Teachers Teaching Teachers
Kelsey Philpot and Peter Durnan tutor other faculty on the use of Voice Thread in a faculty meeting workshop.
The other day I looked into Andrew Sheppe’s Research Methods class and sitting in a corner of the classroom was Mike Peller. Why was an upper level math teacher attending a tenth grade history class? That same week I participated in a faculty meeting in which faculty members, split into groups of ten, were crowded around tables listening to one or two of their colleagues. These two incidents exemplify a primary goal/tactic at Holderness. While our teacher’s first job is to teach students, we also try to create an environment in which teachers are teaching teachers.
To go back, Mike was in Andrew’s classroom because of our departmental visit policy. Once a year on a rotating basis, each department sets up independent work for their students and dedicates an academic morning to visiting classes in other departments. In the afternoon, the department meets together to share what they observed and to work on annual goals for the department. As each department goes through this process, we find that our teachers come back with new insights about individual kids, new ideas about teaching, and an appreciation of other material and topics taught across the curriculum.
Here are some personal examples: I remember visiting a French class and watching Janice Nielson work through some vocabulary acquisition skills and methods, and turning it around and using those techniques in my history class. Another time, I saw how Vicky Stigum designed group work exercises in Algebra II and applied them to my class. And I saw how Randy Houseman set up the key question of that day’s lesson and found myself borrowing that my method in my class. Visiting other classes shares good teaching methods and helps create a more common vocabulary in our classes.
Moving on, the faculty meeting workshop led by Susie Cirone concerned different Instructional and Computer Technology (ICT) topics: VoiceThread (an online tool used to record, store, and share audio and video projects), Moodle classroom management software, flipped classroom techniques, and a new tablet device. All of these discussions and activities were led by faculty who had started to use the new tools. The tutors ranged from new young teachers such as Kelsey Philpot to cagey veterans such as Peter Durnan.
Holdermoodle: The homepage for Holderness’s classroom management software.
The professional term used in the world of education to describe these types of activities is “Professional Learning Community.” I like to call it “teachers teaching teachers.” Regardless of what you call it, the benefits are real. First, our faculty knows our students and our community, so when they lead a workshop their message hits the target. Second, they are teaching practical and proven ideas that have worked for them in the classroom. Third, the faculty/tutors understand and can address the challenges of trying the new tools and techniques both in the moment and down the line. Many times, professional development opportunities from outside the school miss the mark with the audience, failing to demonstrate practical usefulness and promote long-term viability. Teachers teaching teachers, we have found, is often more effective.
Over the long term, when our teachers share their new ideas with another, these ideas inevitably bubble up in and serve to improve all of our classes. The use of interactive whiteboards was brought in by Rick Eccleston and Margot Moses when they were new to Holderness as a way to improve teaching and learning; SMART Boards can now be found in all of our classrooms. Moodle was piloted by Senior Honors Thesis several years ago as a way of structuring the curriculum; its functionality was quickly extended by Susie Cirone in US History and is now a staple in the majority of our classes. Peter Durnan originally pushed VoiceThread through the activities in his AP Comp class; it is now being used in new and creative ways to promote creativity and collaboration among students in several departments.
Renne Lewis teaching with a SmartBoard.
This attitude of teachers teaching teachers resurfaced in our most recent faculty/trustee forum last Friday. In that forum, trustees and faculty discussed some of these new tools. At the end, one trustee shared with me how much she enjoyed seeing one teacher listen to another teacher describe an activity and say, “I want to try that.”
Faculty and Trustee sharing teaching ideas last Friday night.
Professional development is increasingly important in the growth of good schools. Good teachers live the ideal of being lifelong learners, and teachers teaching teachers is a fundamental piece of that attitude at Holderness.
As always, we would like to hear your thoughts and questions. -Jory
