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Task 7:

Final Reflection

Jaclyn Harris

University of South Florida

December 3, 2015

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Background

This final task of the semester is designed in order to reflect on what all has been gained throughout this semester on supervision. The report will recap the results of the previous task and will briefly describe what was produced during each task. It will also highlight the major takeaways from the course and reasons explaining why.

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Reflection on the Entire Body of Work

Task One: Defining Supervision

In task one, research was conducted to find different definitions of supervision in order to create a definition of my own and how that definition works with career and technical education. The definition that I developed after my research would work for general education and CTE. I believe that supervision should be completed by individuals that are not just experienced in edu-cation, but also should be experienced in the field that the supervision is taking place. Supervi-sion is in place to build work relationships through cooperative work, regular meetings, observa-tions, positive appraisal, constructive criticism, regular feedback that is backed by current educa-tional research, and professional development in the content and level of the educator. The over-all goal of supervision should be to make education prevail through teachers so it can therefore prevail throughout the students.

This task made me reflect on some aspects of supervision that I have experienced in the past. I was able to put together was I have seen that works and reverse some of the things that I have seen not work in education. Through the research I was able to gather that supervision in other fields is very similar to that in education. This is due to everyones overall goals to help make sure that people in the field excel.

Task Two: Formulating a Supervision Model

Task two was the most difficult task that I experienced throughout this course. I had a difficult time finding the research needed, even though I know of many different models, finding research on them all was another story. The task was designed to research different models of supervision and how those models relate to CTE. The research was then to be used to create a supervision model of my own. Clinical supervision model and the developmental model were discussed and compared. Two other models included the differentiated, and Danielson models, and I concluded with how the differentiated model suits CTE more than others because CTE teachers and programs are all so different and therefore have different needs.

The major take away from this task was that writing your own model is not easy. Com-ing up with your own domains and standards that fall under each domain, in order for them to meet and be fair to every teachers needs is impossible. This is probably why there are so many different models out there. I also took away by reading other models created from other students in the course that time plays a major impact on supervision.

Task Three: Identifying Supervisory Positions

The third task highlighted different ways that supervisors are organized and who they are at the local level. The research focused on how many times supervisors are administrators, there-

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fore they are expected to accomplish all the duties that come with supervision, on top of their normal every duties as an administrator. There was also some research on how some people are assigned roles as supervisors, but are not given a proper job description and therefore do not ful-ly understand what their role is.

This task brought to my attention that it is important to look at the actual job descriptions because many organization structures have similar positions but the names are different. For ex-ample, one district might call an employee a supervisor and another might call them a director when overall they have the same responsibilities.

Task Four: Clarifying Supervisory Roles and Task Five: How is Supervision Conducted in Practice?

Task four and five, I put together because they both involved interviews with individuals at River Oak Technical College. Task four was designed to learn about the type of supervision that goes on in Suwannee County CTE through an interview with Walter Boatright, director of CTE and principal of RTC. Task five revolved around task four. By using what I gained in task four from Mr. Boatright, I used that to conduct an interview with the Early Childhood Education Teacher, Kim Thomas, at RTC, to see how she see’s the supervision being conducted. There in-terviews were very similar in that what Mr. Boatright said, Mrs. Thomas said was happening.

The highlights from these two interviews is that Mr. Boatright plays a role that most di-rectors do not have and that is that he is the principal as well. I also realized how lucky and hap-py Mrs. Thomas is to have him as a supervisor and that he truly works with is teachers and un-derstands that they are the experts in their fields, not him.

Task Six: Self-Assessment of Professional Practice

Performing a self-assessment on yourself is often a difficult task for someone to do. Of-ten times, we are harder on ourselves than what we really need to be, but that how we push our-selves to be better as individuals. For the self-assessment, I used the evaluation form that is in place in Suwannee County, and they use the Copeland Model. By going through the evaluation process, I was able to prepare myself for what is to come for my actual evaluation. It also made me aware that this evaluation is not something that can be completed during a single fifty minute class period. I now know that I need to take time to gather and keep record of evidence showing that I have completed the items that cannot or will not be evaluated during that time.

Conclusion

Throughout this course, it was evident that many do not have a clear definition and de-scription of supervision. With many different models out there to follow, and the option of creat-ing your own model, makes everyone with a role of supervision different. This course has made me aware, overall, that supervision is not something that just comes from your administrator. It

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has brought forward the fact that even though there is so much confusion with supervision in general, when it comes to career and technical education, the level of confusion is brought to a new level.