Getting to participate in the peer observation process was an excellent part of the PTP program. I worked with Terri Billeisen, a graduate student in Entomology, and we both attended one of each others' lectures, kept a log, wrote a report and had a discussion about the lecture and where we wanted to improve going forward. As both a recipient and provider of this feedback, I've learned about critically analyzing my own and others' teaching - a responsibility that I'll have when I start a career in the academy.
Obviously I benefit from being observed by a fellow graduate student. I met with Terri after meeting with my mentor, so I already had the topics on my mind that my mentor had brought up. While my mentor raised concerns with my speaking style and rhetoric, Terri was very pleased with the group dynamic. She noticed that students in my class, despite being such a large group, acted very much like they were part of a community. The students laughed at my jokes and told jokes of their own that reinforce the fact that they all know the material and are taking pride in that fact. Students were at ease in the classroom and with the material, which is something I'm often not thinking about consciously since I'm so concerned with the subject matter. When I observed Terri's class, I noticed the same thing she brought up in my class, which was an air of collegiality and familiarity that made the class a safe space where students could be in on the joke. When a guest in the classroom isn't an expert at the course content, these more social elements are more apparent to them.
Participating as an observer was also an opportunity to broaden my own horizons. After spending so much time teaching classes ranging from 50 to 80 students in size, it's interesting to see the dynamic in a smaller class in a different field, especially among non-majors. Even in the small courses in Computer Science, so many of the students are coming from the same background of courses and skill sets that the classes feel rather homogenous. Terri's teaching was very heavily influenced by visuals that you can't really bring up in computer science, so it was interesting having to evaluate this very different teaching context. Overall, it's very helpful to see a different approach in practice, since that makes it possible to imagine how their pedagogical decisions might fit in my own lectures, such as having a course outline with blanks to fill in so that students can take guided notes during the lectures. I took a lot from both experiences, and from my discussions with Terri, she did as well.