The Classroom Environment - Creating a culture for Learning

• Go to original post by Ange Molony
• Posted at 11:43 am on Fri, Mar 23, 2012

Peer observation can be a genuinely meaningful experience for everyone, if and only if everyone wants it to be. 

I've certainly been involved in my fair share of rushed and incomplete peer observations sessions. I've used excuses about being busy or it being unnecessary or about how it can be a waste of valuable time. But I've also been a part of observation sessions that are focused and worthwhile, and that bring about opportunities for clear and meaningful self-reflection. 

Just recently, a coordinator visited my G12 Maths SL class to observe my lesson. Throughout the process my coordinator played the role of my mirror - the best tool for reflection! 

We had a quick pre-observation chat and I said that I wanted to focus on The Classroom Environment - Creating a culture for learning. This meeting was really important for setting the tone for the whole process. Because I chose the focus it meant that I was in control of my learning and development, it instantly felt more like a professional development opportunity than an evaluation process (in this case it was a PD opportunity, but the same set up could be used for evaluation). We all know our strengths and weaknesses and we all have aspects of our teaching that we'd like to improve. We are either getting better or worse as teachers, nobody stays the same. Own it!
So, I established a goal and we decided that he would be looking at how on-task my students were and he would also script tape the entire lesson (like the person in the courtroom but without the weird typewriter and the woolly jumper, they always wear woolly jumpers).

My observer did two key things during the lesson:

• Wrote down everything that was said
• Took an on-task vs off-task survey of every student (he did this every 5 minutes of the lesson)

Not an easy thing to do!

We followed up on the next school day and I looked at the stats and the transcript of my lesson. As I read through the transcript I was immediately self reflecting and sharing my thoughts about the lesson. "I should have done this.....", "I wanted this to happen here.....", "That worked out really well", "Wow, I say some weird things" "The kids responded better than I expected" etc etc.  Throughout my own self-reflection my observer continued to act as a mirror. He didn't interrupt or tell me which aspects of my lesson to focus on, he just allowed me to talk about the parts of my lesson that worked, that didn't work, that I enjoyed and that I didn't enjoy. With clarifying questions, active listening and by adding or reminding me of things that he observed, he really enabled a very powerful opportunity for self reflection. 

At the end of our discussion (my self-reflection and analysis of my own lesson) he helped me decide on what changes I would make so that I could improve my lessons and ultimately continue to improve the Culture of Learning in my classes.

These words on the image below are a great for self-reflection and for deciding on ways to implement changes in your class.  

I'm going to eliminate some bad habits, modify some of my techniques and experiment with some new approaches.
Perhaps after your next lesson you might glance over these words and make a plan to make a difference in your class?

Ange Molony

Twitter: @MissAngeDP

It’s observation time.

• Go to original post Ange Molony
• Posted at 11:09 am on Mon, Mar 12, 2012

It’s peer observation month at our school. (Queue the music of dread?)
Where do you sit on this? Does peer observation induce fear or excitement? Is it something that you run to or run away from? Does it eat up your valuable time or is it quick and efficient?
Over the last few years at our school we have really tried to develop a peer observation month that is all things positive. It aims to be exciting, time efficient and rewarding for all teachers involved (the observer and the observed). I think that this year @DanMagie has put together a great system that will reach all staff that are willing to give it a go and it will even bring some of the unwilling over to the bright side.
First we were asked to think about one area, from the list below, that we (as individual teachers) wanted to focus on.




Domain 1:  Planning and preparation
Domain 2: The classroom environment
Domain 3: Instruction
Domain 4: Professional responsibilities
You can read in more detail about each of these domains here
(Danielson, Charlotte. Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching. 2nd ed. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1996. Print.)
After we each chose our own personal focus area we were grouped into each of the four domains. So we instantly found ourselves working with a small group of teachers that have similar goals. One step closer to what will be a valuable experience, right? But the next step is what I think is going to make this all work.
Self directed approach that is followed by one expectation.

1. Self directed approach - Your group can discuss options and come to agreement regarding your own ideas.
2. Submit at least one personal reflection to the Professional Growth blog.

It is so simple that it will work and it so open-ended that it will allow for some teachers to really dig deep and explore the domains. I’m kinda hoping that this might not stop at the end of the month (you could continue to be self-reflective and use the domains as a focus).
(Oh, and the bonus is that if nothing else you will learn about posterous.com!)
My group is looking at Domain 2: The classroom environment. I personally want to focus on classroom procedures and the management of classroom transitions.
I’ll let you all know how it goes in due time!
Thanks to @danmagie for taking the time to find new ways to engage us all in our ongoing professional learning.
I would like to hear if your school has a structure for peer observations?



Ange Molony
Twitter: @MissAngeDP

I've slowed down to speed up to success

• Original post at Ange Molony
• Posted at 3:28 pm on Thu, Dec 1, 2011

@Danmagie had a neat idea for the next round of postings, he suggested that we take a moment to think about how we have changed as teachers. I need to take more than a moment to actually comprehend just how much I have grown, developed my skills and fallen even more in love with this job but I'll start with this little story.....
The basic answer lies in my title. I've slowed down. But I don't mean physically and I don't mean it at all negatively. I mean that I've become confident enough in my own ability and in the ability of my students, that I have been able to slow down my lessons so that each and every student has the opportunity to dig themselves in really deep into the core concepts and ideasof mathematics. The objectives in my units aren't for me, they aren't check boxes that I need to tick each time I deliver a lesson. The objectives are for the students and they are check boxes that I need to tick when I feel confident that the student will recall that skill or idea or concept either later in life or the very next day. Maybe it seems obvious to you? But I am recalling a time when I was 23 years old and I powered through my units. I hurled myself through the finish line beaming from ear to ear at the wonder and awesomeness of the quadratic formula while 20 kids sat with tears pooling in the corners of their eyes that were screaming silently "I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN?!?"
OK, so maybe they weren't crying but perhaps they should have been!
So 8 years on and I don't really need to slow down any more because I'm not setting myself (or my students) up to fail. I no longer try and convince myself that I need to have students mastering the binomial theorem in 50 minutes. I know how long things take and I know that I need some buffer room to allow for tangents, real life organic tangents that give my students the opportunity to dig themselves in really deep into the core concepts and ideas of mathematics.
How have you changed?

My profession...

• ibdanmagie
• Posted at 12:20 pm on Fri, Nov 18, 2011

I love my profession!  I think most professions in the 21st century provide opportunities for life long learning, but I guess not many offer as many opportunities as the field of Education.  I love learning along with, and from, my students.  Here is an example of some of my most recent learning with students.
At the end of our last unit, we were getting ready to plan and take meaningful action as a result of our learning.  I had also just completed judging one of the summative assessment tasks from the unit, a research-based essay.  One of the re-teaching points I got from judging those essays was related to one paragraph having one main idea.  I had also be reading about Social Emotional Learning, as that is one of my ongoing PD goals for this year...one evening, I got an idea about how I could incorporate all three things into a couple of my upcoming classes.
In class, we read an article by Alan Wallace that focused on breathing and body awareness mediation.  When reading the article, we identified the ONE main idea of each paragraph.  For homework that week, students were asked to attempt the mediation practice explained in the essay we had read.  I began practicing this type of mediation as well. WOW!  It was hard, and rewarding.  The rewarding part was the feeling of calmness and focus that I had after completing a 30 minute mediation session.
Here are some excerpts from students, which came from reflecting on their homework:

I felt like it was a vacation from homework...I mean, I was doing homework but it didn't feel like it. 
It was hard to sit still.
After I mediated for 30 minutes, it was much easier than normal to focus on the rest of my homework.
It was hard at the beginning because my little sister kept coming in to my room, after I asked Mom to keep her out of my room it was easier to concentrate.
I felt so peaceful and calm.
I kept having other thoughts coming into my mind and it was hard not to look at the clock.  I think it would be easier if I tried again next time.

As part of the reflection we talked about challenges people had, then brainstormed solutions.  For example, many people talked about distractions (family, noises, etc).  One of the solutions was to be sure and let other people in your house know what you are doing; by making others aware of our intentions, it helps them be more mindful about causing distractions (a prime example of something I "re-learned" with my students).
To go further with this experience, as well as our unit learning, we then created a calm and quiet environment in our classroom and mediated before planning meaningful action.
My next post will be about the action we are taking...
What do you love about the profession of Education?

~ibdanmagie

MYP Teacher and K-12 CPDC

twitter: danmagie

blog: www.transferable.wordpress.com