Teaching as a career has seen many changes over the past few decades. Modern teachers are under tremendous pressure. They have to plan their lessons, teach and be involved in sport, culture and other extra curricular activities. On top of all these responsibilities they are expected to manage many administrative responsibilities too. Teachers simply do not have the time to enrol for courses in order to improve on a professional level. With instructional school rounds teachers at least get the chance to learn from respected colleagues.
The system is straight forward and very easy to implement. A small group of teachers gather to observe a lesson given by a colleague. That colleague is normally someone well regarded. The visiting teachers simply attend the class and observe. The idea is to learn from the colleague giving the lesson, not to participate in any way. These sessions are voluntary and nobody is ever forced to agree to be observed.
Observer teachers meet prior to each session. During this meeting they define the objectives that they hope to reach. These objectives normally focus upon the strong point of the teacher under observation. The teacher being observed may, for example, be know for maintaining excellent levels of discipline in his classes and the observers may want to learn how he does it in order to improve discipline in their own classes.
It is important to note that these sessions never include any form of evaluation whatsoever. This is even made clear to the students attending the class. The sole purpose of any observation session is to learn from the teacher giving the lesson. It is for this reason that no feedback is given after the session, unless the teacher under observation specifically requests such feedback.
After each session, the observers meet once more. The purpose of this meeting is to share the lessons learned, the ideas generated and their thoughts on how to implement change in their own classrooms with each other. During this meeting no criticism is allowed and no report, verbal or written, is submitted. Observers are expected to keep the discussions during this meeting as confidential.
Learning from well respected teachers have become a widespread practice and teachers even observe colleagues from other schools. Feedback from those that have been observed and those that acted as observers have been very positive. Those being observed are motivated by the fact that they have received acknowledgement and observers are able to improve their own teaching techniques. In this way the entire educational system benefits.
Critics of colleague observation sessions say that it is a waste of time. The sessions are far too short and teachers under observation do not act or teach as they normally do. Instead, they go to ridiculous lengths to make an impression upon their observer colleagues and in the process they make it impossible for observers to copy his techniques in their own classrooms.
One thing is certain and that is that observation sessions have no negative impact at all. Any effort to improve the quality of education should be supported wholeheartedly. It is one of the most economical ways in which to allow teachers to grow professionally. The system is easy to implement and to manage.
The system is straight forward and very easy to implement. A small group of teachers gather to observe a lesson given by a colleague. That colleague is normally someone well regarded. The visiting teachers simply attend the class and observe. The idea is to learn from the colleague giving the lesson, not to participate in any way. These sessions are voluntary and nobody is ever forced to agree to be observed.
Observer teachers meet prior to each session. During this meeting they define the objectives that they hope to reach. These objectives normally focus upon the strong point of the teacher under observation. The teacher being observed may, for example, be know for maintaining excellent levels of discipline in his classes and the observers may want to learn how he does it in order to improve discipline in their own classes.
It is important to note that these sessions never include any form of evaluation whatsoever. This is even made clear to the students attending the class. The sole purpose of any observation session is to learn from the teacher giving the lesson. It is for this reason that no feedback is given after the session, unless the teacher under observation specifically requests such feedback.
After each session, the observers meet once more. The purpose of this meeting is to share the lessons learned, the ideas generated and their thoughts on how to implement change in their own classrooms with each other. During this meeting no criticism is allowed and no report, verbal or written, is submitted. Observers are expected to keep the discussions during this meeting as confidential.
Learning from well respected teachers have become a widespread practice and teachers even observe colleagues from other schools. Feedback from those that have been observed and those that acted as observers have been very positive. Those being observed are motivated by the fact that they have received acknowledgement and observers are able to improve their own teaching techniques. In this way the entire educational system benefits.
Critics of colleague observation sessions say that it is a waste of time. The sessions are far too short and teachers under observation do not act or teach as they normally do. Instead, they go to ridiculous lengths to make an impression upon their observer colleagues and in the process they make it impossible for observers to copy his techniques in their own classrooms.
One thing is certain and that is that observation sessions have no negative impact at all. Any effort to improve the quality of education should be supported wholeheartedly. It is one of the most economical ways in which to allow teachers to grow professionally. The system is easy to implement and to manage.
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