Professional Development Learning Communities

Learning from watching another teacher put a skill into practice is perhaps the most powerful learning experience a teacher can have; fusing pedagogical theory with the complex reality of teaching. Traditional lesson observations limit the numbers who can be exposed to excellent teaching practice and traditional “best practice” videos tend to lack authenticity, involve strangers teaching in alien schools and lack interactivity.

Imagine the benefit within, and between, schools of building up a searchable bank of authentic exemplar lessons within searchable shared libraries:

• Initial Teacher Training (ITT) students with a shared experience of best practice 

• The development of a common language of teacher professional development within, and between, institutions

•  Supporting school based induction and CPD programmes  

• Providing a common resource bank of Advanced Skills Teachers (AST) practice 

• Searchable libraries taking the observer directly to points of interested across multiple lesson observations  

• Teacher learning Communities empowered by shared resources

IRIS Connect builds best practice libraries is a powerful new way. Each group within IRIS Connect can has their own video library. Annotated lesson observation videos may be shared by observed teachers into these libraries to be searched and viewed by other group members. Viewers may comment, ask questions and use IRIS Connect tools to gain valuable insights into teaching best practice an essential aspect of  the coaching process.

IRIS Connect will shortly provide all schools within the network with access to specially produced “pre- permissioned” lesson observation content preloaded within their video libraries, giving all users a good introduction to IRIS Connect tools, as well as exposure to practice within other institutions.

Teachers welcome the opportunity to be able to watch very good practice and to develop their own skills through that excellent practice

Anita Johnson Head Teacher, Loxford School of Science and Technology