I once asked a mentor teacher, what he thought the difference was between an average and a great teachers. His considered response was: “Great teachers have some idea of what is possible, and so they don’t give up after something they’ve tried doesn’t work the first time.”
I thought that was a really useful insight.
In my own classroom, I’m still exploring what’s possible. Actually, I’m very excited by what is possible.
One of the ways I use to develop my teaching skills is to observe other teacher’s classes.
It’s a great way to pick up new ideas, games and activities, and skills that you can apply into your classroom. Observations are a great way to see what you’re doing well, and what can be improved. You get to see how different teachers handle the same situations, which helps expand your own skill set.
I’ve tried to observe teachers in different contexts, for example, outside my own centre, and also at public schools. It is also really interesting to see the differences between the approaches of male and female teachers.
I like to take a notebook to make notes of my thoughts, observations and questions. After the class, I try to debrief with the teacher and ask any questions I may have about areas I want to develop in my own teaching.
What I’ve found is that most teachers are completely happy for me to observe their class. But if you can’t observe teachers at your school, you might be able to observe some online, in places like YouTube.
You do need to be aware though that not all teaching you see on YouTube is good teaching.
Also, you generally don’t have the opportunity to ask the teacher why they made the choices they did. I know that sometimes I make choices that someone without any background in teaching would have no understanding or appreciation for why I did so.
In that respect, one of the most interesting exchanges I have had was when a group of teachers in an online VYL teaching course compared their observation of a few class excerpts from YouTube. It wasn’t interesting just that different people can notice vastly different things when observing the same situation, as much as there are so much depth and skill that can be exhibited in really good teaching.
Which kind of brings me back to my original contention: there’s so much we can learn from our fellow teachers.
