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CTE - Reflective Teaching

This guide provides resources and best practices for fauclty engaged in reflective teaching. These include resources on creating a teaching portfolio and teaching philosophy.

If you know that you are going to be observed, you should prepare for the observation.  Here are some tips to help you do so:

 

Review your lesson plan. It can be nerve-racking to be observed, especially if you are a new faculty member, teaching a new course, and/or experimenting with course design--even though these are the times when observation is most useful. Whether you have never taught the course or taught the course a thousand times, it's good to review what you're going to discuss and how you're going to discuss it the week before the observation.

 

Don't make drastic changes. When you're about to be observed, it may be tempting to throw in a new activity or technology to impress the observer. However, these untested approaches may introduce new challenges into the classroom you aren't necessarily accustomed to handling.  Moreover, students will get the sense that you're teaching to the observer rather than to them.


Prepare the students. Having a new person in the classroom--especially after a classroom community has been established--can throw students off their game. Let students know ahead of time that someone will be coming to class and why they've been invited. This helps to let them students prepare for a new variable in the classroom.

 

Prepare the observer. Give the observer as much preparation for the classroom experience as possible. Provide them with a syllabus, handouts, and assignments that may be relevant for the specific class they're observing. Give them a brief summary of the class so far and the let them know if there are particular areas you would like to receive feedback on. 

 

Read more about how to guide the observation process in our section about how to use observations as a reflective practice.

Selecting a Peer Observer

If you're having a peer come to observe your class, you will want to select someone who can give you the most useful feedback.  When selecting a peer observer, you will want to consider the following:

 

Teaching experience. This criteria can cover a number of areas such as years, courses, levels, subjects and modalities taught. For instance, if a faculty member has taught for a number of years, but never online, they may not be the best fit to observe your blended course. On the opposite side, a faculty member who has only taught for a few years, but has done so exclusively online, they may be the best fit for you. 

 

Subject matter expertise. Having someone familiar with your field or discipline may help you if you are looking for feedback on a specific lesson or topic. Fellow experts can also give you insights on how they do/would teach this topic, which can give you a new, helpful perspective.  It is important, however, not to use peers from your own department exclusively since teaching best practices are universal. 

 

Mutual trust. Peer observations often happen when there is something innovative or experimental happening in the classroom, and the faculty member wants a second set of eyes on whether or not it succeeds.  As a result, you will need to select a peer observers who you can trust to see you on what may be your best day in the classroom--or your worst one. You need someone who can be honest about the class's strengths and weaknesses and give you the feedback you need to hear.

 

Mutual respect. Some of our peers are excellent teachers whose pedagogy we deeply respect. As such, they often can provide us with interesting, insightful feedback on our teaching that we are apt to take seriously when we consider the source. We can also trust that their feedback is provided fairly, openly, and discretely. Moreover, these teaching mentors can advise us on strategies for improvement, teaching goals, and continued development.