Supporting Teacher Peer Observations
Looking for fresh teaching ideas? Just pop next door for a visit!
Teachers have incredible learning opportunities right in their own buildings through conducting peer-observations. In peer observations, teachers spend anywhere from a few minutes to a whole lesson watching what another teacher does and says (as well as what students are saying and doing) in order to consider how to grow their own class culture or instruction. Because colleagues are in the same context, peer observations can support both new and veteran teachers by seeing great teaching practices in action.
While an informal system of peer observations sets a positive “open door” culture at a school (check out these two great post from the Cult of Pedagogy on informal peer observations: Pineapple Chart and Open Your Door), for this post we’ll focus more on how coaches and leaders can facilitate a more structured approach to peer observations.
As a school leader or coach, you can support peer observations by providing teachers with a template for notes or a clear focus area of what to look for as they are observing. Setting a clear intention for the visit or using anchor questions helps make sure teachers walk away with something helpful, not just feeling overwhelmed by how much there is to take in. Leaders should set clear guidelines for the frequency and length of peer observations as well as the expectations for follow-up. Additionally, provide clear norms for engagement during the observation as well as interactions between teachers.
Five ideas for how to structure and support teacher peer observations:
Frequency: Ask teachers to complete one peer observation every semester (or at whatever frequency works for your building). Typically 20 minute observations are sufficient for learning something new.
Give time back: Support peer observations by providing additional time. Give teachers some free time during a usual PD block or provide coverage for part of a class.
Pairings: Consider how to help teachers select who to visit. Are there a few teachers in your building who shine and are willing to have an open door? Or should they visit a similar grade level or content area? Or will you coordinate the pairings? Make sure to consider this equitably, being cautious of scenarios such as only young white female teachers easily fitting the norm of “good teaching” in your building.
Time to reflect: Offer time during a regularly scheduled PD for teachers to debrief and reflect on what they learned in their peer observation. This should focus on what teachers will take away to implement in their own classes.
Use of technology: If there’s a great lesson that a peer teacher just can’t get to for whatever reason, ask that teacher to record their lesson to share. Make sure they set up the camera in a way that captures both what the teacher and students are saying and doing.
Peer Observation Template
Below you can download the form I use with teachers for peer observations. I ask teachers to take notes on a FEW things:
Focus area: Before the peer observation, the observing teacher should determine what they are focusing on or what central question they’ll use. This may be set as a school, in pairs, or individually.
Engagement: Next, I include a table to support teachings in looking at student engagement. Approximately every 5 minutes, they should pause to count how many students are actually engaged, on task or doing something. There is space for notes about what students and teachers are doing at these moments. While a limited measure, focusing on the number of students on task pushes observers to really see what students are doing, not just what the teacher is doing.
Wonder/Wow: In the last part, observing teachers should notice what makes them say “wow!” when they are observing. They should also consider what they are wondering and what they’d like to learn more about.
The end of the peer observation question includes four questions to guide teacher reflection, with a focus on implementing something they’ve learned in their own classroom. This may be done individually or together during a PD session. In either case, I recommend collecting the form to hold teachers accountable to walk through the reflection. Additionally, these questions may be used to reflect during a coaching meeting.
4 Reflection Questions:
What do you see as glow areas for the lesson that you observed? Provide evidence if possible.
What are your biggest takeaways from the peer observation?
What do you plan to implement in your classroom as a result of the peer observation? Provide as many details as possible, including when, what, how and why you’ll try this new thing.
What questions come up for you as a result of the peer observation? What additional resources or support would be helpful for you in making any changes to your own class? Who can support you with this?
In a recent post on teacher observations on EdWeek, educator Ryan Huels writes, “Oftentimes, the best professional development is a teacher within our building, so pairing staff up for peer observations allows teachers to take away specific strategies that work and the opportunity to have follow-up conversations with colleagues about ways to constantly improve their practice.”
Indeed, the best PD may well be observing another teacher in your building. Now let’s make a way for teachers to get to see each other teach!