The Schoolgame, Room 2, Challenge 2 - Peer Observation

1. The second challenge in Room 2 is to set up a peer observation process with
one of your colleagues.
1. Decide who you want the peer observation to be with. This could be
someone in your Action Research group or it could be someone from
another group, or a person not currently involved in Action Research.
1. Arrange to meet the person who you want to observe.
1. In the meeting you should discuss what your action research is about and
decide together when you are going to observe the other person.
2. Observe
3. Reflect
The Schoolgame, Room 2, Challenge 2

2. 1. Who are you going to observe?
Think about...
• How is the person I want to observe going to help my action research
project?
• Is the person I want to observe an ‘expert’ in my area of research?
• Is the person I want to observe teaching the same or similar levels / ages as
me?
• Is the person’s timetable going to allow me to observe?
• How many times do you want to observe this person? Once for an hour?
Three times for 20 minutes over one term? Think about what the best format
will be.
The Schoolgame, Room 2, Challenge 2

3. 2. The pre-observation meeting
Think about...
• How can you demonstrate to this person what your Action Research project
is about?
• What advice can this person give you?
• Do you want them to prepare a lesson with a specific focus?
• Are you going to ask them to give you a lesson plan?
• What are you going to be doing during the observation? Think about how
you want to record your thoughts.
• When are you going to meet after the lesson?
• Will you want this person to observe one of your classes?
The Schoolgame, Room 2, Challenge 2

4. 3. The Observation
Think about...
• Make sure you know exactly what you want to get out of the observation.
• Make sure you organise your notes in a way that is going to make them
useful to you in your own teaching
• While you are observing, write down any questions you might want to ask
the teacher afterwards.
• Don’t be critical – you are observing to learn.
• Don’t spend the whole time writing a lot – remember you are in the
classroom to watch the lesson.
The Schoolgame, Room 2, Challenge 2

5. 3. Reflection
Think about...
• Make sure you meet with the teacher you observed as soon after the class
as possible, ideally straight after the class.
• Remember to ask the questions you wrote down during the observation.
• Talk about how the the teacher you observed does things differently to you.
• Talk through how you could implement some of the
techniques/activities/ideas in your own teaching.
• After the observation, think about your next class and build in some of the
ideas you saw.
The Schoolgame, Room 2, Challenge 2

6. 3. Reflection
Think about...
• Write a summary of your observation reflections and post
them onto your wiki page.
The Schoolgame, Room 2, Challenge 2