Instructional Rounds

1. Instructional Rounds Pascoe Vale North Primary School

3. Protocols for Principals in Rounds • Respect behavioral norms of confidentiality, integrity, suspending judgment and staying in descriptive mode. • Separate the person from the practice • Spend 20 minutes in small groups with each class • Gather evidence related to PoP (see, hear, do, task) • May speak to students (not teachers) but do not get in way of lesson • Meet and debrief with facilitator by sharing observations to create body of evidence • Analyze evidence for patterns of behavior and practice following a cycle of description, analysis and then prediction • Discuss next level of work for school to progress PoP • Feedback provided to the school and teachers

4. Observation of Practice • A key element of the instructional rounds process is for the host school to identify a focus for the instructional round, the ‘Observation of Practice’. • In deciding the practice to be observed the school should consider its educational philosophy and school data such as the School Level Report, Strategic Plan and Annual Implementation Plan. • It is recommended the observation of practice should relate to a current priority around which the school has developed strategies for improvement. Some examples are: • Literacy teaching across the curriculum • Differentiated instruction • Developing higher order questioning • Setting high expectations • Personalised learning

5. Focus on the Work The goal of doing instructional rounds is to focus on the teaching and not the teacher. Instructional rounds involve describing the practice in the classroom without being distracted by personality, style or personal bias. The tendency in schools is to think about the individuals performing the work rather than the work itself.

6. The Big Question If you were a student in this class after completing the task what would you be able to do that you couldn’t before ?

7. Question of practice – • Our school is currently investigating what we need to do as a school and as Maths teachers in every classroom to connect our students to Maths and ensure a greater number of girls achieve success at all levels, particularly at VCE level. We are striving for consistency of practice, building student capacity in Maths from year 7 through to VCE and a school wide approach to improving Maths teaching and learning practices • In our classrooms you could expect to see: • Teachers modelling effective teaching and learning strategies for Maths • Teachers building student knowledge of maths concepts and strategies • Teachers challenging students to think more deeply about maths concepts and their application to problem solving • Evidence of problem solving being taught and practised • Students taking risks with their learning

8. Role of teachers involved in Classroom visits • Allow space in the classroom for visitors to be seated or move around as required. • Inform students that visitors will be talking to them and taking descriptive notes on classroom practice. • Be available later in the day for debriefing with visiting team. • Assume normal teaching practices in their classroom based on effective teaching and learning strategies agreed to by the school.

9. The team • may talk to and ask questions of students but should not disrupt the class. Examples of questions:- • What are you doing? • What do you do if you get stuck? • How do you know if what you are doing is of a high quality? • What will you know after doing the task that you may not have known before?

10. Key Improvement Strategies- PVNPS • Continue to build the capacity of teachers to implement a cohesive approach to teaching and learning incorporating modelling, colleague visits with structured feedback. • Develop and implement a writing program across the school. • Develop a set of agreed principles and implement the E5 approach to pedagogy. • Continue to focus on assessment strategies that support staff to better monitor the progress of individual students.

11. TEACHER • What were the teacher’s movement around the class during the lesson? • What was the teacher saying and to whom? • What was the matching of the task to the student’s skill level? (high and low level tasks • What types of questions did the teacher use? (prior knowledge, recall, recount, procedural, single focus, open, closed etc) • What use did the teacher make of modelling the task or demonstrating to students? • What use of immediate feedback did the teacher use to extend the students? • What extra intervention and explanation was provided for students not getting it? (connections between concepts • Did the teacher use any of the high reliability strategies? • how much of the work did the teacher, students do • practising skills ( skimming text, not telling answer, finding important words, providing headline, connecting to previous work)

12. STUDENT • Where the children aware of the standard of work expected of them? • What were the students saying and to whom? • Were the students aware of what they were learning? • What indicators were evident that the children were on task? • Did the students clarify any aspects of the task? • Did the students receive constructive feedback about their work? • students raise and lower bar to match teacher expectations • use of team work and groups • reporting back with relevance and understanding • Do students initiate conversations or are they always responding to the teacher • What do students do if they are stuck

13. TASK • Was there an instructional focus with clear purpose and learning outcomes? • Was there a variety of activities catering for a range of abilities? • Did the task explore real world situations and find solutions • What was the structure of the lesson in terms of introduction - task – conclusion? • level of content, challenge and level of academic challenge • what was the pace of the lesson like? • How much time is spent on each activity • How do you know if it is good quality • What do students do if they need help or are finished

14. Theories of Action • The more teachers are aware of, plan and use higher order questioning strategies the deeper the learning for students • If the environment is created where all students know they are expected to be ready to respond, the more students would be ready to take risks and deepen their learning. • As all teachers continue to include Wait Time and Higher Order questioning as significant learning strategies, the level of discussion and learning will be further strengthened • Extending students capacity to take more responsibility for their own use of higher order questioning, the deeper their learning will be. • As the school consistently develops an awareness and emphasis on maintaining the pace of the lesson, the more learning will be maximised • As the school continues to develop a holistic approach to the balance between the instruction, action and reflection time, the more effective the learning.

15. WHATS NEXT • School develops Question of Practice • School determines strategies to be viewed in c/rooms • Teachers nominate to be part of Instructional rounds (20 minutes per class) • RNL organises visitors (approx 12 people) • Principal establishes schedule for the day • School provides lunch, workspace and ICT for the day • Theories of Action developed for the future • Team debriefs with teachers at the end of day

16. Organisation Example • Session One 8.30 – 9.10am Conference Room • Briefing by Leadership Team, discussion on the Problem of Practice and school context. • Session Two 9.10 – 10.15 am • 9.10-9.30am: Team 1 visits Maths 12 Team 2 Media 12 • 9.30 – 9.50am: Team 1 visits RATW 10 Team 2 Maths 12 • 9.55 – 10.15am: Team 1 visits Media12 Team 2 visits RATW 10 • Session Three 10.20 – 11.30am • 10.20 – 10.40am: Team 1 visit Bus Man 12 Team 2 visit Lit • 10.45 – 11.05am: Team 1 visit Physics 11 Team 2 BusMan 12 • 11.10 – 11.30 am: Team1 Lit 12 (DPL) Team 2 PHY 11 • Session Four 12.00-3.00pm Visiting team meets to review morning and provide Theories of Action • Session Five 3.00pm debrief with teachers

17. THE NEXT LEVEL OF WORK What will happen in a week? What will happen in a month? What will happen in a year? Pick up the main work to be done Develop a common language Avoid the blizzard of recommendation When I return in two weeks what will be different?