Peer Observation Form Q&A

There have been some very good questions about this form. We have tried to answer them below to help provide more guidance on peer observations.

Question 1: Why does the form look like the Professional Practice Rubric; am I evaluating my peers?

Answer: No. You will not be evaluating your peers. The form has the professional practice language from Domains 2 & 3 (the observable domains) in order to help you identify something that your peer does within those domains that may cause you to rethink something you do or even replicate it within your classroom. The intent here is to help you walk away from this activity with at least two artifacts for your evaluation: 1. The observation form which fits nicely into 4e & 2. A strategy or action that you can demonstrate in Domains 2 or 3 during an informal or formal observation. More importantly, observing something very good and replicating or implementing that within your classroom will only help improve your craft and student learning, which is the more important goal of this exercise.

Question 2: What if I don't see anything that I want to try or change in my classroom?

Answer: We haven't seen this happen as of yet. Everyone has something that they do that is in the best form or in a more creative way. This may be something as subtle as how fluid or natural the questioning technique was for the teacher in the example video shown during the February in-service, or it may be something very common but done in a very creative way such as how a teacher uses and assesses learning targets during a lesson. This hasn't been an issue thus far. However, teachers are encouraged to observe peers who have known strengths in areas of interest to them rather than just picking them at random.

Question 3: If my administrator marks one of my indicators as needs improving, can I ask to observe a peer that received higher rating?

Answer: Yes. This would be a very good way to observe how you could improve this area either during the current evaluation cycle or during the next cycle. The important part here would be how you improve the initial area or how you implement what you observed in your own classroom.

Massac Unit School District #1

Staff Evaluation

Evaluation Q&A

Peer Observation Form Q & A