Teachers are often given the short end of the stick. They have to prepare lessons, teach, be involved with all school activities, mark papers and perform numerous administrative tasks. There is very little opportunity for professional or personal growth and the educational authorities recognize this fact. Instructional rounds, however, have started to play a bigger role in not only helping teachers to grow professionally, but also to improve the standard of education.
The system is simple and straight forward. A small group of teacher get together and visit another teacher to observe his teaching methods and classroom techniques. The observed teacher is normally an experienced professional that obtain excellent results and he will only be observed if he agrees. The observers are there to learn from him in order to improve their own results and to glean new ideas.
The observers meet before the visit in order to formulate specific objectives for the observation session. These objectives normally focus on the known strong points of the observed colleague. He may, for example, have a reputation for enhancing his lesson with the effective use of multimedia, or he may be very successful in maintaining discipline in the classroom. The observers aim to find out how he does it.
These sessions should never be equated with evaluation sessions. In this case the observers do not conduct any form of evaluation. They are rather there to learn from a professional and to discover new inspiration for teaching as a profession. The students are informed about the aim of the session and the observers never take part in the lesson. Unless the observed teacher asks for it, no feedback is ever given to anyone.
Directly after the observation session the observers meet again. This time the purpose of the meeting is to share the lessons that each participant has learned. They will discuss ways in which they can implement those lessons in their own classrooms. The observed teacher is never criticized and the observer group never submit a report about their experiences. The results of the session is also never discussed outside the group.
These sessions have become commonplace and teachers say that they greatly benefit from them. They learn from experienced colleagues, find new inspiration and they get the opportunity to interact with colleagues. When teachers grow professionally everyone benefits. Learners obtain better results, schools are obtaining better results and the entire educational system is improved. Observed teachers also benefit because they find new motivation in the knowledge that they are deemed as worthy to learn from.
There are, of course, critics. They say that the sessions are too short to be of any value. They also accuse observed teachers of taking extra trouble for these sessions instead of teaching the way they normally do. Supporters nevertheless refute these arguments by saying that they learn a lot, that they improve as educators and that the learners ultimately benefit from the system.
Nobody will argue the fact that the educational system is under pressure and that many schools produce poor results. Any system that aims to improve the situation should be supported. These observation sessions are easy to implement and they do not require funding. If it helps to improve the quality of education it should be supported at all levels of the overall educational system.
The system is simple and straight forward. A small group of teacher get together and visit another teacher to observe his teaching methods and classroom techniques. The observed teacher is normally an experienced professional that obtain excellent results and he will only be observed if he agrees. The observers are there to learn from him in order to improve their own results and to glean new ideas.
The observers meet before the visit in order to formulate specific objectives for the observation session. These objectives normally focus on the known strong points of the observed colleague. He may, for example, have a reputation for enhancing his lesson with the effective use of multimedia, or he may be very successful in maintaining discipline in the classroom. The observers aim to find out how he does it.
These sessions should never be equated with evaluation sessions. In this case the observers do not conduct any form of evaluation. They are rather there to learn from a professional and to discover new inspiration for teaching as a profession. The students are informed about the aim of the session and the observers never take part in the lesson. Unless the observed teacher asks for it, no feedback is ever given to anyone.
Directly after the observation session the observers meet again. This time the purpose of the meeting is to share the lessons that each participant has learned. They will discuss ways in which they can implement those lessons in their own classrooms. The observed teacher is never criticized and the observer group never submit a report about their experiences. The results of the session is also never discussed outside the group.
These sessions have become commonplace and teachers say that they greatly benefit from them. They learn from experienced colleagues, find new inspiration and they get the opportunity to interact with colleagues. When teachers grow professionally everyone benefits. Learners obtain better results, schools are obtaining better results and the entire educational system is improved. Observed teachers also benefit because they find new motivation in the knowledge that they are deemed as worthy to learn from.
There are, of course, critics. They say that the sessions are too short to be of any value. They also accuse observed teachers of taking extra trouble for these sessions instead of teaching the way they normally do. Supporters nevertheless refute these arguments by saying that they learn a lot, that they improve as educators and that the learners ultimately benefit from the system.
Nobody will argue the fact that the educational system is under pressure and that many schools produce poor results. Any system that aims to improve the situation should be supported. These observation sessions are easy to implement and they do not require funding. If it helps to improve the quality of education it should be supported at all levels of the overall educational system.
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