Teachers Observing Teachers

“The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other.  Without collaboration our growth is limited to our own perspectives.”  – Robert John Meehan

More and more teachers and administrators are finding that peer observations are a form of collaborative professional development that truly delivers.  A school culture that encourages and promotes this sharing of best practices provides cost-effective professional development that teachers can actually put to use in their classrooms.  The opportunity to watch colleagues at work can improve teaching practices, inspire new creative ideas and procedures, and ultimately boost student performance.  Each day, we enter a professional learning community that is filled with quality ideas and practices.  Sadly, much good work goes on behind closed classroom doors, so let’s open them and share the wealth!

Everybody benefits when teachers have the chance to observe and collaborate.  The feel of observation moves from the nerve-rattling rating of performance to a vehicle for sharing best practices.  Administrators become facilitators of these sharing opportunities and promote a collegial attitude among professionals.  Teachers are provided with the chance to actually see best practices at work and then follow the time with reflective dialogues that generate a sense of shared responsibility and support.  This teacher-to-teacher model creates a collaborative teaching and learning community, boosts attitudes, sparks new ideas, and allows educators to move from isolation to camaraderie.  Classroom doors open, ideas are shared, and educators grow.  Students benefit as their teachers tweak newly acquired ideas and strategies to better meet their learning needs.  We are all stronger and more effective when we work together.

It is easy to get caught up in the familiar routines and rhythms of our learning day and our fellow teachers are rich resources that can spark new ideas.  It is refreshing to find a new method, expand our vocabulary, pick up a quick behavior management idea, and become inspired to teak what we observe and make it our own.  Each educator has a unique way of interacting with students, and watching a master teacher at work can spark new perspective and make us more effective.  Observing talented teachers share their passion for learning is a professional development opportunity that can easily happen and will inspire.

“When teachers grow, so do learners.”