0.4 The art of successful school-based management  (Page 16/36)

Although the IL would be responsible for the personnel evaluation component, the instructional committee andmentors would engage in supervision exclusively. The group based the distinctions of what constitutes evaluation vs. supervision onNolan’s (2003) work. According to Nolan, the natures of evaluation and supervision are fundamentally and critically distinct withinvarious functions of the teaching experience [See Table 2]. Given aparticular dimension, the distinctions between evaluation and supervision become clear.

It is in the form of mentoring as a supervisory practice that some of the more powerful benefits forteacher growth and development seem to emerge (Reiman 1999; Glickman, 2002; Pajak, 2002). Individuals who have a trained mentorare more likely to realize professional and personal growth than those who work alone (Vygotsky, 1986). This benefit is especiallynoticeable when teachers are in new assignments or in new settings. Whether we are speaking about new doctors, new teachers, newadministrators, or new professors, a supportive colleague can help a novice move to higher levels of effectiveness. Writing aboutmedical school novices, Rabatin et al. (2004) noted that a“mentoring model stressing safety, intimacy, honesty, setting of high standards, praxis, and detailed planning and feedback wasassociated with mentee excitement, personal and professional growth and development, concrete accomplishments, and a commitment toteaching”(p. 569).

For public school teachers having a mentor is associated with professional growth and a sense of self-efficacyfor both novices and experienced teachers. In working with veteran teachers, Reiman and Peace (2002) sought to“encourage new social role-taking, support new learning in effective teaching, encouragenew complex performances in coaching and support conferences, and promote gains in moral and conceptual reasoning. Significantpositive gains in learning, performance, and moral judgment reasoning were achieved”(p. 597). Mentoring had a bidirectional benefit for both novice and mentor. The best plan for supportinginstruction will require a position that is wholly, and singularly, focused on the processes of teacher development.

As a benefit to school cultures, mentoring in a developmental supervision model encourages conversation amongteachers. In conversation we begin creating a school community characterized by sharing, supporting, and caring. It has becomeclear through research of Noddings (2002), Palmer (1998), Starratt (1997), and others that when teachers and students work in a caringand supportive atmosphere, they are more likely to take risks, experiment, and attend to each other’s needs. It is just this type of collaboration that the process of mentoring canencourage.

Form: three-dimensional structure or shape; geometric or free form.

The Artist’s View:

Forms are shapes that are three-dimensional and are either geometric or free form. In two-dimensional works ofart (that is, artworks that hang on a wall), artists use value on a shape to create a form. In other words when artists add value tothe shape of a circle, the shape becomes a sphere and takes on the illusion of something that is three-dimensional -- a form. Todayartists refer to light and dark areas of a work of art as modeling or shading. Very dark areas of forms tend to recede into theartwork where very light areas appear closest to the viewer. In three-dimensional art works such as sculpture, all shapes are formsbecause they take up space in three dimensions. True forms occupy height, width, and depth in space.