Jamie Black

TE 807

Peer Coaching Reflection

As a teacher one is never working alone, we must work with students, parents,

administrators and grade level teams. One way in which teachers reflect on their practice to grow

is through peer coaching. According to Pam Robbins “Peer coaching is a confidential process

through which two or more professional colleagues work together to reflect on current practices;

expand, refine, and build new skills; share ideas; teach one another; conduct classroom research;

or solve problems in the workplace” (1991). In order to grow my teaching practice I participated

in a peer coaching session that focused on clearly communicating learning goals to my

kindergarten students. When I planned this peer coaching project my goal was to get stronger in

one area on our evaluation scale, I wanted to push myself to be highly effective. In order to rate

as highly effective on this scale a teacher needs to show that “Success criteria are present and

align to the learning target(s). Students use the success criteria to communicate what they are

learning” (University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership, 2016). Prior to my peer

coaching session I had a method where I display learning targets in each curriculum area on my

smartboard, but my ultimate goal was to have students use these to communicate what they are

learning.

The first component of this project was for me to meet with a colleague, my district’s

evaluation specialist, to seek feedback on how I was currently writing my learning targets. I

presented with her the dilemma that within one given lesson there are many common core

standards that are being addressed and I explained that I usually take the teaching point and make
that my learning target. After our conversation about this matter we both agreed that rewording

the teaching point into child friendly language gave the learning target a specific focus and that

all the common core standards listed for that lessons are shown throughout the lesson. Next, we

discussed ideas in which I could have my students reflect on their progress toward the learning

target so that they can communicate their learning. I wanted something simple that could be used

with any lesson and any subject. She suggested I try a 4-3-2-1 scale and have my students place

their name on the scale at the end of each lesson based on how well they think they progressed to

the learning target, 4 being expert status and 1 meaning that they need more help. Another

suggestion she had was to put these scales in various areas in my room so that students could

reflect all at the same time without having to take up a lot of my instructional time. Taking the

time to have this conversation with her was beneficial because it gave me ideas that I would not

have thought of on my own.

Feeling confident with these suggestions and dialogue we had, I moved on to the next

part of my peer coaching, having my peer observe a lesson. She observed a writing lesson where

the learning target was for the students to write a surprise ending for their pattern books. Even

though I gave examples of surprise endings, some students seemed to struggle still. At the end of

the lesson however, most students said that they were a 3 or 4 on the self reflection scale of

adding surprise endings. My peer coach made comments about the lesson I taught but most of it

was about classroom management and routines rather than the learning goal. She noted that I

stated the learning goal and reviewed it throughout the lesson, and also that I had students reflect.

In a follow up conversation with her I would like to discuss more of how she thought the

learning target looked and if it was clear throughout. Also, if I had to do this project again I
would ask a grade level peer to come observe because I feel that another teacher at this grade

level could provide insight that the evaluator can not since she does not teach the same subject

matter.

Overall, my goal as an educator is to keep growing so that I can improve my student’s

learning, and I think this project is a stepping stone. In my opinion it never hurts to get feedback

and ideas from another educator, I think there is always a unique perspective they can bring that

you alone cannot provide for yourself. Through peer coaching I was able to focus on many high

leverage teaching practices I deem necessary to be a high quality teacher. The first high leverage

practice my project addressed was “checking student understanding during and at the conclusion

of lessons (Teaching Works, 2017). The self reflection tool I made helped me see how the

students feel at the conclusion of my lesson. Another high leverage practice I addressed was

“analyzing instruction for the purpose of improving it” (Teaching Works, 2017). My project’s

main purpose was to improve my instructions so that the students can benefit. Finally, the high

leverage practice of “setting long-term and short-term learning goals” takes precedent throughout

my peer coaching (Teaching Works, 2017). I believe that each part of this peer coaching has

strengthened my teaching and will continue to shape my teaching from here on out.
 References

High Leverage-Practices." ​Teaching Works, University of Michigan, 2017,

www.teachingworks.org/work-of-teaching/high-leverage-practices​.

Robbins, Pam. ​How to Plan and Implement a Peer Coaching Program. Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1991,

www.ascd.org/publications/books/61191149/chapters/A-Definition-of-Peer-Coaching.asp

University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership. (2016). 5D+ Rubric for

Instructional Growth and Teacher Evaluation. In Center for Educational Leadership