5.4 collaborating with colleagues (paraprofessionals, classroom teachers, other reading specialists) to observe, evaluate, and provide feedback on each other’s practice.
Collaborating with colleagues paves the way to improving my own reading instruction in my classroom. Observing someone else’s class gives me the opportunity to see things that are happening in the classroom that I may not notice when I’m teaching. Using a checklist helps me focus on certain things and gives me a starting point for thinking about changes I may want to make in my own teaching. When another teacher observes me, it’s also helpful to receive feedback and be able to discuss what was going on so suggestions can be given about new ideas that can make my teaching more effective. Education is a field of constant improvement and in order to make effective changes that enhance learning, I must first be clear about the learning that is currently taking place in my classroom. Other educators are a valuable resource with knowledge that could be useful to me. Sharing ideas and working together benefits the students and the teachers.
The artifact I chose to show collaboration with colleagues and feedback on each other’s practice is an observation sheet that I completed when observing another teacher. There were specific things I was looking for during the observation, so I was able to give specific feedback when I was finished. I also did a written summary of the observation. This describes what I saw happening in the classroom and gives suggestions of how to improve in some areas. Approaching this in a positive way was helpful when collaborating with this teacher because we weren't focusing on things that were not done correctly, but instead focusing on all of the positive aspects and then having discussions about areas that didn't receive the highest ratings. During this discussion, we shared suggestions and ideas that may be helpful in this teacher’s classroom. Completing this observation sheet was helpful to me in realizing that when other’s observe me they aren't trying to pick out things I’m doing “wrong”, but they are trying to gain ideas for themselves and share ideas with me about things I may want to try.
Collaborating with colleagues paves the way to improving my own reading instruction in my classroom. Observing someone else’s class gives me the opportunity to see things that are happening in the classroom that I may not notice when I’m teaching. Using a checklist helps me focus on certain things and gives me a starting point for thinking about changes I may want to make in my own teaching. When another teacher observes me, it’s also helpful to receive feedback and be able to discuss what was going on so suggestions can be given about new ideas that can make my teaching more effective. Education is a field of constant improvement and in order to make effective changes that enhance learning, I must first be clear about the learning that is currently taking place in my classroom. Other educators are a valuable resource with knowledge that could be useful to me. Sharing ideas and working together benefits the students and the teachers.
The artifact I chose to show collaboration with colleagues and feedback on each other’s practice is an observation sheet that I completed when observing another teacher. There were specific things I was looking for during the observation, so I was able to give specific feedback when I was finished. I also did a written summary of the observation. This describes what I saw happening in the classroom and gives suggestions of how to improve in some areas. Approaching this in a positive way was helpful when collaborating with this teacher because we weren't focusing on things that were not done correctly, but instead focusing on all of the positive aspects and then having discussions about areas that didn't receive the highest ratings. During this discussion, we shared suggestions and ideas that may be helpful in this teacher’s classroom. Completing this observation sheet was helpful to me in realizing that when other’s observe me they aren't trying to pick out things I’m doing “wrong”, but they are trying to gain ideas for themselves and share ideas with me about things I may want to try.