Monday, May 18, 2009

Peer Observations

The purpose of observing one another was to learn something. Moving forward, peer observations will be a strategy that we will use to create a culture of professional learners to discuss best practices and rigor of our curriculum.What did you learn about your own teaching practice? What last thoughts/comments would you like to share about this cycle of observations? What can we do to make our next cycle better than this one?

12 comments:

  1. I enjoyed the structured opportunity to participate in observations, across the academies. In the future, it would be nice to have one or two specific areas to focus our observations on...

    From being observed and observing, I have thought more about the rich academic opportunities students receive from co-teaching.

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  2. This round was fine for me. I had an observer come in and observe for a chunk of time. I never received feedback from the observation though. I think it would be good to maybe have to turn in our observations (in sealed envelopes) to the facilitator so that it may be a motivator to actually return the feed back if it is getting checked off.

    I think we should focus our observations to one or two areas next time we observe.

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  3. Being observed is nice because I love sharing. I wish that my scheduling hadn't gotten in the way of my being able to go out to observe, since I like seeing what elements of others' classes I can bring back to my own.
    In teaching it's easy to become isolated in one's own room doing one's own thing, so I like that this opportunity was provided for us.

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  4. I learned that good teaching transcends content. A [good] Humanities teacher can command a classroom and engage students in great learning experiences even if it is outside of their content area.

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  5. I did not get to go into a classroom. However, I believe, from past observations I have done, that this type of activities allows us to get out of our own heads. We are able to see other ideas and other "normals." This forces of us to think of the world and our classrooms in another way.

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  6. I wasn't able to observe a class. I do believe that this is a very valuable exercise that we should continue. It informs both the observer and teacher being observed, giving insight on best practices.

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  7. I really enjoyed my observation. The students were engaged in the lesson even at the end of the day. The energy of the teacher was really exciting and that energy transcended to the students. It inspired me to want to model that more in my teaching.

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  8. Mr. Knapp thinks that going to other rooms is great for collegiality. I found that by observing a very personal environment and experience (as a classroom is often a close look into someone's personality) that I have a lot to talk about with that teacher and we've sought each other out twice since the observation...

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  9. I greatly enjoyed the interaction and reaction of the my teacher observer. The conversations sparked an excitement to observe and collaborate. I liked the organized and neutral format to observe peers. Hopefully, observations such as this can be done more frequently in the upcoming year.

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  10. It is really helpful just knowing someone is coming in because I think it helps us prepare better and double check to make sure your objectives match your activities etc. Seeing the evaluation after was a great way to realize what I was missing and spark some thought on how I could change that for the next lesson.

    I think next year this would be helpful to do more often, perhaps even starting in October!
    - M. Lyons

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  11. This experience helped to get out of my own classroom and helped to start a new working relationship. It is so helpful to watch other teachers use similar resources in different ways. I plan on visiting the classroom again.

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  12. I think the next round of observations will be very different. I imagine it will be next year when we do our next round of observations and we will be able to observe our teaching methods through a common lens of shared content, curriculum, and learning goals.

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