The majority of teachers are dedicated professionals that want to make a difference in the lives of their learners. Unfortunately, they are overwhelmed with numerous responsibilities. They teach, perform many admin duties, are involved with extra curricular activities and attend many time consuming meetings. There is little time to develop professionally and the budget rarely stretches as far as to fund formal further training. Thankfully, school based instructional rounds can help teachers to become better at their jobs and to grow as individuals.
Implementing this system is easy and it does not require any funding or other resources. In essence, the system consist of smaller groups of teachers visiting the class of another teacher in order to observe how he teaches. The teacher under observation is almost always an accomplished educator. The purpose of the visit is to learn from the teacher teaching his class. No one is forced to participate in observation sessions.
The observers have a meeting prior to attending the class of another teacher. The purpose of this meeting is to set a few specific goals. In most cases, the teacher that will be observed is considered to be accomplished in at least one specific area, such as succeeding in getting learners to participate in the lesson. The observers will them concentrate on this specific aspect, hoping to learn just how it is accomplished.
These observations sessions should never be confused with any form of evaluation. The observers are not there to rank the teacher under observation. Their only focus is to learn from the teacher under observation. This is made clear to the learners prior to every session. In fact, no feedback is given to anyone after the session, not even to the teacher that was observed unless he asks for it.
Another meeting is held after the session. The observers discuss their experiences and impressions and they name the lessons that they have learnt. They also discuss ways in which they could perhaps incorporate those lessons learnt in their own classrooms and how they could adapt their own teaching methods. They never criticise the observed teacher and the certainly do not file a report. The entire session is seen as confidential.
This way of learning from accomplished colleagues have become extremely popular. Many colleges and universities have also implemented similar systems. Participants generally agree that they find the observation session very useful and that they have been able to improve their own teaching techniques in the process. Even the teachers that are observed benefit because the very fact that they asked to agree means that they are viewed as accomplished professionals.
There are those that disagree. They say that observation sessions cannot make any difference because they are too short and much too informal. Some critics say that teachers under observation do not act as they normally do in class. They even go as far as to say that education authorities use these systems to save money of very necessary formal development programs for teachers.
Nobody will argue the fact that the educational system needs to improve in all ways. If observation sessions help teacher to do their jobs better, then they are certainly worth it. They do not cost much and they are extremely easy to implement and to manage.
Implementing this system is easy and it does not require any funding or other resources. In essence, the system consist of smaller groups of teachers visiting the class of another teacher in order to observe how he teaches. The teacher under observation is almost always an accomplished educator. The purpose of the visit is to learn from the teacher teaching his class. No one is forced to participate in observation sessions.
The observers have a meeting prior to attending the class of another teacher. The purpose of this meeting is to set a few specific goals. In most cases, the teacher that will be observed is considered to be accomplished in at least one specific area, such as succeeding in getting learners to participate in the lesson. The observers will them concentrate on this specific aspect, hoping to learn just how it is accomplished.
These observations sessions should never be confused with any form of evaluation. The observers are not there to rank the teacher under observation. Their only focus is to learn from the teacher under observation. This is made clear to the learners prior to every session. In fact, no feedback is given to anyone after the session, not even to the teacher that was observed unless he asks for it.
Another meeting is held after the session. The observers discuss their experiences and impressions and they name the lessons that they have learnt. They also discuss ways in which they could perhaps incorporate those lessons learnt in their own classrooms and how they could adapt their own teaching methods. They never criticise the observed teacher and the certainly do not file a report. The entire session is seen as confidential.
This way of learning from accomplished colleagues have become extremely popular. Many colleges and universities have also implemented similar systems. Participants generally agree that they find the observation session very useful and that they have been able to improve their own teaching techniques in the process. Even the teachers that are observed benefit because the very fact that they asked to agree means that they are viewed as accomplished professionals.
There are those that disagree. They say that observation sessions cannot make any difference because they are too short and much too informal. Some critics say that teachers under observation do not act as they normally do in class. They even go as far as to say that education authorities use these systems to save money of very necessary formal development programs for teachers.
Nobody will argue the fact that the educational system needs to improve in all ways. If observation sessions help teacher to do their jobs better, then they are certainly worth it. They do not cost much and they are extremely easy to implement and to manage.
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