This summer I shared Cult of Pedagogy’s article on the pineapple chart with a few people in my department. It’s basically a way to have organic peer observations. We decided to make our own version (we use an electronic calendar instead but basically follow this article’s format otherwise), and it’s really taken off. Hopefully, we can extend to the whole building soon.
It has been such a joy to have teachers come pop in my room and vice versa.
Today I had a couple teachers in my room at the beginning of the day; and then during my plan, I popped into the room one of my former students, now a dear friend and colleague.
I hadn’t seen Alyssa teach AP Stat yet and let me tell you, the emotion of being in her room was…incredible. These amazing girls I had in AP Calculus now have students of their own and they are truly phenomenal in the classroom. The kids were eating right out of her hands. She was in her natural habitat. It’s a truly beautiful thing to see my former students teach. I see pieces of myself and pieces totally unique to them.
It’s not unlike how I see my own child.
But in addition to feeling all the feels when I see these girls teach, something else really hit me about the power of the pineapple chart today. I initially viewed it as something to help our department: iron sharpens iron and all. And, absolutely, it has.
What I didn’t think about was how good this is for our students to see. First, they bear witness to the fact that we are, indeed, life-long learners. They are seeing their teachers taking their own time to learn and to perfect their craft.
Second, and maybe even more importantly, they see how much we like each other. They are noticing, “Wow. My teachers are friends. They laugh together and enjoy each other.” And that is crucial if you want to foster a culture of mutual respect and inclusion. If we want kids to like each other, we have to model that. If we want kids to learn from each other, we have to model that. If we want kids to take risks, we have to model that.
It all starts with us.
Lo and behold, this little pineapple chart has allowed us to do all of that.
one good thing 