Providing Instructional Leadership Through Effective School and Classroom Walk-through Visits

1. CORE - Center at Oregon for Research in Education Providing Instructional Leadership Through Effective School and Classroom Walk-through Visits A Project LIFT Training Module

2. Walking the Talk:Providing Instructional Leadership Through Effective School and Classroom Walk-through Visits Making a Difference, One Contact at a Time Modified from a presentation by Dr. Stan Paine, University of Oregon

3. Overview • School Purpose & Instructional Leadership • Classroom Visits: Overcoming Obstacles • Setting up for Success • The Difference is in the Details • observation • feedback • follow-up • The Walk-Through Process in Your School

4. Walk-Throughs Defined • Frequent visits of brief duration • 3-5 minutes • Repeated over time • Focused observation (“Look Fors”) • Connected to goals • Previously agreed upon • Brief follow-up conversation with teacher • Student-focused • Reflect on instructional practice

5. Why Do Walk-Throughs? walk-through instructional leadership teacher effectiveness student achievement “

6. Purposes of Walk-Throughs Improve instructional outcomes Strengthen instructional leadership Reinforce recent teacher professional development Support the in-class learning process (coaching) Assure that time planned is actually delivered (implementation) Assure that all elements of the reading initiative are being implemented

7. Getting Into Classrooms

8. Getting Into Classrooms:Schedule & Track Walk-Throughs • Schedule classroom walk-throughs into your personal calendar on a daily/weekly basis: • Make an “appointment with yourself” to be in classrooms. • Cover the range; differentiate your time • Use self-monitoring (goal-setting and feedback) to lend motivation and track your progress

9. Getting Into Classrooms: Get Assistance from Support Staff • Have your school secretary or other office personnel “kick you out of the office” and “send you to the classroom.” • Share your calendar of visits with office staff. • Ask staff to remind you when it’s time to go into classrooms. • Request staff to protect this time from intrusions. • Ask staff to help you track and self-monitor visits.

10. Getting Into Classrooms:Make Yourself Accountable Make classroom visits part of the annual goals you set with your supervisor. Report monthly progress. Use public posting of this goal and your progress in meeting it.

11. Before You Begin

12. Initiating a Schoolwide Walk-Through Process • Communicate with key stakeholders • Teaching Staff, State Staff • Separate walk-through process from evaluation! • Link the walk-through process to targeted goals (goals, standards, initiatives, trainings at school, district, state levels) • Collaboratively establish “Look Fors” • Develop a culture of collaboration around teaching and learning

13. Before you go in: Communicate with Teachers State plans for classroom visits and focus on the purpose of supporting strong instruction for all students Communicate the norm of continuous learning for students and adults Share tool(s) or framework you will use Cultivate a team culture focused on student improvement

14. Before you go in: Plan and Coordinate Your Observation • Schedule and Track Walk-Throughs: • Include all who teach students • Include observations of all instructional groups • Guard against “convenient location” as a factor • Guard against tendency toward “comfort zones” • Differentiate across staff, based on need for instructional support

15. Observation/Evaluation • Differentiate CLEARLY between these functions: • Evaluation • formal • required • “summative” (like the state assessment) • Walk-Throughs • informal • collaborative • formative • student-oriented

16. What to Look For: A Basic Framework • What is my purpose/focus going in? • What is the purpose of the lesson? • What is the teacher doing? • Indicators of effective teaching • What are the students doing? (engagement) • Are the kids “getting it”? • What is the evidence?

17. Sample “Look Fors” Readiness to teach (materials prepared and organized) Clarity of purpose (students can express it) Sufficient academic rigor to advance student learning (something new is being taught) High level of engagement; frequent opportunities to respond Latest professional development is being implemented A look-for identified by your Project LIFT reading coach

18. Sample “Look Fors” Instructional modeling/practice/feedback Appropriate instructional pacing Effective management of student behavior Effective response to student errors

19. Additional Look Fors • Resource: Project LIFT Example Look Fors • Contains priority look-fors • Rationale for the look-fors • Questions/Comments/Suggestions for principals to use during feedback session related to each look-for

20. Choose a Tool or a Framework • Choose an observational tool or an instructional framework with which you are familiar and which “does the job.” • focuses on instruction and learning • makes data objective, not judgmental • aligns with your “Look Fors” • Examples: • See Resource: Five-Minute Walk-Through Observation Form

21. Follow-Up Conversation

22. How will you provide feedback? Face-to-face conversation Leave a note on desk Leave a note in their mailbox Send them an e-mail If in writing, follow-up face-to-face

23. Follow-Up/Feedback • Differentiating Feedback • by teacher • by situation or context • by training and experience • by skill and confidence (developmental)

24. Follow-Up:Not a monolog, but a dialog. • Dispel the myth of “one-way” observation. • It’s a two-way street. • Principal can learn from teacher. • Teacher can learn from dialog with principal. • Goal is a collaborative exchange about the teaching & learning process.

25. Follow-Up Format • One positive comment • One prompt, question or suggestion • One follow-up component (not always, but often) • “Where do we go from here?” • “Let’s touch base in a day or two.”

26. When suggestions are needed... 2-3 positives for each suggestion Tie feedback to school goals, standards, benchmarks Offer rationale for suggestions Offer context and situation for suggestions Teach the concept or skill or make a connection to someone who can such as another teacher on the staff

27. Let’s apply the information.

28. Reflect: Walk-Throughs in Your School • What is your vision for the use of walk-throughs to enhance teaching and learning in your school? • What might this look like in one year? In two or three years? • What are the steps you need to get started? • When will this take place?

29. Summary Guidelines:Making it Work • “First talk, then walk” (then talk to debrief) • Make it student oriented • Align it with goals, initiatives, major trainings • Make it a collaborative process • Keep it non-evaluative • Include genuine positive feedback

30. Conclusions • Principals can find ways to get into classrooms more often, thereby enhancing their role as instructional leaders. • Principals can positively impact teaching & learning by doing so. • Principals can empower teaching personnel to do their very best work and thereby give students their very best chance for success--in school and in life.