Effective Supervision Practices

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Effective Supervision Practices

• MMS Safe Civil Schools Team
• February, 2008

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A Positive Adult Presence Promotes

• An invitational school climate
• A spirit of cooperation
• A sense of adult availability
• Student/Staff connections
• Student rule-following

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An Effective Supervisor will

• Be there on time
• In the right place(s) physically
• In the right place mentally
• Be supportive of other supervisors
• Be willing to initiate contact with any student
• Be knowledgeable about policies and procedures

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What does Effective Supervision Look Like?

• Positive, random verbal interactions with
  students
• Continually moving throughout the area use of
  proximity
• Continually visually sweeping the setting
• Watching/Listening for unusual crowds, sounds,
  noise levels, activities

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Watch this supervisor what is she doing that
makes her effective?
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Common Expectations

• How are students expected to enter the setting?
• How are students expected to behave in the
  setting?
• How are students expected to exit the setting?

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How does an Effective Supervisor actively
communicate with students?

• Create an assumption of cooperation and
  compliance with expectations
• Use body language and tone of voice
• Intervene early with low-level misbehavior
• Make early and positive contact with students
  misbehaving

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How NOT to do it!!
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Consistently

• Consistently means that-
• Every observed misbehavior receives a response
• Responses to similar misbehaviors are the same
• Not responding sends a message that the
  expectation is not important
• Inconsistency breeds a climate of unfairness

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Calmly

• Respond in an unemotional manner
• Emotional responses
• Are inappropriate models for students
• May escalate the situation
• May reinforce behaviors for students who are
  seeking attention
• Remind yourself-
• Dont take it personally
• I am the adult
• Consider the interaction a teaching opportunity

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Respectfully

• Use respectful words, tone of voice and body
  language
• Keep the responses as private as
  possible/reasonable
• Respectful responses-
• Model appropriate behavior for students
• Contribute to a positive school climate
• Allow students to save face with peers

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How does this look?

• Get the students attention - quietly say I need
  to speak with you
• Remove students from a peer group setting
• Position yourself in a non-confrontational stance
• This allows you to speak AND continue to observe
  other students
• Prevents an escalation or emotional response from
  the student

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The same situation.
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An Effective Supervisor will have a Menu of
productive responsesGentle Responses

• The quick one liner
• The instructional reprimand
• Humorous reprimand
• Relationship reprimand

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An Effective Supervisor will have a Menu of
productive responsesBrief Delay

• Ask the student to Stay where you are and think
  about (the expectation).
• Useful when a student is en route.

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An Effective Supervisor will have a Menu of
productive responsesPositive Practice

• Have a student demonstrate the expected behavior
  Please go back and walk Thank you.
• Useful when the offense has a physical component.

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An Effective Supervisor will have a Menu of
productive responsesRestitution

• Having a student repair damage that has been
  done.
• The student also apologizes to someone he/she has
  harmed in some way.

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An Effective Supervisor will have a Menu of
productive responsesChange in Location

• Having a student move to a different location or
  to a restricted space.
• Useful when the current location may be a
  contributing factor in the misbehavior.

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An Effective Supervisor will have a Menu of
productive responsesReferral to a more
intensive consequence

• For egregious or repeated offenses especially
  when safety of others is put at risk.

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An Effective Supervisor conveys an assumption of
student compliance

• Using body language and tone of voice to
  demonstrate an expectation that the student will
  follow direction.
• Getting the students attention first
• Not giving direction from a distance
• Avoiding an audience or squaring off with a
  student

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Consider these 2 examples
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An Effective Supervisor conveys an assumption of
student compliance

• State the direction positively
• Not framing the direction as a question
• Being as brief as possible
• Giving the student reasonable time to respond

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What does an Effective Supervisor do when a
student fails to respond?

• He or she will try-
• Appealing to cooperation
• Using humor
• Using the broken record technique
• Offering the student a choice
• He or she will avoid-
• Arguing
• Escalation with the student
• Letting the student get away with it
• Threatening or physically trying to make the
  student comply

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If a student continues to fail to respond????

• Record what has happened
• Inform the student that there will be a follow up
  regarding the matter
• Forward the incident to the appropriate adult
  (teacher, administrator)