented to the Dean of the College of Education.  The target was to increase the number of cooperating teachers attending the workshops and invite university supervisors to attend specially designed workshops for them in order to improve communication and create a common knowledge base for both groups.

The Plan

             For the university supervisors two sets of three session workshops were offered on campus on days that coincided with their teaching responsibilities. University supervisors could choose to attend one of the two sets.  In addition to meeting the professional development needs of the university supervisors, Cooperating Teacher Workshops were also developed.  Recognizing that attendance at campus held workshops was low and noting the feedback from past participants regarding the difficulty of traveling from their schools to campus, cooperating teachers were offered a choice of four locations in the five county area based on the placement of teacher candidates.  This professional development opportunity required attendance at two after-school sessions. Cooperating teachers and university supervisors received invitation letters to attend the workshops.  As an incentive Act 48 credits were offered for those attending all sessions of their workshops.

            The introductory session for each constituency centered on the COE Conceptual Framework; the teacher candidate evaluation tools: PDE 430 and the COE Teacher Intern Performance Rating (TIPR).  The correlation among the Conceptual Framework, the PDE 430 and the TIPR was presented as shown in Figure 1.  Subsequent sessions presented Charlotte Danielson’s “Four Domains of Teaching Responsibility” on which the PDE 430 is modeled. Mentoring and conferencing skills were also explored.

            Acknowledging the adult learners’ needs, the workshops included hands on activities, engaging discussion, and opportunities for application of skills learned, as well as, affirmation of the participants’ prior knowledge and expertise as educators.  These techniques included group work, visual representations of new knowledge and much discussion around typical field situations.  In order to establish a climate of comfort, the sessions were held in large conference rooms or school libraries.  Light refreshments were provided and breaks and opportunities to move around were numerous.  After watching a video modeling various mentoring skills such as mirroring and questioning, cooperating teachers were asked to try these techniques with a partner.  University supervisors were asked to send (via email) a “dilemma” they had dealt with that year in the field.  Dilemmas included such things as cooperating teachers not following university guidelines, or teacher candidates who were experiencing difficulty with classroom management.   

            As the presentations continued, the scope of knowledge and pace of presentation were constantly monitored and adjusted.  Both the university supervisors and cooperating teachers enjoyed trading “war stories” and asking about current situations so time to explore those discussions and discuss solutions was built into the workshops.  Evaluations were collected and analyzed after each session.  These evaluations offered important information about the participants’ expectations and needs for future workshops.

            Suggestions from cooperating teachers included having a few student teachers present to discuss thoughts and feedback, communication and having more teachers in attendance to share ideas.  The cooperating teachers also asked if sessions could be held prior to the start of the semester and if they could send questions ahead of time.  For the next session cooperating teachers and university supervisors will be asked to submit questions electronically in advance of the first session. Feedback from both the cooperating teachers and the university supervisors requested copies of Charlotte Danielson’s Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching.  Copies of this professional book were provided to those who attended all sessions of their workshops.

Outcomes

            As a result of the evaluations, future professional development sessions will include Tier One workshops for new cooperating teachers and university supervisors and Tier Two workshops for more experienced cooperating teachers and university supervisors who attended the first series of workshops.  The Tier One workshops will continue to focus on the COE Conceptual Framework and teacher candidate evaluation tools.  These sessions will also present Charlotte Danielson’s “Four Domains of Teaching Responsibility”.  Tier Two workshops will provide a deeper understanding of the topics presented in Tier One as well as more opportunities for networking and practice with observation tools and mentoring techniques

            The design of the workshops began with the following goals: to provide a common knowledge base for cooperating teachers and university supervisors and to increase communication between and among cooperating teachers and university supervisors.  An unintended but welcomed result was the informal opportunity for networking and sharing of ideas and information.  A total of 48 cooperating teachers attended the off campus workshops.  The increase in the target audience of cooperating teachers attending supports the idea of holding the sessions at locations near where the cooperating teachers work and that after school proves to be a better time than Saturday mornings.  Twenty six university supervisors attended the first ever series of workshops designed to meet their needs.  These attendance numbers support the ongoing practice of offering these workshops.

            As the second semester of this professional development unfolds, plans may vary as meetings and collegial work with the professionals in the sessions continues.  In addition to the implementation of Tier One and Tier Two workshops, a FAQs section for the cooperating teachers and university supervisors will be added to the COE website. The most important finding from this project was that both the cooperating teachers and the university supervisors valued the opportunity to discuss ideas, strategies and dilemmas with each other, thus proving that if we provide professional development for cooperating teachers and university supervisors, they will come!

 Figure 1            Conceptual Framework and Assessment Matrix

                                                                                    Sally Winterton, Ed. D. 2006

Reference

Danielson, C. (1996). Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching.          Alexandria, VA: ASCD.