How do you learn from other teachers?

I have always made it a point to attend my colleagues' classes whenever possible. The key learning for me has been in how to manage student energy in the classroom, how to get them to participate in discussions, and how to ensure you cover all the points you prepare for the session

As a former educational coordinator, I had the opportunity to join teachers’ classes and evaluate their teaching methods. However, I approached this task differently. I attended classes to discover the creative side of every teacher and to highlight it. After a while, I arranged a monthly meeting where one or two teachers shared their creative methods for teaching a topic. The meeting began with a demo lesson where all teachers pretended to be students, and one teacher explained a lesson. At the end, we had a discussion about it and showed loads of appreciation for the teacher who shared their methods with us. It was a great way to learn from each other and to encourage creativity in the classroom. I strongly recommend this approach.

Teaching is not only done by school staff. In my experience, I struggled to grab students' attention and start my seminars and guest lectures effectively. I attended lectures by speakers in the same domain, watched videos of other trainers, and read Quora posts. I collected tips from these sources and applied them to my own teaching. This worked well for me.

The principal of the school I currently teach in is an educationist! Often, he passes through when we're teaching to observe. After a week or two, he would call for a PLC meeting where he addresses all issues he identified, and solidifies or emphasizes any innovation. By so doing, we're learning directly from him, and indirectly from our colleagues. However, one thing I noticed is that, anytime he comes to the class, the students put up a totally different behavior which creates a different impression about them to him, which, as a result, makes me change my approach. Thus, I think, going to another's class to observe their way of teaching could create a different atmosphere and perception.

I am at several faculties and we exchange all experiences, get feedback from our students and from the faculty members. Important to constantly learn as teachers what you could do better. There are also some good tools to make the interaction easier.

Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate! It’s the best way to thrive in this field. We’re faced with many factors outside of teaching and learning that make it difficult to do what we’re meant to do. Find fellow educators that have practices, lessons, strategies, or knowledge that fits your style and go to them. Strike up a conversation about what you’re doing, bring examples, and ask for feedback. When you create relationships like this then you benefit and your students benefit from the shared experiences of your network.

Don't forget to collaborate with your school librarian too. A huge amount of expertise and knowledge often gets ignored due to expectations of school librarians as keepers of books. They are a wonderful resource across the curriculum. They teach skills needed for independent learning and critical thinking, especially using links to the curriculum. These skills are best taught with a focus so bring them into the conversation and you will be amazed at what they can offer.

Always, always share your resources ... thanks to millions of people sharing their teaching resources online, we are saved the trouble of putting together class material. Here, I would like to thank a senior colleague for sharing fabulous resources (which she spent a lot of time putting together).

From experience, I have engaged in collaborative activities such as team teaching, co-planning lessons, and sharing resources and materials. This allows us to exchange ideas, strategies, and best practices, benefiting from each other's expertise and experiences.

Even for a seasoned educator like myself, I feel that educational conferences, workshops, and seminars are windows into a dynamic world of learning. These events highlight a wide range of teaching excellence by presenting cutting-edge pedagogies, theories, and helpful classroom techniques. Despite the breadth of my experience, I am constantly made aware of the immense body of untapped information. These complicated circumstances are a stark reminder that professional development is a never-ending journey, imploring us to keep an open mind, be flexible, and be committed to improving our abilities. Lets be open to learn and re -learn.

In my experience, experimentation is another great method of learning from others. Innovate, Evaluate, and Iterate has been my go to process when I see something new that I want to try. Find novel and engaging strategies to build instruction around the curriculum. Then evaluate all types of data, qualitative (i.e. engagement) and quantitative (i.e. assessment outcomes), in order to develop a thorough understanding of the impact of your instruction. Reflect on the parts that worked well and didn’t; even “complete failure” lessons are valuable to build on for future iterations. What’s even better is to get an outside observer, like a fellow teacher, to drop in on a class and provide feedback on what you’re doing.

One of the biggest ways I teach is by example. I love learning as much as I love teaching. Seeing relevance in another individuals skills does not diminish ones own value. Placing yourself in opportunities to continue personal growth and development is one of things I love seeing and admire in people. I enjoy building relationships with those that can see value of collaborating ideas for success, be that personally or professionally. I would rather be the person with a healthy desire to consistently learn and share that knowledge with others who also seek to better themselves.

I agree with experimenting and evaluating methods and strategies. This helps with identifying what works best for you and more importantly your scholars. I think it is best to pick and choose what can be used as well as its purpose. Remember, always monitor and adjust

One great way to have teachers share with other teachers is to have teachers present topics at professional development. The topics will be relevant and meaningful giving teachers tips and knowledge in areas they use in their development of lessons and increasing tools can be used in the classroom. Teachers will be more open to learning from a colleague than an outsider.

This is a very good point about appreciation and acknowledgement. Being able to get into a teaching mentor class and student mentorship program is something that I thought was helpful in getting trained to be in a classroom setting. I am learning to acknowledge the importance of the classroom instruction in many ways—working with teachers who appreciate the opportunity to learn from their students and peers; and, how to approach students to be able to interact with their teacher’s learning strategies. Thinking of ways to be thankful—like bringing a bunch of daffodils, or an apple turnover from the local bakery—doing simple tasks will not only brighten up the teacher’s mood, but also help the students learn to be grateful.

Knowledge is powerful when used. When we learn from each other’s experiences we should implement those components to support our scholars. Learning and growing are not isolated from each other. We must understand that we don’t grow until we learn.

Although teachers (and humans) generally hate it, being filmed teaching helps you notice a lot. Watching it with a senior colleague and discussing what you both see in the recorded lesson can be invaluable for both of you.

Some of the most memorable experiences of my teaching career are those that involved mentoring and coaching first year teachers. My decades of experience in different levels of education, coming from a diverse background and belief in education advocacy afforded me with the intellectual and psychological tools to support new teachers. One of the most difficult aspects of teaching is classroom management. I effectively mentored new teachers to become highly motivated and effective in their classrooms thereby creating a healthy learning environment whichisvital for student achievement. One of my mentees became the teacher of the year and continues to excel! Mentoring excellence is sill my passion. Please contact me if you need my services.

As a mentor teacher, the modeling and mentoring are very relative. The best practices being demonstrated are beneficial to mentees. Helping others build skills and knowledge helps students and builds great teachers.

When I worked as a high school teacher I enjoyed the opportunities for professional development, such as in-house workshops or going away to a conference. I loved (and still love) learning new things. I need to learn new things to be inspired and motivated to stay on this journey of being a teacher. Now as someone who teaches the teachers, I design my faculty workshops to be a source of inspiration, motivation and practical learning. I want my participants to go back to their students energized to try new strategies to positively impact the students' learning experience.

This forum is another great forum for learning. Reading various articles and the comments, insights and opinions of so many others has been very insightful. The challenge is to continue during the academic year when so many added tasks overload our daily "To - Do" lists and learning, meaningful professional development and collaborating with peers becomes a "luxury". Or, worse, a task on our "To - Do" list instead of an opportunity for enrichment and growth. - I think I will make scrolling and trolling educational sites that interest ME a priority this academic year.

Learning from other teachers doesn't necessarily have to be in a formal context always. Have informal conversations in the staff room, share your resources like lesson plans with them and ask what changes they would do if they were in your spot, or even ask for advice on how you can be better in specific situations that they are good at handling. The most important thing to learn from other teachers is to have the willingness to learn and not to allow mental barriers and mindsets to obstruct the process.

Effective teaching is a dynamic process, and it's important to adapt and evolve your methods based on your students' needs and your own experiences. Research is inevitable factor that should be considered.Explore educational psychology literature and research to gain a deeper understanding of the psychological principles that underlie effective teaching methods.

At our school I organize what is called “Learning Walks” I encourage teachers to be demonstration classrooms and during different times of the year we focus on topics such as classroom management, literacy strategies, small group rotations etc… Teachers have an opportunity to sign up to “walk” with me to these demo classrooms. I provide a sub for one of their periods so they don’t need to use their planning period. After our “walk” we debrief and set dates to plan and coteach any strategy they might want to implement. I support all teachers in all subjects. It is truly a wonderful experience for teachers to observe their peers!

Teachers are learners too. I learn so much when another teacher is at the helm. It provides a 360-degree enviable view of the effect of another’s pedagogy, delivery, tone, etc. If you cannot learn from another, you are limiting what others can learn from you. Learning from others only requires being intellectually available and critically astute. Seeing someone else at the front of the room opens my mind to existential possibilities. It provides the luxury of time, focus, and intentionality, where the actual practice of teaching does not. It helps me discover what to do better and what to “not” do. Whether it be through research, reading, or direct observation, I learn from other teachers because teachers are learners, and learners lead.

Utilising online platforms and networks specifically designed for educators can facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration. Teachers can join online communities, participate in forums, or follow educational blogs and social media accounts to connect with and learn from their peers worldwide.

Teachers can also learn from each other by participating in instructional rounds. This involves solving teacher generated problems of practice by hosting pre-observation, and observation meetings in which specific teachers are observed, and discussions are held to resolve focus questions. It also provides opportunities for the hosting teachers to engage in reflection.