The purpose of peer teaching is not to judge the other teachers, but to encourage mutual reflection and analysis of teaching practice. It promotes specific feedback over time, rather than monitors teaching in glimpses, like a visit from a principle. (Robbins, 1991)
Selecting teams (matching teachers)
Teachers can be matched according to experienced/less experienced teachers. However, they can also be matched within subject areas, or across subject areas, such as English and History teacher in a high school. This fosters the potential for cross-fermentation of different disciplinary approaches. Another potential way of pairing teachers might be to have a workshop period, where teachers take a series of exams and do a series of exercises to determine their teaching styles. While "when making decisions, teachers should ideally have the students as their main focus. Too often, however, they teach according to their own preferred learning methods, rather than according to what is best for the students. Similarly, teachers tend to emulate the teachers who helped them to learn best when they were in school -- though in most cases they don't know why the model teachers taught the way they did. Teachers need to be aware of these personal influences and refocus their actions to benefit the students. To do this, they need space to develop their own theories about teaching and learning through professional development with colleagues," by better understanding their own unique teaching style in a self-critical fashion. From the information gleaned from such workshops, teachers could be paired with other teachers with contrasting teaching...
(Diaz-Maggioli, 2004)
Scheduling an initial round of clinical cycles
When introducing a new form of professional development into a school system, it is important this not be accomplished in a threatening way. Teachers must have a period of time at the beginning of the school year to grow comfortable with the personal dynamics of a new classroom on a teacher-student basis, before the introduction of the peer teaching process. However, it is important that the monitoring not occur so late that an already cohesive routine is upset, especially for lower grade students,
Monitoring the peer-coaching
An atmosphere of collegiality and professionalism among teachers and administrators in a school might is a necessary condition for student achievement. (Marzano, 2004) All of the will in the world from peer teachers will come to naught without adequate school and administrative support. It is critical that administrators still monitor the process with frequent classroom visits, as well as monthly meetings at the very least, where teachers can share their experiences with the program and make necessary adjustments.
Works Cited
Diaz-Maggioli, Gabriel. (2004) Teacher-Centered Professional Development. New York: ASCD.
Marzano, Robert J. (2004) What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action. New York: ASCD.
Robbins, Pam. (1991) Implementing a Peer Coaching Program. New York: ASCD.
