#4 - Building a Culture of Peer Observation

Introduction

After several years of instruction impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, I have noticed that our school staff culture has grown more isolated. This is due in large part from the lack of staff-wide meetings, opportunities for staff to meet and collaborate, and the positive shift towards building more balanced work-life habits. I noticed this most starkly with new teachers who had few opportunities to make friends, build community, or develop much stability.

My hope in this coming year is to embrace the positive changes of fewer meetings and less work taken home, but still provide occasions for developing community.

I stumbled upon this article from Cult of Pedagogy titled "Open Your Door: Why We Need to See Each Other Teach"

I won't summarize the article beyond the premise of there is great value in teachers informally observing each other. This leads to a familiarity with each other, acts as amazing professional development, and can lead to collaborative conversations when meeting outside of the classroom.

While some schools (including mine) have implemented this in the past and seen it fall by the wayside, I think it is a worthwhile goal to resurrect this practice or start it. The challenge is that it must be completely teacher-led! Here is a PD resource you can access if this is something you feel passionate about.

If you have any issues accessing the files or would like to edit it for your own use email me at nwatkins@fpschools.org and I'll send you a copy!