Saturday, May 9, 2015

Profits Accrued From Instructional Rounds

By Toni Vang


Teachers should use tools that enhance or improve their teaching skills and methodologies. The instructional rounds enhances a culture of collaboration between the teacher and their colleagues. These rounds provide feedback to the teacher on how others are working when they sit down for a discussion. It will also act a reflection ground after classes on how well or bad they fared in their classes that day.

The rounds are used once in a while and they cannot be used all the time. Once a semester is okay. However, it has to get agreed upon when it will be done, it should not be something abrupt. The lead teacher is chosen depending on how professional he is, how well he can control a group and how well of a leader he is. He also should be a leader somewhere else which makes him command respect from other teachers.

The schools that are seriously into this have permanent lead teachers who run the process. There are some teachers who do not like the process as they think they are being analyzed or judged. They have to get taught to believe otherwise if they have to learn maximally and benefit a lot as well. No teacher should be forced into the group, it is completely voluntary. The very experienced teachers are chosen to begin with as the new ones have more to learn from them.

The groups do not exceed five people counting the lead teacher too. More people would also work but this would disrupt the class too much as they settle down, they would be harder to control and the discussion would take less. The students require to be informed too before the time arrives as they are also part of the process. This is a learning process for the teachers as it usually is for students.

The observing teachers arrive when the lesson is going on. They knock at the door and once they are allowed in, they slowly walk to the back of the classroom and sit. They should not disrupt the class whatsoever. They take notes and observe how the instructor of that class works. They may choose to observe on a general level or just what interests them.

You do not need to worry that the process will take up too much of your time as it is programmed to turn out no more than fifteen minutes. They have to be very keen, both in listening and watching and at the same time take notes. It is a learning process that should be taken positively by all and all teachers should be encouraged to participate.

As soon as the observation period is over, they have to meet and discuss what they noted down. They take turns to each bring out their points and finally the lead teacher summarizes the discussion. The discussion is not to portray the teacher negatively but to encourage them to continue with their strong points and drop the bad ones. For this to be possible, rules have to be set and followed.

When they sit around to discuss their observations, first they look at the positives then the negatives are discussed later. The negatives are not brought out bluntly since it would annoy or discourage the teacher in questions. Rather they use a polite and gentle language such as asking questions on what they were not comfortable with.




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