Monday 30 th August 2010

 Why do we need e5? (read handout titled “A Profession without a Practice”) Highlight any points and be ready to share  The purpose of e5 is to give us a unified agreement on what constitutes high performance/high quality instructional practice.  Through this we improve our teaching and create a common language.

 How are they going?  Positives – any positive or interesting comments as a observer or person being observed (Use sticky notes – put on whiteboard)  Is the pro-forma for the Peer Observation Sheet working?

Look at the statement on the top of the A3 Brick Wall Key sheet. In the 5 bricks identify some issues/challenges that teachers face when implementing a Peer Observation Program.

 Swap sheets with another group.  Now break down the brick wall by providing ways around the issues that have been raised and write some strategies in the speech bubbles provided.

 Step 1 Select a goal, put the goal onto a Peer Observation Sheet linked to your chosen domain (located on the server under the e5 domains)  Step 2 Select a Peer and ask if they are willing to be your Observer  Step 3 Print Peer Observation Sheets for yourself and peer

 Step 4 Make a time to meet and discuss with your peer  Your goal  Your expectations of the Observer  Time for observation to take place  Role within classroom e.g. Interacting with students or not = YOU HAVE CONTROL = SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS

 Step 5 Lesson  Step 6 Both parties individually reflect on the lesson  Step 7 Make a time to meet after the lesson  Reflect on what you saw/did  Offer suggestions for future lessons

 Handout – Peer Observation Protocols These are things for the teacher and the observer to keep in mind when organising and planning for a Peer Observation Visit

People develop skills through:  learning relevant concepts  getting good quality feedback on performance  reflecting constructively on feedback  deciding to do something different in future to improve performance

People will be inhibited from learning from feedback if they:  feel unsafe  feel the need to defend themselves  are unable to see how to apply the feedback to improve performance

 The Art of BUT Listening  The word “BUT” acts to negate whatever it follows, so when used in reply to an idea, as “yes, but…” it relays a message that we disagree with the idea, and the word ‘yes’ is meaningless.  When you say ‘Yes But’ you have in fact said NO!  The “Yes And” principle is a strategy that allows everyone to give and receive feedback in a constructive, non-threatening way.  Compare these two phrases:  ‘Thanks for your idea, but let me tell you about…’  ‘Thanks for your idea, and let me tell you about..”

‘It was great to see the kids asking so many questions BUT most of them were closed questions.’ ‘It was great to see the kids asking so many questions AND if you provided them with the question stems from the higher levels of Bloom’s they would have generated richer questions.’

 Using the handout “Yes....And” generate a ‘BUT’ answer and fix it by generating a ‘YES AND’ answer.  FOR EXAMPLE:  ‘Whole class discussion resulting in vocal minority contributing” Great to see discussions happening BUT only the more vocal students contributed. Great to see discussions happening AND next time you could try Inside/Outside Circles.  Write your ideas on the sheet be prepared to share.

 Re-visit your goals (individual and team) Do you need to change it? Do you need to modify it?  For Term 4’s Peer Observation Visit do you need to: Choose a new goal OR Modify your existing goal OR Use your team goal  Start putting into action your plan to achieve your goal by end of Planning Week, Term 4.

 Please come and see us anytime.  Ask any questions.  Give us feedback.  We are here to support you.