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Peer observation and assistance (POA) is a method that has been designed to assist teachers in pooling their knowledge and experience and refining their skills without the threat created by a supervisor's evaluation. The first comprehensive research-based text on the subject, this book isolates behaviors and skills that are consistently shown to raise student achievement levels and describes the process by which teachers can help their peers improve performance in these important areas.
Focusing on subject matter as well as instruction, classroom management, and interpersonal techniques, POA allows specific behavioral skills and techniques to be isolated, identified, observed, and recorded at the request of the teacher being observed. The authors explain the phases of POA, the types of observational techniques that may be used, and the feedback conference that follows. A chapter on action research is included as a guide to testing the effectiveness of individual teaching techniques within the teacher's own classroom. The process can be applied to any type of student, from preschool through higher education professionals. Although the study is geared primarily to the process of peer observation and assistance, it also offers a wealth of new information for preservice and working teachers.
List of contents
Preface
Teachers Helping Teachers: The Foundations of Peer Observation and Assistance
Phases and Variations of POA
Low Inferential Observation Techniques: Seating Charts and Student Time-At-Task Behavior
Low Inferential Observation Techniques: Teacher Expectations
Medium Inferential Observation Techniques: Personal Interest, Cues, Feedback, Advance Organizers, and Cooperative Learning
High Inferential Observation Techniques: Anecdotal Recording, Audio- and Videotapes, Verbatim Transcripts, and Selected Verbatim Notetaking
High Inferential Observation Techniques: Assessing Classroom Morale
Feedback and Postconferences
Action Research
Epilogue
Appendix A: Meta-Analysis
Appendix B: Upper School Classroom Inventory Desired Form, the Upper School Classroom Inventory Real Form, and Their Scoring
Appendix C: The My Class Inventory Preferred Short Form, the My Class Inventory Actual Short Form, and Their Scoring
Appendix D: Tables
Bibliography
Subject Index
Author Index
About the author
MARVIN WILLERMAN is Professor of Education at Northeastern Illinois University. He has worked in the educational field as a teacher, administrator, and academic for over thirty years. His published articles deal with student, teacher, and administrator behavior, and related topics.
SHARON L. McNEELY is Assistant Professor of Education at Northeastern Illinois University. She has worked with preservice and inservice teachers for several years and serves as a consultant on schooling processes and teacher behavior.
ELAINE COOPER KOFFMAN is Assistant Professor of Education at Northeastern Illinois University. She has worked as a teacher and as a psychologist in a variety of educational settings. Her current interests are methods of measuring the behavior of practicing teachers and methods of integrating them into the preparation of prospective teachers.
