Last week, we had a group of prospective parents on campus interested in learning about our curriculum to decide whether or not to send their children to our school. A fun twist we had this year, was to invite them to our classrooms to watch us teach a few lessons, instead of sitting and listening to us talk. It was a great experience, and parents were able to ask questions that were directly related to our teaching beliefs.
Having all those adults in my room felt good and easy for one simple reason: they weren’t observing with teacher lenses, which meant I was the only “expert” in the room. Whatever mistake I made, they would probably not notice, and even if I had to improvise at times and adjust certain things, it still looked like my moves were 100% planned. When admin or other teachers are in our classrooms the feeling is quite different, which is why many prefer to keep the doors closed if they can.
I have gone from feeling quite anxious to incredibly eager to open my classroom doors and have people come in, especially teachers. And here are a few reasons why I think it’s such a good idea to do so:
Sharing the success
There are so many different ways to teach the same lesson, implement classroom management strategies, prep for certain classes. I often find myself wondering if there is a better way to have a conference with a writer, do an interactive read aloud, or plan for a science lesson, and having coworkers willing to let me come see how they do it means that we can all improve and try new approaches. Good ideas are worth sharing!
Being OK with failing
One of the fun things about teaching lower elementary is that if I mess up in my teaching, students will most likely not notice. One might feel differently if we fail in front of our co-teachers or other peers.
The one reason why I have no issue with letting my co-teacher see me fail is that I have a good professional relationship with her, and we understand that sometimes we fail, help each other, and try again. Let’s all chill and be vulnerable together, let’s offer and welcome different lenses for feedback.
Showing yourself as a learner in front of your students
I’ve had the opportunity to coach and be coached by other colleagues, and whenever other teachers come in the classroom my students don’t seem to mind much, because they are getting used to having teachers come in and work with me. The first few times, they’d ask why these teachers were coming in, so I told them I was learning from them so I could be a better teacher. We often say “be a role model for your students” but how many opportunities do we miss because we’re afraid of letting others see us teach?
Let’s open our classroom doors, invite others in, celebrate their achievements, actually share our great and not so great teaching moments. Let’s walk away from the notion that we should make no mistakes and allow ourselves to learn from each other and be in the moment.
Start with a Story 