Reinventing Our Vision of Effective Instruction

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Reinventing Our Vision of Effective Instruction

• Lisa Pruitt
• Program Director, District and School Support
  Services

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Outcomes

• Understand the importance of the instructional
  core
• Understand the steps of instructional rounds and
  the learning goals behind each step
• Develop skills in observing teaching and
  learningdescribing what we see
• Develop skills in debriefing an observation
• Build relationships within the group

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Welcome and Introductions

• Study your picture, but do not show it to anyone
  else.
• The TASK The group must line up in sequential
  order according to picture progression.
• Introduce yourself and then describe your picture
  to others and determine your place in the order.
• Describe the relationship(s) of this activity to
  group observation of a classroom.

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Instructional Rounds is not a silver bullet.
Can Cant
Strengthen and deepen an existing improvement strategy Compensate for the lack of an improvement strategy
Build and reinforce a culture of improvement Repair a pathologic culture
Provide clarity and focus for existing professional development Compensate for a lack of focused professional development
Build pathways into multiple leadership roles Compensate for a weak human resource strategy
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A meeting of three powerhouses!

• Walkthroughs
• Networks
• Improvement Strategies
• Instructional rounds sits at the intersection of
• three current popular approaches to the
• improvement of teaching and learning.

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Theoretical underpinnings

• The Instructional Core
• Theory of Action

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The Instructional Core
Hawkins, 1974 Cohen Ball, 2003
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7 Principles of the instructional core

• 1. Increase in student learning only occurs as a
  consequence of improvements in the level of
  content, teachers knowledge and skill, and
  student engagement.
• 2. If you change any single element of the
  instructional core, you have to change the other
  two.
• 3. If you cant see it in the core, its not
  there.

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7 Principles of the instructional core

• 4. Tasks predict performance.
• 5. The real accountability system is in the tasks
  that students are asked to do.
• 6. We learn to do the work by doing the work, not
  by telling other people to do the work, not by
  having done the work at some time in the past,
  and not by hiring experts who can act as proxies
  for our knowledge about how to do the work.

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7 Principles of the instructional core

• 7. Description before analysis, analysis before
  prediction, prediction before evaluation.

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Theory of action

• A set of casual connections, usually in the
  if-then
• form that serves as a story line that connects
• broad visions with the more specific strategies
• used to improve the instructional core.
• If we implement _____, then _____ ,and _____.

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District theory of action

• If I/we create environments of shared
• collaboration focused on improving standards,
• curriculum, instruction, and assessment, then
• shared responsibility and shared accountability
• will create urgency for change and support
• continuous improvement of learning for all
• students.

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Site theory of action

• If we develop the efficacy of students so that
  they
• become active participants in their learning,
  then
• students will fully engage in school and develop
• the habits of mind that lead to successful
  lifelong
• earning.

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Instructional Rounds Defined
What it is... What it is not
Culture Building Practice Supervision and Evaluation
Instructional Problem-Solving Implementation Check
A Process An Event
Descriptive, Predictive, Diagnostic Normative, Judgmental
Professionalizing Bureaucratic
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Commitment to Instructional Rounds

• Everyone involved is working on their practice.
• Everyone is obliged to be knowledgeable about
• the common task of instructional improvement
• Everyones practice should be subject to
• scrutiny, critique, and improvement.

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Hopes and Fears

• Using one green post-it per idea, write what you
  are hoping to gain from participation in the
  consortium.
• Using one pink post-it per idea, write what you
  are leery or fearful about in regard to your
  participation in the consortium.

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Norms

• What norms should we have as a group to
• maximize the chances of our hopes being
• realized and to minimize the possibility of our
• fears coming true?

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4-Step Process

• Identifying the problem of practice
• Observing
• Debriefing
• Focusing on the next level of work

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Problem of Practice

• Based on data
• Based on dialogue
• Based on current work

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Example Problem of Practice (POP)

• Seventy percent of our students in special
  education did not pass
• the state test last year. In particular, they
  did not do well on the
• open-response questions in both math and English
  language arts.
• In many cases, they left those problems blank. We
  may not be
• providing these students with enough practice on
  open-response
• questions. We may be providing too much
  assistance so that
• when they have to tackle these prompts on their
  own, they do not
• know where to start.
• POP What kinds of tasks are students being
  asked
• to do in class?

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The Discipline of Seeing

• Evidence of what you seenot what you think about
  what you see.
• Searching for cause-and-effect relationships
  between what we observe teachers and students
  doing and what students actually know and are
  able to do as a consequence.

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Judgmental VS nonjudgmental

• Sort the cards in your envelope into two piles
• Description includes observers judgment
• Description without judgment
• Talk with a table partner about the defining
  attributes of each pile.
• Turn two of the judgmental statements into
  nonjudgmental statements.

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Observing

• To build a body of evidence about what is going
• on in classrooms and how it seemed to bear on
• the problem of practice.
• What are teachers doing and saying?
• What are students doing and saying?
• What is the task?

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Whats the evidence?

• As you watch the following video clip of a 5th
  grade ELD classroom, write down
• What the teacher is doing and saying?
• What the students are doing and saying?
• What is the task?
• Share the evidence you saw in the lesson with a
  table partner.

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What to take notes about

• Grade, Content, Student Demographics
• What are students being asked to do? What are
  they doing?
• Patterns of interaction
• Question types and patterns of response
• Time

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Questions to ask students

• What are you learning?
• What are you working on?
• How will you know if you are finished?
• How will you know if what youve done is good
  quality?

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Debriefing

• Read through the two options for debriefing.
• Under what conditions would it be appropriate to
  use either option?

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The next level of work

• Need to be framed in the context of the district
  or school
• Fine-grainedas specific as possible
• Decide how information from rounds will be shared
  with staff
• Site leader expected to report back at next
  meeting

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Reflection

• Choose a doodle picture. Record on the picture
• your reflections about
• the discussions we have had
• the connection of rounds to your current
  improvement efforts
• ideas you have about the instructional core
• ideas that you want to know more about
• how you learned today
• any other thoughts about the morning, process, or
  content

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Scheduling Visits

• November 30
• January 19
• March 8
• April 5
• 4-5 classrooms that will offer evidence of a
  problem of practice

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LOGISTICS FOR VISITS

• 30 minute overview of context by admin
• 90 minutes of observation time
• 90 minutes for debrief and next levels of work
• TOTAL 3.5 4 Hours 800a.m.-1200p.m.
• Need room for overview and debrief
• Work with Lisa for morning treats for group