In this episode, I talk to Lesley Painter-Farrell about peer observation. We discuss why watching another teacher can be one of the best ways to learn, especially when you go in with a clear focus. Lesley talks about how to prepare before an observation, what kind of notes to take, and how to make the conversation afterwards useful rather than awkward. We also discuss how peer observation can help both teachers learn, regardless of who has more experience.
Author of Learning about Assessment, Professor Kathleen Bailey joins us to talk about testing. Professor Bailey tells us about why assessment exists, the effects it can have (both positive and negative) on teaching and learning, how we should design tests and how we should grade our learners.
Mario Rinvolucri, author of “Once Upon a Time: Using stories in the language classroom” talk to us about storytelling, one of the “most compelling and ancient of human activities”. How can stories give students meaningful, comprehensible and motivating input? Listen to find out.
Second language acquisition researcher, Patsy Lightbown, joins us to discuss how languages are learned, and also, how they aren’t. We hear about problems of training teachers, how learners overcome challenges and aspects of language teaching which still lag years behind research.
If you regularly listen to this podcast, the chances are you listen because you want to be a better teacher. But what is the best way to become a better teacher? Is it attending training? Is it being observed by your boss? Is it watching your peers teach? In a special end of year double length episode, Professor Thomas Guskey, author of Evaluating Professional Development talks to us about the best way to help teachers learn and the evidence for workshops, peer observations and what the best teachers do that the rest of us don’t.
In this episode, I talk to Lesley Painter-Farrell about peer observation. We discuss why watching another teacher can be one of the best ways to learn, especially when you go in with a clear focus. Lesley talks about how to prepare before an observation, what kind of notes to take, and how to make the conversation afterwards useful rather than awkward. We also discuss how peer observation can help both teachers learn, regardless of who has more experience.
