Each week the Educational Service Department receives a summary of key professional articles published the past week. While reading this week, we found this summary especially intriguing. Peer observation and learning from each other is an essential part of professional learning that is job embedded. Through the Collaborative Inquiry process, a job alike observation process has been established. If you have not heard from your team members yet, you will very soon. Please take time to read the article below and review the exciting process of taking time to learn on the job and visit other Kaneland classrooms. Link to job alike observations.
In this article in Tools for Learning Schools, Kathleen Sheehy (LearningAI) and Leslie Hirsh Ceballos (an assistant principal in Allen, Texas) list five potential benefits of teachers visiting each others’ classrooms: another pair of eyes on classroom practices; low-stakes feedback that’s less stressful than a supervisor’s evaluative comments; helpful discussions about teaching and learning among peers; capitalizing on the instructional expertise within a school; and modeling for students that teachers can be learners too.
That said, Sheehy and Ceballos believe peer observers need to think through several issues to ensure success. “It’s important,” they say, “that educators teaming up for this practice have open and honest communication about what their expectations are – what they hope to get out of the observations, in addition to anything they don’t want to happen.” Schedules need to be aligned or coverage arranged; each teacher should be observed the same number of times; there needs to be agreement on how long each observation will last and when the debrief will take place (ideally soon after the class); the lesson plan should be available and specific look-fors or a focus area agreed on (e.g., wait time, checking for understanding); thoughts about which student work products will be shared afterward; and perhaps discussion of the best note-taking approach and where in the classroom the visitor will sit or stand.
During each classroom visit, Sheehy and Ceballos suggest that the observer get close enough to students to see and hear what they are doing without being intrusive; ask questions of students while they’re working (but not while the teacher is addressing the class); take detailed notes on what the teacher and students say and do; and focus on what the teacher asked for feedback on. Some no-nos: taking copious notes on details that aren’t important; writing down only things that fit a preconceived idea; trying to fix the lesson in real time; and jumping to judgments and conclusions.
“Any debrief is more helpful with careful planning,” say Sheehy and Ceballos. Prior to a face-to-face post-observation conversation, the observer needs to analyze the notes taken, highlight everything that worked well in the lesson, and decide on the most important growth area. Some possible prompts as the observer reflects: What questions will be most helpful for the teacher to answer during the debrief? Which suggestion could have the biggest impact on the teaching and learning? What is the teacher most likely to change based on my feedback? What is the ideal takeaway for my colleague?
The debrief conversation is where the most important work gets done. “Powerful questions offer many benefits,” says Sheehy and Ceballos. “They lead to open dialogue and conversation, invite the observee to do the thinking, are open-ended to allow for many possible answers, create a culture of deep thinking about practice, and require the observee to examine events from multiple perspectives.” Some possible questions:
In what ways did the lesson go as you planned?
How well do you think students accomplished your instructional goal?
Can we look at student work?
Given the focus area we agreed on, what was successful and why?
What happened that you didn’t expect?
What alternative strategies could you try?
What might you change before you try this again? Possible resources?
How can I be helpful?
From this list, Sheehy and Ceballos suggest deciding on a couple of questions to launch the conversation, and then adding questions or comments depending on the teacher’s responses – trying to keep the conversation from becoming too emotional. Being direct and specific about what was observed, they say, increases the ease with which the teacher can understand, accept, and act upon the feedback.
“The Expert Next Door: Lesson Observations and Peer Feedback” by Kathleen Sheehy and Leslie Hirsh Ceballos in Tools for Learning Schools, Summer 2018 (Vol. 21, #3, p. 1-3),
No comments:
Post a Comment