Journal Entry #13

Blog 13: What were the benefits of the peer teaching events? How would you incorporate peer teaching in an elementary classroom?

The peer teaching project was really hard for me but it was beneficial in terms of feedback. It’s better to get feedback from your peers, who are knowledgeable, than from children.

It would be cool to let kids peer teach in an elementary classroom because they would be able to give each other advice and feedback. The instructor would have to be sure that the criticism stayed constructive and never became cruel or destructive. Depending on what developmental level they’re at, children have lots of new ideas. They can often relate these ideas to their peers more easily than to an adult. They can help each other in their own language, which is great.

When I was in the sixth grade, we did peer teaching with a math unit. It was a helpful way to learn because my friend and I could help each other with things that we didn’t understand. By that age we were developmentally capable of attempting the things we didn’t understand and it was easier because there were two of us to work through the difficult stuff.

I think peer teaching in an art class could be extremely beneficial. It would be fun to let the kids give each other feedback, as long as the teacher mediated the discussion. I especially think this could be a useful practice in a drama class. Often, kids see aspects of other kids’ skits (or plays, scenes, etc.) that adults don’t see because we focus on the bigger picture. The only risk with kids giving feedback is that sometimes kids can be pretty nasty to each other. However, if as a teacher, you set clear guidelines, I think it could be a very valuable exercise.