The third party faces a challenging but rewarding dance, having to both lead and demonstrate a discussion on good mentoring behaviors proverbially 'walking the walk' while 'talking the talk'. Although third parties have little or no time to prepare for the discussion immediately following the mentor-teacher conference, they may have the most dynamic material to work with of all, having the opportunity to generate instantaneous reflection on a mentoring situation witnessed from point blank. One simple way to begin is to follow the template of a typical mentor-teacher discussion by putting the observe in control of the discussion, having the mentor talk through his/her perspective of how each stage of the conference went. Throughout this Discount Juicy Couture(http://www.discountjuicy.com) post-conference discussion, the third party should ask probing questions to promote deeper reflection, making sure that the conversation does not dry up at a superficial level. For instance, the mentor may be asked how the conference did or did not go according to plan and how things might be handled differently if they come up again in the future.
At times, the observed teacher's presence can complicate the dynamics of the discussion, making it difficult for the mentor to be completely open about challenges that arose. This can be especially troublesome for mentors who tend to make long lists of faulty teaching behaviors to 'correct'. Mentors who instead concentrate on helping others to reflect and come to conclusions for themselves will likely have more fulfilling post-conference discussions, as they can more candidly explore the successes and failures of the various techniques employed. Though the presence of the observed teacher may still lend an air of artificiality to the proceedings at times, a touch of awkwardness is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can heighten the senses, making everyone more keenly aware of how well the impact of their words matches their intentions. When the time feels right, the observed teacher can also be brought into the conversation to provide the perspective of what it was like to be mentored in this instance and how the mentor's intended messages were received. It can be instructive to consider whether the teacher felt the mentor's language came across as neutral or judgmental, how much of the mentor's feedback fell into the areas the teacher had previously requested, and how the mentor made the teacher feel safe to reflect candidly on the lesson and come to conclusions for himself/ herself.
The third party's lack of prior information about the observed class can facilitate complete focus on teacher training issues such as the mentor's techniques for setting the tone and creating a safe environment, asking questions effectively and helping the teacher reflect, and responding appropriately to what the teacher shares. Still, a bit of context can be of great help. Just as a pre-observation conference can lay the groundwork for a good post-observation discussion, the mentor and third party can benefit from a conversation prior to the conference as well. In this meeting, the mentor can make choices about what sort of feedback would be desirable from the third party. A mentor may tell the third party that he/she plans to use a particular style of mentoring or that he/she wants to talk as little as possible during the discussion (much like a teacher of a student-centred class may choose to do) or simply to avoid closed questions, and thus the third party will be invited to comment on the mentor's successfulness in these particular areas. The mentor may even Juicy Couture Jewelry(http://www.discountjuicy.com) choose to share a 'conference plan' (the mentoring equivalent of a lesson plan) with the third party to further guide the observation of the conference.
At the end of the conference review, the mentor and observed teacher should take a moment to share reflections on the mentor educator's work as well, closing the circle and taking full advantage of opportunities to increase awareness of the way feedback is given and received. This process is not fully completed until a second cycle is carried out in the opposite direction, so everyone can once again have the experience of the shoe being on the other foot. In other words, instead of Teacher A visiting Teacher B, this time Teacher A will visit Teacher C, B will visit A, and Cwill visit B (Figure 2), and this will once again be followed by a round of post-observation conferences and conference reviews. Scheduling can be tricky: working in these trios for two full cycles of observation and conference typically occupied KUIS participants for as long as a semester or more. After that point, the group members can decide whether to disperse into new groups to gain further experience with new colleagues in different classrooms or to repeat the process with the same partners so as to reap the benefits of the increased level of trust that will have developed over the course of the two rounds of observation and conference.
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