July 2008 — Case Studies
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Elementary Schools : Washington : Peer to Peer
BRIAN IS 8 YEARS OLD and sports a buzz cut, apple cheeks, and vivid brown eyes. He is an internet explorer, just back from a Googled journey into the virtual wilds of the natural world. Riveting his attention on the teacher, he bursts out with a bravura performance on the zoology of llamas.
His tale completed, he rejoins a circle of third-graders sitting cross-legged at the front of the classroom, recounting spring break adventures. As each story unfolds, the teacher, Teri Bratt, with the aid of an interactive whiteboard, guides her young learners through an internet search for an image or website that will visualize the report. When deeper research would enrich the story, she sends a student off to a nearby laptop.
As new words and unfamiliar contexts arise, Bratt takes the time to question and instruct, all the while connecting the visual feast of the World Wide Web to the critical disciplines of core subjects. A reference to Century, FL, becomes a writing lesson.
"Who knows what century means?" she asks. Hands shoot up. "Hundred-- that's right!" she says. She takes a moment for pair-share: "Talk to the person next to you and create a sentence using century." Heads bobble and nod. Sentences take shape out of fevered whispers. Pair by pair, Bratt's students give full, con- fident voice to their literary creations.
Communities of Practice
Bratt, a teacher at Barnes Elementary School in Kelso, WA, credits her innovative use of technology in her classroom to her involvement in the state's Enhanced Peer Coaching Program, a product of the federal EETT initiative. She is one of 184 peer coaches across the state, working with colleagues to support the transition from traditional stand-and-deliver pedagogy to a learner-centered, technology-enhanced instructional practice.
Launched this past school year, the program, Bratt says, has transformed her teaching, even after 23 years in the classroom. While training her peers in technology integration, she picks up new teaching approaches herself through the ongoing exchange of instructional practices and fresh ideas that occurs between peer coaches as well as between coaches and trainees.
"With a mentor close by, teachers lead each other from concept to practice, at the right pace at the right time."
"I've always looked for nontraditional ways of engaging my students," Bratt says. "As I get better at technology integration, my students' learning experience becomes richer." She is part guide, part co-learner. "I see technology as a teaching partner. I don't have to know everything; the kids and I can learn together."
During the 10-session training program, Bratt and her fellow peer coaches meet with teachers at lunch and after school, by e-mail and telephone, to develop activities that take full advantage of technology. They work as a team in the classroom, practicing new, learner-centered instructional techniques. Over the 10 sessions, theory comes to life through demonstration and practice-- face-to-face and online. Trainees learn how to build a regionally based community of practice within
