instructional rounds training (sept. 19, 2013)
DESCRIPTION
Instructional rounds will take place on two levels this year. First, rounds will be an important part of small group reflection, where a team of teachers who share a common planning hour observe two classrooms a month. In this format teachers will look for descriptive evidence and avoid subjective speculation about practice. Small groups will use our faculty protocol form and will also look for evidence in support of NEE indicators 1.2, 4.1, 5.1, and 7.4. Second, rounds will be used by department chairs as a school-wide strategy to identify problems of practice. As defined by Roberts: "a problem of practice is a statement that describes the instructional problem that a school is struggling with and that serves as a focus for classroom observations" (page 4). Department chairs will conduct rounds twice this year (once each semester) to support our progress toward our building goals. The purpose of this practice is not evaluative, this practice will report broad trends for staff reflection from a school-wide perspective; no individual teacher data will be reported. These slides were discussed during collaboration on September 19, 2013.TRANSCRIPT
Getting Started with Rounds
http://bit.ly/1fbGFnb
Three Big Ideas of a PLC
Essential Characteristics of a PLC
Mission, Vision, Values, Goals
Collective Inquiry
Continuous Improvement
Collaborative Teams
Action Orientation
Results Orientation
Why Instructional Rounds?
http://bit.ly/19gWRyy
Why Instructional Rounds?
“You can’t change learning and performance at scale without creating a strong, visible, transparent, common culture of instructional practice.”
(City et. al, 2009)
Why Instructional Rounds?
Professional Learning Should Be:
Job embedded
On-going
Collaborative
Collective inquiry
Big Idea #1 - Everyone
Everyone involved is working on their practice 1
Big Idea #2 – The Core
Focus is the instructional core 2
Big Idea #3 - Improvement
Goal is to improve practice over time 3
Big Idea #4 – Know Thy Impact
Develop shared practices and a shared understanding of the
cause-and-effect relationship
between teaching and learning
4
The Instructional Core
http://bit.ly/18CGv14
The Instructional Core
Improvement can occur through
changes in the relationship of
students and teachers in the
presence of content. Student
Teacher Content
Steps of the Rounds Process
1. Identifying a problem of practice
2. Observing in small groups
3. Debriefing as a group
4. Focusing on the next level of work
The Problem of Practice
A problem of practice is a statement that describes the instructional problem that a school is struggling with and that serves as a focus for classroom observations.
Observing
Use the ESMS observation protocol
Focus on our school’s identified problems of practice. Look for alignment with the four district NEE indicators.
Describe
Describe what you saw using specific, nonjudgmental language.
Analyze
Look for patterns across classrooms, giving names to categories and
patterns.
Predict
In light of your group’s evidence, predict what students are learning.
Predict
What should the school do or learn next? What should the observers do or learn next?
Avoiding “Scrub-like” Rounds
http://bit.ly/18CGv14
Small Group Observations
Observation Norms
20 minute observation
Refrain from talking to teachers in class
Fine to ask students questions if it seems appropriate
Observation Reminders
Describe what you see.
What is the task?
What are students saying or doing?
Observation Reminders
Be specific – pay attention to the instructional core (teacher, student, content) and the evidence related to the problem of practice.