Audience: Peer Observers, Deans, Vice Presidents for Instruction Fall 2011 Peer Observer Training

Background Protocol created by District Administration and Seattle AFT See: Agreement (Article 6.7) Agreement (Article 6.7) Based on Peer Observation for Teaching Assessment created by faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Purpose of POP Protocol: Develop mutual understanding of the observation process Guide conversations between the teacher and observer Practice objective observation and open discussion of teaching and learning Provide opportunity for both teacher and observer to learn from the experience Protect privacy of information between teacher and observer Peer observation is not evaluation!

Brief outline of process Phase 0: Peer observer and Teacher exchange information Phase 1: Teacher identifies goals for observation Phase 2: Dialog about goals Phase 3: Observation Phase 4: Dialog about what happened during the observation

Phase O – Initiating Observations Observations are usually initiated by a dean – other observations should be approved by dean Observer contacts assigned teacher and negotiates time Observer gives POP document to teacherPOP document Observer asks teacher to fill out Phase 1 document Establish a spirit of confidentiality and trust - this is important!

What is objective observation? Practice observation Describe what actually happens in this video clip – 1. What do you see? 2. What to you hear? – PRACTICE VIDEO – Debrief with participants reporting out what they saw Make sure observations are objective statements (not inferences or interpretations

Phase 1 – Establishing Goals Teacher completes Phase 1 form (page 5). This document communicates to the observer: Goals of the class as a whole Learning Objectives for the session Teaching strategies for the learning objectives What the teacher wants to have observed

Phase 2 -First Dialog Teacher & observer come to agreement about how the observation will take place Observer listens to teacher’s goals for the session and what is to be observed Protocol document (p. 6) provides suggestions about what could be observed but you are not limited to this list

Phase 3 – Observation POP Protocol includes several options for observation Page 7 provides prompts to describe the session and what kind of interactions happen between teacher and students Page 8 focuses on the nature of questions asked by teacher and students Teacher may elect to focus on one or the other type of observation – OR – Teacher and observer may agree to use a different method altogether

What is observable? Physical Reality – objective report of what actually happens Socially constructed meaning – can be developed by consensus between teacher and observer in final meeting Personal reality – avoid subjective opinion and interpretation

Practice Observing Write down what you see using the observation sheet (p. 7) using either of the two methods PRACTICE VIDEO – part 2 Debrief

Phase 4 - Dialog What actually happened during the observation? Observer shares notes (not interpreting, not evaluating) Teacher is invited to reflect on what the observations mean Teacher derives meaning from evidence through dialog Conversation is confidential between observer & teacher Both observer and teacher sign page 9 Observer hands all notes to teacher

Follow up The page 9 signature sheet goes to the dean The observer keeps a copy of the page 9 signatures Observer gives all notes to the teacher Only the teacher may communicate contents from the observation to others

2 nd Hour – Welcome Experienced POs Introductions Large group dialog: What has worked well for you? What challenges have you experienced? Other things to consider?

What are Peer Observer Leads? They are your resource for questions & concerns, they: Provide training Field questions from observers & deans Communicate with deans about the process of Matching observers with teachers Recruiting Peer Observers for the following year Paying stipends to observers