Having fun with PD: Micro-teaching

Professional development days can be fun. No, really. Case in point:

A group of teachers sit around a table while one of them heats some water in a couple of soda cans and then puts them in an ice bath. I won't tell you what happens in case you've never seen the demo, but the teacher delivers this lesson as if we were students, and he is looking for feedback about his questioning techniques.

After he's done, all of us, including the teacher who presented, take a few minutes to write down positive feedback and things that could be improved on. Then we go around and share out, and we finish off with the teacher sharing his reflections.

This is called "micro-teaching," and it's #13 on John Hattie's  ranking of factors affecting student learning. That's #13 out of a total of 252 factors listed. That's a big deal. Micro-teaching has an effect size of 0.88 on Hattie's scale, where 0.40 represents the amount of student learning you would expect in a year, on average. That means micro-teaching could double your impact on student learning.

We decided to try this out on a PD day at E. O. Smith, and it was lots of fun. It's a chance to try out a new teaching strategy you are working on, a new lesson idea, or to get feedback on something you are struggling with. I came away with a few cool new tools for my teaching toolbox and some great feedback on my own practices. I'm looking forward to our next session this week.

Here's the protocol and feedback form.

Letter to a new teacher

Working with a student teacher this winter has reminded me how hard it is to be a beginning teacher, and how our trial-by-fire approach leaves much to be desired.

Being a beginning teacher is tremendously challenging. One can't really understand that without experiencing it. Starting out, we may envision something like a TED talk, with our own dynamic personality and the fascinating subject matter automatically enthralling and inspiring our students.

And then there's reality. A room full or real young people, with the struggles, energy, variety, exhaustion, and diversity of youth, craving independence, wondering what life is all about, identities tied up with their social lives in a way we can't imagine, worried about the present and future, and jaded by 10+ years of an educational system that cares not for such things. A system that's more of a filter than a fire-starter.

But this is exciting. What makes it difficult is the huge learning curve.
There's really a tremendous amount to keep track of when teaching a
class. It's not just about the content you have to communicate clearly and accurately (though for a new teacher, that's enough, especially at the high school level). You need to carefully watch how the students respond, constantly monitor understanding, paty attention to your own words, actions, and demeanor, and all of this on the fly, real-time. I've never surfed, but I imagine it's harder. And for the new teacher who is unsure of all of these things, it's quite a ride.

So if you're a new teacher, hear this: Don't expect perfection, and remember that this is really all about the kids. We don't fail unless we fail to see that.

The rest comes with time.