Peer Coaching at Benton

 

 

Peer Coaching is:

 

            *a confidential process through which teachers share their craft knowledge and

              provide one another with professional feedback, support and assistance for the

              purpose of refining present skills and learning new ones.

 

 

Peer Coaching is designed:

 

            *to allow teachers a voluntary opportunity to refine their teaching practices;

 

            *to increase the number of opportunities a teacher gets to receive useful

              information about their teaching practices; and

 

            *to encourage reflective opportunities for teachers who wish to voluntarily

              assess their teaching practices with the help of a colleague

 

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The following staff members at Benton are available to come into your classroom for Peer Coaching.  You may contact any one of them to set up a time, which would be convenient for both of you.

 

           

 

 

Diane Godin(2 North)

            Julie Martin(Literacy Collaborative Coordinator)

            Carol Pullen(1 West)

            Pat Walston(Art Teacher)

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

Peer Coaching               what it IS and what it ISN”T

 

 

1.     Teachers assisting other teachers in the act of improving teaching and learning.

 

 

 

2.     Collegial, not competitive.

 

 

 

 

3.     Professional, not social.

 

 

 

 

 

4.     Specific, not general.

 

 

 

 

5.     Confidential, not public.

 

 

 

 

6.     Helping, not evaluating.

 

 

 

 

7.     Dynamic, not static.

 

 

 

 

 

A COLLEGIAL COACHING PROCESS

 

 

PRE-OBSERVATION CONFERENCE

 

            Together, the teacher and coach:

                        …set the focus for the observation

                        …review the necessary background information about the

                            lesson/class to be observed

                        …determine a timeline for the coaching sequence

                        …decide how to gather data

 

 

OBSERVATION

 

          Teacher teaches

            Coach observes and gathers data

 

 

 

ANALYSIS & STRATEGY

 

            Teacher and coach independently reflect on the lesson/data

            Coach prepares for the post-conference by:

                        …linking data with the identified focus

                        …thinking about where the teacher is developmentally

                        …preparing questions that might be used

 

 

 

 

POST-OBSERVATION CONFERENCE

 

            Teacher analyzes the lesson with the support of the coach

            Teacher determines his/her level of satisfaction

            Ways to change the lesson are discussed

            The coaching process is critiqued

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OBSERVE-not PARTICIPATE                                               DATE:_____________

OBSERVING-not EVALUATING                                          TIME:______________

                                                                                                ACTIVITY:__________

 

PEER COACHING                                                               OBSERVATION METHOD

                                                                                    _____Oral

                                                                                    _____Written Annotation

                                                                                    _____Tally

 

 

CURRICULUM

_____Instructional material (e.g. ARC: responses to/ benefits of material use)

_____Integration of academic areas

_____Other (specify:_______________________________)

 

 

INSTRUCTIONAL

_____Reflective questioning techniques

_____Student responses to direct instruction

_____Verbal flow (S-T-S) or (T-S-T)
_____Positive reinforcement

_____Consistency of subject matter

_____Other (specify:_______________________________)

 

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

            _____STUDENT                                            _____TEACHER

                        _____on task                                                                       _____equity(every student)

                                _____movement about room                                             _____gender equity

                                _____active participation                                                  _____positive reinforcement

                                _____peers helping peers                                                  _____movement about room

                                _____expectations(T/S)                                                     _____expectations clearly stated

                                _____disruptive behavior                                                  _____supervision

                                _____positive/negative responses                                    (e.g.Cooperative Learning Group)

                                _____other                                                                           _____consideration of multiple                                                                                                                                        intelligences/individual learning

styles of individual teaching strategies

                                                                                                                                _____teaching strategies

                                                                                                                                _____positive/negative responses

Classroom setup/diagram on back, if                                                              _____other (specify:_________)

Needed, for responses.