One of the great challenges for teachers and administrators is the often daunting task of developing meaningful in-house professional development opportunities. It has always been a best practice to design PDs that address particular problems of practice that are identified by the staff, the administration or both. Great PDs manage to identify areas in need of growth and tailor professional development in a way that honors the time and talents of the participants. All too often however, this is not the case.

Check out this time and talent waster from a Chicago Public School PD:

This is not how professionals should be spending their time.

One valuable first step in determining the authentic “value” of your staff PDs is for presenters/administrators to allow the participants to present immediate feedback. I find it helpful if team members give PD session feedback through the following lens as part of a reflective Workshop Evaluation Form:

• Authentic Engagement – I was very involved in this learning experience most of the time. The content will be valuable to me and to my school or department or school system.
• Ritual Engagement – I participated in this learning experience throughout the time allotted. I believe attendance at this program is part of what others expect of me.
• Passive Compliance – Although I was present during the learning experience, I did not always clearly focus on the content. Most of the time my attention was on other matters.
• Rebellion – Throughout this experience I found ways, other than the planned activities, to occupy my time and attention.

The above video was posted on a  blog by New Jersey teacher Michael Dunlea called WHEN P.D. BECOMES “PAINFUL DETENTION.” because it illuminates the characteristics of bad PD and offers examples of outstanding professional learning. The post is worth the read specifically for Dunlea’s overview of how his district used the concept of an EdCamp style format to make all the stakeholders in the PD active participants.

This is the first posting focusing on adventures in education. The goal will be to use this page as a tool to rub and polish brains and share ideas and resources with like-minded colleagues.

To begin the conversation, I want to highlight a practice that can be a powerful tool for transforming teacher classroom instruction – Teacher to Teacher classroom intervistiation. 

What is an intervisitation?

The goal for any healthy school community is to breed an environment of open doors and welcoming smiles, not just for students, but for staff too. They encourage the free flowing, sharing of ideas and a willingness to help others succeed; that’s why it is important for teachers to see other teachers do what they do.

Intervisitation is when teachers visit/watch/learn/share with each other just by watching. It can be a valuable experience that promotes growth for both people involved as the purpose is for colleagues to interact during and after a visit – this isn’t a passive exercise.)

In order for colleagues to benefit from these interactions it is important to establish guidelines/protocols to follow when teachers visit teachers. The guidelines that I ask teachers to follow are:

1. INTERVISITATION groups are kept small – usually only 1 or 2 visitors per classroom.
2. Individual INTERVISITATION visits usually last about 30- 40 minutes. No need for note taking or elaborate checklists to fill out (a quick classroom environment and.or intervisitation checklist is suggested to help visitors frame their thinking.) The aim is to watch and listen with a focus on the learning. Real insights can occur when teachers later process their different perspectives about what they observed during the INTERVISITATION in conversations with the host teacher and each other.
3. Host teachers must be informed in advance that they are hosting a guest and this should be welcomed and voluntary.
4. As needed, visiting teachers should be given coverage so that they can observe a class. Guest teachers are expected to provide the team member covering their class with an activity/assignment.
5. All teachers must be clear that INTERVISITATIONS are NOT designed to evaluate them or their lesson. The purpose is to use a brief slice of their practice as a catalyst for a discussion about learning. Ideally, teachers who participate in an INTERVISITATION should get back to the host teachers later in the day to follow up with some positive feedback and/or a question.
6. Teachers can also have the option of getting feedback about their classroom environment via a classroom intervisitation checklist designed to reflect the school/district specific instructional initiatives.

The greatest challenge for schools and teachers trying to implement regular teacher classroom visits is time. Schools that value this work must direct funds to this effort so that teachers have the time and the coverage required to be reflective.

Another option is for schools to create lab sites for teachers to observe and reflect on pedagogy. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development has an interesting article on Demonstrating Teaching in a Lab Classroom that may be of further interest.

Click on the following links for examples of an Inter-visitation – Lesson Checklist, an  INTER-VISTATION REQUEST FORM and a Inter-visitation/feedback protocol.