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 good thing about this system is that it is easy to implement and to manage. All that happens is that a few teachers get together to visit a teaching session of a colleague. It is a voluntary system and even the observed teacher has to agree to such an observation session. The whole idea behind the system is to observe more experienced teachers and to learn from the way that he teaches.
The observers have a meeting before an observation session where the sole purpose is to decide what the objective that they wish to achieve are. Observed teachers are often known for very specific successes such as getting the learners to participate in class discussions. The observers will focus on those successes and concentrate on learning how to use the same techniques in their own classrooms to obtain similar results.
Observers never evaluate the colleague that is observed. That will negate the entire idea behind these sessions. They have only one goal and that is to learn from the observed colleague. This is why the learners are informed about the reason for the visit and that is also why no feedback is ever given. The observers do not participate in the classroom activities and they do not interact with learners.
After the observation session the observers meet once again. This time round the purpose is to give each other feedback regarding the lessons that was learnt. They discuss ways in which they can use these lessons to improve their own teaching methods. Criticism of the observed colleague is not allowed. No report is drawn up and all discussions are deemed to be confidential.
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.
Improving the educational system, even in very small ways, should always be a priority. Teachers should be given every possible opportunity to improve their skills. Their charges are, after all, the future leaders of the world.
The good thing about this system is that it is easy to implement and to manage. All that happens is that a few teachers get together to visit a teaching session of a colleague. It is a voluntary system and even the observed teacher has to agree to such an observation session. The whole idea behind the system is to observe more experienced teachers and to learn from the way that he teaches.
The observers have a meeting before an observation session where the sole purpose is to decide what the objective that they wish to achieve are. Observed teachers are often known for very specific successes such as getting the learners to participate in class discussions. The observers will focus on those successes and concentrate on learning how to use the same techniques in their own classrooms to obtain similar results.
Observers never evaluate the colleague that is observed. That will negate the entire idea behind these sessions. They have only one goal and that is to learn from the observed colleague. This is why the learners are informed about the reason for the visit and that is also why no feedback is ever given. The observers do not participate in the classroom activities and they do not interact with learners.
After the observation session the observers meet once again. This time round the purpose is to give each other feedback regarding the lessons that was learnt. They discuss ways in which they can use these lessons to improve their own teaching methods. Criticism of the observed colleague is not allowed. No report is drawn up and all discussions are deemed to be confidential.
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.
Improving the educational system, even in very small ways, should always be a priority. Teachers should be given every possible opportunity to improve their skills. Their charges are, after all, the future leaders of the world.
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