Learning from Yourself, Learning from Others - Part 4

This blog is Part 4 of 4.

You can access the other parts here:

Making Observations Effective Part 2 (When you are observing)

When it comes to observations, the other side of the coin is you doing the observing of more experienced teachers.

Here, the aim is to gain an insight into different approaches and effective methods.

So let us look at some techniques you can use to ensure you get as much as possible from the observations you undertake.

Define a purpose

If your observation has a purpose, it is more likely to prove fruitful.

This purpose can be broad – it doesn’t have to be specific.

For example, it might be to gain a general insight into how a teacher of note deals with a difficult topic.

But this is nonetheless a purpose – something to inform your thoughts and actions while you are observing.

Inefficient observations tend to involve a teacher sitting in another teacher’s lesson without any clear idea of why they are there or what they hope to gain from the exercise.

By defining a purpose in advance, you can avoid this problem.

Specific teachers for specific things

In every school, certain teachers gain a reputation for being good at certain things.

One teacher may be lauded for their behaviour management skills, while another may be known for their skilled questioning.

Finding out who is good at what means finding out who is worth observing to gain insight into specific areas of classroom practice.

If you find yourself struggling with differentiation, go and observe a teacher who is known to be good at this.

Like the previous technique, the aim here is to increase the benefits you draw from your observations, giving you more chance of learning during the time you spend in someone else’s classroom.

Observe the learning

When conducting an observation, by all means focus on the teacher and what they are doing, but also take time to focus on the learning.

Look at what the learners do during the lesson.

Think about how the teacher structures learning – what they do to make progress happen.

As part of this, you can spend time listening to learners discussing ideas, as well as reading any work they produce (or watching what they do in practical lessons).

This will help you gain a critical insight into what learning looks like in another teacher’s lesson, and what techniques they use to facilitate progress.

Interact with learners

Another useful technique connected to learning involves interacting with learners.

For some beginning teachers this comes naturally when they are conducting observations.

Without hesitation, they will get up and get involved, spending time talking to learners and helping them with their work.

If it does not come naturally to you, aim to make it part of at least some of the observations you do.

This gives you a chance to see close up just what kind of learning learners are doing.

It also lets you access their knowledge and understanding and, through talking to them and asking them questions, gain an insight into how this is developing as a result of the learning the teacher has planned.

Observe in response to your own target

You have your target, so why not use this as the basis of your observations?

Two paths suggest themselves.

First, you can observe a teacher and spend most of that observation analysing what they do that is relevant to your target, how you could take this and adapt it for your own teaching, and whether your understanding of your target is sound, given what you are seeing in this particular lesson.

Second, you can find out which teachers in school are skilled at the thing on which your target is based and then observe them to gain a good insight into how to achieve your aims.

In either case, you should try to discuss the lesson with the teacher afterwards, asking questions that help you to further identify how you can successfully implement your target.

Look at different groups of learners

Every class contains different groups of learners.

More-able and less-able learners, middle ability learners, learners on free school meals, learners whose first language is not English, learners with special educational needs and so forth.

Finding ways to support all these different groups is tricky.

Effective differentiation takes time to develop.

You can speed up the process by focussing your observations on how other teachers work with specific groups of learners.

As mentioned in the last point, this could involve looking at any teacher you happen to observe, or it could involve finding a teacher noted for their skilful work with certain groups and asking if they are happy for you to see them in action.

Ask why?

Our final technique is called semantic interrogation.

This is the process whereby we question the meaning of something so we can understand it better.

For example, a learner might come across a new idea and ask why it is true.

In the process, they would interrogate the idea in question, connecting it to their existing understanding at the same time as they subject it to a process of analysis.

When observing a colleague teach, watch what they do, how they structure the lesson or how they interact with learners.

And then ask yourself ‘why?’

This is semantic interrogation in action.

It involves you going beyond what you see.

To get below the surface, you must attribute meaning.

In part, this attribution comes through an analysis of the information in front of you.

The conclusions you draw can then be tested – either through application in your own teaching, or through discussion with the teacher whose lesson you observed.

With that, we draw this sequence of blogs to a close.

The message throughout has been a simple one.

Trainee teachers who excel take control of their own development.

You can do this by implementing some or all of the ideas outlined here, and in the three preceding blogs.

All that remains is for me to pose a few questions and suggest a few activities to further aid you in this process

Questions

Do you find it easy to learn from your own mistakes? Why do you think this is?
Why do many learners develop a fear of failure, making them reluctant to try new things or engage in trial and error? (Consider how very young children tend not to have a sense of this.)
In what other learning experiences has trial and error proved helpful to you? How do these differ from training to teach? How are they similar?
To what extent would you be prepared to encourage learners to embrace and learn from failure in your lessons? How might this come through itself in practical terms?
What do you want from your development as a teacher and what do you intend to do to achieve this?

Activities

Engage in trial and error in a non-teaching-based context. For example, pick out a recipe using an ingredient you’ve never cooked with before or try to make a house of cards four stories high. Whatever you choose, think carefully about the process of learning you go through as you attempt to complete what you have chosen to do. Finally, consider how the insights you have derived could be applied to your work in the classroom.
Create your own observation matrix. Start from scratch and identify six categories you think it would be worth looking at when observing someone else teach. Having identified the categories, work out what you would look for in each one as evidence of outstanding practice. (You might want to use an existing observation matrix as a starting point.)
Find a few early career teachers in your school. Have a chat with them about their training year. Ask them to tell you how they fared, what steps they took to control their own development and how they went about implementing their targets. Afterwards, reflect on what you can take away from this and use to support your own development.