Improving Practice

Para Hills 4 PortfolioKATRINA SPENCER

PURPOSE

To strengthen leaders’ capacity to:

undertake quality classroom observations,

reflect on student work and teacher practice and

provide feedback that encourages improvement.

To build greater rigour and regularity in the internal monitoring

of teaching and learning in sites.

OUTCOMES: SESSION 1

Site leaders share resources, ideas and approaches currently in use to monitor teaching practice Update, feedback and clarifications about Learning Walks

Site leaders understand Instructional Rounds and have some resources to conduct these with staff

Each site leader identifies and plans a strategy they will use in Term 1 to undertake observations of practice to monitor the implementation of SIP priorities and challenges of practice Walk throughs / Learning Walks

Instructional Rounds

Analysis of student work

Structured conversations with students

Tasks to determine the

challenges of practice

review curriculum documentation, including scope and sequence documents, unit plans, lesson plans and assessments

review the school’s approach to teaching and learning

review whole school agreements

take part in or review the minutes from professional learning team meetings

analyse samples of student work

observe lessons and describe what teachers and students are doing

engage students, teachers and parents in discussions about what is being taught and assessed, and how

combine internal and external views

HIG

H I

MP

AC

T

The research is clear:

improvement cycles only lift

student achievement when

teachers and leaders

change their practice.

Are we improving student learning?

Evidence of student learning is what students ‘do, say, make

or write’ and can be collected through:

peer observations and debriefs with teachers

videos of teacher practice

observations of students during class

conversations with students about their learning progress and next

steps

formal and informal assessments of student learning

analysis of student work samples.

Sharing time

In pairs/threes share either:

What you have tried since the ‘Learning Walks’

discussion last year

OR

The most effective practice you have experienced

to monitor teaching practice

Any questions or clarifications about Learning Walks

What I have noticed after MANY observations

In most classrooms:

TEACHERS work harder than STUDENTS

TEACHERS talk more than STUDENTS; some students never talk

Students are not sure of the lesson purpose/intention or where to focus

70% of tasks are at the recount/recall/remember/understand level

We are better at LOW FLOORS than HIGH CEILINGS

It doesn’t matter if you finish the task and expectations are unclear

Group tasks often are not ‘group worthy’ and have passengers

Students do not know how to improve their work

There is limited feedback or marking or time to reflect on it

There is limited differentiation or using the teachable moments

TABLE TALK

Any surprises,

concerns or

questions?

Why I focus on the TASKS

Task predicts performance. Richard Elmore

The real accountability is in the tasks that students are given.

Students can’t outperform the tasks they are asked to do and

for many students they experience schooling as one task at a

time- a series of disconnected activities rather than a coherent

development of concepts and understandings.

When observing, I am looking for the RIGOUR in the tasks.

RIGOUR:

Bloom’s

Taxonomy

(and HOTS)

CREATING

EVALUATING

ANALYSING

APPLYING

UNDERSTANDING

REMEMBERING

HOTS

The griney

grollers

grangled in

the grinchy

gak.

1. What kind of grollers were they?

2. What did the grollers do?

3. Where did they do it?

4. In what kind of gak did they

grangle?

5. Place one line under the subject

and two lines under the verb.

6. In one sentence, explain why the

grollers were grangling in the

granchy gak. Be prepared to

justify your answer with facts.

I am also looking at the task’s RELEVANCE

1. Knowledge in one discipline – I check for understanding

2. Apply in discipline – I can use it in this lesson

3. Apply across disciplines- I understand the BIG IDEA and can generalize the concept

4. Apply to real world predictable situations- I am using it in known ways to apply, solve or analyse

5. Apply to real-world unpredictable situations- I am using it in novel ways to synthesise, create, evaluate

RIGOUR

and

RELEVANCE

TABLE TALK

Instructional Rounds is

… a set of protocols and processes for observing, analysing, discussing and understanding instruction that can be used to improve student learning at scale.

Instructional Rounds is not a silver bullet, it does lead to changed pedagogy after sustained focus

There is no one right way to undertake Instructional Rounds

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH ROUNDS

The Instructional Core

IR anchors improvement efforts in the instructional core

Instructional Rounds supports staff to look at classroom practice in a focused, systematic and collective way and provides data and evidence on whether improvement efforts are reaching students

teacher

knowledge and

skill

student

engagement challenging

content

•STUDENT engagement

•TEACHER knowledge/skills

•Challenging CONTENT

Instructional Rounds Key Principles

1. Increases in student learning occur only as a consequence of improvements in the instructional core

2. If you change one element of the instructional core, you have to change the other two.

3. If you can’t see it in the core, it’s not there.

4. Task predicts performance

teacher

knowledge and

skill

student

engagement challenging

content

IR is not What IR isWalkthrough /

quick

observation

Rounds is a descriptive, analytic, inferential

process of observation

THE DEBRIEF PHASE IS VITAL!

A teacher

evaluation

tool

IR focuses on practice and students’ engagement.

It separates the person from the practice with no

assessment of individual teachers.

Implementation

check

Rounds focuses on patterns of practice,

not about compliance with directives

An event,

project or

program

Rounds is a practice, designed to support and

inform an improvement strategy over time

Training

leaders for

supervision

Rounds focuses on collective learning, rather than

how to supervise individuals

The Instructional Round Process

identify a problem of practice-

Challenge of Practice

1

observe

2

debrief

3

focus on the next level of

work

4

Katrina Spencer 19https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/how-to-guide---instructional-rounds.pdf?sfvrsn=72acec3c_2

1. The Problem of Practice

The PoP is always a work in progress and is best developed collaboratively

It connects to the site’s improvement strategy and represents a place where they feel “stuck” in their improvements

Helps the site to adopt a learning stance - articulating it may nudge development

The SIP CHALLENGE OF PRACTICE should become your PoP and be based on a Theory of Action (If we…, then we…)

Elmore: The problem of practice will not be perfect. Ever.

Challenge of Practice

Discussion/Reflection

Who owns and understands your challenge of practice?

How committed are staff to improving their practice?

How clear are you and staff about what the challenge of practice would look like in daily classroom operation? (what would you be looking for in an observation?)

So where will you start to build clarity, ownership, commitment and consistency??

2. The ROUND or Observation Phase

Observing(keeping a focus on observable evidence not judgements)

No two people will see the same child in identical ways. Two

open and honest educators can be asked to observe the same

child. What they see and interpret will depend on what they decide to look for and their own particular perspectives.

(Martin, S, Take A Look, 2007).

Learning to see and not to judge

Classroom observation in the rounds model is a discipline - a practice, in the sense that it is a pattern of observing and talking designed to

create a common understanding among a group of practitioners about the nature of their work.

Judging has become a national pastime – much of our TV entertainment is based on judgements- MAFS, MKR, The Block…. They create archetypes/stereotypes and we rush to judge – we love it!

In ROUNDS we need to LOOK with an open mind and suspend judgements.

Colour Changing Card Trick https://youtu.be/v3iPrBrGSJMMonkey Business Illusion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY

Observing

What is the actual work that students are being asked to do?

The lived task vs. stated taskWhat do students focus on when given the task?

Record evidence that is observable, defensible and grounded in

the instructional core- no opinions, judgments or generalizations

(eg 5 students stared at the floor, 3 students chatted rather than many students were disengaged).

Tip: look down not up

Note taking – take lots!

Learning Intention and prompts on IWB

TASK: writing a procedure using a format UNDERSTANDING

Teacher providing instructions Students all focused on front

On T signal all students moved to get books and start work- 3 students wandered, the rest knew routines and settled quickly to work

Students heard discussing ideas and strategies with peers before starting

T redirected the 3 and they settled to work

1 child sat staring for extended period when questioned was unaware of task or strategies to get help

Spoke with 3 students- aware of WHAT to do, not sure WHY or HOW much /expected standards

Talking with Students

Sharratt’s 5 Questions: To lift performance, students need to know;

1. What are you learning? (intention/purpose)

2. How are you doing? (success criteria)

3. How do you know? (feedback)

4. How can you improve? (strategies)

5. Where to next? (direction)

Goldilock’s Question- is this work too hard/too easy/just right for you?How could it be made just right?

Most important to OBSERVE FIRST

Observation Etiquette

Short pictures – a snapshot

10 minutes in 6 classes- organise a timekeeper for sessions

Be as unobtrusive as possible

Adapt to the teaching environment

No talking between rooms

Do you own thinking

Respect staff by not visibly commenting

3. DEBRIEF

If you didn’t see it or hear it in the classroom don’t include it in the debrief”.

1. START WITH WARM FEEDBACK- general noticings

2. SELECT - 3-5 pieces of observation information you recorded

3. DESCRIBE – record these on sticky notes and place on shared board one at a time share one and discuss as a group

4. INTERPRET – start to group or order these to make meaning as team-team members add similar observations to the board

5. EVALUATE – what might this be telling you about the PoP? What themes/issues are emerging? Give the board a heading.

6. PREDICT – the next level of work –if you were a good student…. OR If you were away today what would you have missed?

4. THE NEXT LEVEL OF WORK

…the suggestions for the next level of work are not about “fixing” any one teacher or group of teachers. They are about developing clarity about good instructional

practice and about the leadership and organisational practices needed to support the instruction at scale. Elmore et al

It should support the site to work on their challenge of practice by bringing “fresh eyes” to the practice.

The next level of work should help to build coherence consistent instructional practices across classrooms aligned with the improvement strategy and the context.

Suggestions may include short/mid term and longer term ideas that the school MAY choose to consider- what actions would you take if you were a class teacher or site leader after these observations?

You don’t improve schools by giving them bad news about their performance.

You improve schools by using information about student learning, from multiple sources, to find the

most promising instructional problems to work on, and then systematically developing with teachers and

administrators the knowledge and skills necessary to solve those problems. Elmore et al

Teacher Rounds

At the end of the session I always ask teachers for feedback

on the process or ideas to improve the Rounds

Teachers report that they find the process valuable and didn’t focus

on judging peers rather they focused on student learning

I also ask teachers to share:

What confirmed my practices

What I need to reflect on in my own classroom

What ACTION WILL I TAKE as a result of my observations

Implementing Rounds

This will depend on your comfort and context

JUMP IN AND SWIM STAFF INFO, TRIALS and EXPAND

Having an experience of participating in a Round first is

always useful

‘You learn the work by doing the work.’ Elmore

Leadership Level, Cross School Rounds, Teacher Rounds…

Having a facilitator is useful to keep the flow/focus

So where to from here?

If you are going to develop a regular practice of observing students and teachers, looking for improvement needs and providing quality feedback:

What processes will be most effective at your site?

Who will be involved and how?

What training/support/further information will you need? Staff need?

How will you introduce the practice and build commitment?

Where/when/how will you get underway this term?

How will you document the learning, get feedback and use the information to continuously improve practice?

Ideas and Feedback

Sharing your planning with peers

SESSION 2 TO BE CLARIFIED AFTER SESSION 1

Site leaders share work to date and their next step with colleagues for feedback and development

Collectively identify what we are learning about practice

Strengths and how to amplify these

Concerns and how to address these

Planning for peer observations and feedback

Analysing student work?

REMEMBER: FOCUS ON…

ImprovingNOT

I’m Proving

kk

For information or support

contact Katrina Spencer

0401 120 378

katrinarspencer@gmail.com