Peer Reviewing Lesson Plans
As a returning Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA), we have to peer review two first-semester UTAs’ lesson plans. Since I’m such a strong lover and supporter of online peer review, I was very excited for this assignment. The two lesson plans that I looked at were on the Toulmin Method and guiding students through the Rhetorical Analysis assignment.
It was interesting being on the other side of looking at lesson plans. The only experience I ever had with lesson plans was creating them and the only experience I had with peer review was with papers. So, peer reviewing lesson plans was definitely something new that I did this semester as a UTA. I thought it was a great experience to think about what makes an effective lesson plan. Peer reviewing them was similar to making them in the sense that I had to envision what the actual lesson plan outcome would have been, but this still had a new twist because I had to envision and then assess on top of that. The one thing that I had in my mind throughout doing this assignment was that I was constantly thinking, “If I had to take this lesson plan and perform it myself, would I be able to do it successfully? Do the instructions make sense?” Because I had this in the back of my head the whole time, which might not be for the one creating the lesson plan, it pointed out some holes that the lesson plans had. Keeping those questions in the back of my head when peer reviewing lesson plans reminded me to think about them when I’m also creating my own lesson plans. I think that when you’re the one creating the lesson plan, it’s easy to skip over some aspects because it’s already clear in your head. Therefore, keeping those questions in mind can benefit not just the peer reviewer, but the creator as well.
It was interesting being on the other side of looking at lesson plans. The only experience I ever had with lesson plans was creating them and the only experience I had with peer review was with papers. So, peer reviewing lesson plans was definitely something new that I did this semester as a UTA. I thought it was a great experience to think about what makes an effective lesson plan. Peer reviewing them was similar to making them in the sense that I had to envision what the actual lesson plan outcome would have been, but this still had a new twist because I had to envision and then assess on top of that. The one thing that I had in my mind throughout doing this assignment was that I was constantly thinking, “If I had to take this lesson plan and perform it myself, would I be able to do it successfully? Do the instructions make sense?” Because I had this in the back of my head the whole time, which might not be for the one creating the lesson plan, it pointed out some holes that the lesson plans had. Keeping those questions in the back of my head when peer reviewing lesson plans reminded me to think about them when I’m also creating my own lesson plans. I think that when you’re the one creating the lesson plan, it’s easy to skip over some aspects because it’s already clear in your head. Therefore, keeping those questions in mind can benefit not just the peer reviewer, but the creator as well.