Instructional Rounds - in Practice

We had the opportunity to put into practice the notion of instructional rounds as we continued to support schools that are part of our Marzano Research Laboratory (MRL) Academy.

Instructional rounds are a way for teams of teachers to observe good instruction and discuss what they saw.  It's as simple as that.  The rounds are for the observers - not for the teacher being observed.

We had teams of teachers visit classrooms in Milford Public Schools and the results were rich discussions about teaching.

So in your teaching career - how many times did you have the opportunity to watch another teacher?  I never did, once student teaching was over I was on my own.  We have to get out of this silo mentality and use the masters in our backyard.  

Implementing instructional rounds takes some planning, but is not a high cost endeavor. You need to convince some of  your stronger teachers to let folks watch their class for 10-15 minutes, figure out a schedule, and let folks observe and discuss.  With guidance from our friends at MRL, Jen Madison has put together a training session for leaders of instructional rounds that assists in facilitating the conversations, so some limited professional development does help.

I am hearing more about professional development programs that include a classroom observation component - which only makes sense.  I encourage school leaders to develop intentional procedures that allow teachers to see other classrooms so they can really discuss instruction.

Toby

Lenny’s Ponderings

         Two topics in many presentations and conversations at the Nebraska Education Technology Association Conference in the spring of 2011 were iPads and using videos.  I’m going to focus on videos.  The use of videos to enhance learning by students and to help students enjoy learning has increased dramatically.  Video cameras, flip cameras and even cell phones make taking a video, editing (or not) and posting the video become very easy.   I see three main ways that videos are being used in the classroom.  Some examples would be:    

1)   Capturing student interest by using videos.  Dan Meyer is a leader in using videos to capture student interest.  See examples at http://blog.mrmeyer.com/.

2)   “Flip” the classroom.  In a “flipped” classroom students’ homework is to watch a video or lecture.  Students come to class and work problems where the teacher can provide guidance and help.  A short video of what a “flipped” looks like can be found at  http://vodcasting.ning.com/video/the-flipped-classroom .

3)   Student created videos to share their knowledge.  We all know that the highest level of learning is achieved when you teach someone else.

            Cathy Seeley, former president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, suggest something called “upside-down teaching.” Rather than starting a lesson with the identification of procedures and simple examples then working up to a rich, challenging problem, teachers who practice upside-down teaching begin with the rich, challenging problem.  Seeley suggests the following outline: start with a rich problem; engage students in dealing with the problem by discussing, comparing, and interacting; help students connect and notice what they have learned; then assign exercises and homework.  This approach is similar to project based learning.  I have links to several examples on my web site at http://lvermaas.wikispaces.com/Upside+Down+Teaching.  

Dan Meyer is a master of this strategy.  One recent example shows a video of him shooting a basket.  The inevitable question is, “Will the basketball go through the hoop?”  Students use mathematics and the video to look at the path of the ball to come up with an answer and then check the video to see if they are correct.  To see his videos and thoughts go to http://blog.mrmeyer.com/.

            If you have not heard of the “flipped classroom,” I am sure that you will in the near future.  Rather than spending class time lecturing students, teachers who flip their classroom use videos as homework and then spend time in class helping students learn.  The power of using videos is "rewindable" learning.  Students do not always learn the first time. Videos allow the student to rewind or stop and watch as many times as they want.  While some teachers record a teaching episode, there are many sources of lessons for students.  A short list would include Patrickjmt, Khan Academy, Brightstorm, YouTube and Teacher Tube.  A more extensive list is on my web page at http://esu6math.wikispaces.com/Video+Teaching+Resouces.  Consider using student recommendations and teacher input to create useful resources. 

            Finally, I would like to talk about student created videos.  Students or groups of students who create a video to demonstrate the distributive property will have a much better understand of that property and one that will last long after the NeSA-M assessment in the spring.  Sharing the video will help other students learn.  These projects allow a variety of students to show off their expertise.  Teachers may say, “But I don’t know how to make or edit a video.”  Don’t worry, your students do.   Let them take the lead.  Other web 2.0 tools such as Voice Thread, Animoto, GoAnimate, or ToonDoo can also be used.

If you have any ideas on videos, sites, or comments please share them with me at lennyvermaas@gmail.com.

Lenny Vermaas 

Living the Purpose and Direction

I am presenting in Norfolk as part of the state wide school improvement workshops.  My topic is "Purpose and Direction"; which is the new terminology for Mission and Vision.  In the course of our discussions we elicited responses to the question: "What is the purpose of schooling"?  I want to run with the response: "Students will be successful in life", to show how we can live both purpose and direction.

So your purpose is that "students will be successful in life"  - how does that impact what happens?  Here are a couple ideas:

• Teachers will ensure student success - no matter the cost.  We can bring someone in off the street to flunk kids - teachers will make sure each student learns.  All instructional and assessment practices are designed to ensure student success.
• Curriculum is designed based solely on the things that have the greatest impact on future success.  Most likely the curriculum will be heavy in 21st Century Skills such as collaboration, problem solving, and communication. 

The next step is to determine the direction (vision); I prefer using the term direction as it is more concrete - vision sounds like an unattainable dream (or nightmare).   Based on our purpose "students will be successful in life"; what do we want our system to look like in the future - let's say 5 years?  Here are a couple ideas:

• Every student is engaged in learning all day, every day they are in our care.  Success is predicated on student learning - engagement is the key to meeting this challenge.
• A culture of high expectations exists in which all learners set, meet, and even exceed goals. This applies to all learners: students, teachers, administrators, and support staff.

You have the purpose: "Students will be successful in life."

You have the direction - Engaged students, and a culture of high expectations and goal attainment.

So how do you get there?  I assume each one of us could now put forth a roadmap based on our purpose and direction.  Now the hard work begins - changing the existing system and culture to reach your destination.  That's call strategic planning!

Feel free to respond with ideas as to what steps you would take based on this purpose and direction.

Toby

Students Speak: 5 Things Students Want In Class That DON’T Cost a Dime (or take all of your time!)

by Dr. Lynne Herr

If you peruse past blog entries here on the ESU 6 professional development blog, you’ll see many posts that urge educators to ask students questions about learning and school, then listen intently to their responses.

At a recent statewide ESU professional development session, we had the opportunity to interact with a panel of high school students who are part of the Omaha metro area Avenue Scholars program.  While every student’s situation is unique, these students face especially daunting personal circumstances of poverty, abuse, neglect and personal loss. Many proudly told us that they will be the first person from their extended family to graduate from high school.  They told stories of learning to advocate for themselves and their learning.  Of finding ways to love and accept everyone regardless of lifestyle, philosophical and situational differences.  They inspired each of us to listen more intently.  And to take action.

In addition to sharing their personal stories, students offered advice to teachers and administrators for helping them succeed in school.  You might be surprised to find that their suggestions require no funding.  Simply a willingness to change.  Here are five strategies to better engage students based on recommendations from the student panel:

Stop the Powerpoints.  (Or at least improve them.) Many of these students lamented that teacher after teacher throughout their school day shows long, dull Powerpoints that offer little chance for interaction or engagement.  Break your content into smaller chunks.  Add some color to a presentation.  Link to a brief youtube video that supports what you’re trying to teach. Try new tools like Prezi.

Let them move in class. Whether attending a school with block scheduling or more traditional class periods, all students wished they could get up and move during class.  Many told of sitting for an entire 90 minute period and struggling to stay awake and engaged.  Incorporate some purposeful movement throughout each class period.  (Example, “Get up and touch 3 walls, then add your answer to the white board.”)

Allow small group work and discussion in class.  No teenager (and no adult) wants to be embarrassed by offering an incorrect comment or answer in front of their peers.  Allow students to discuss something in pairs or small groups, then report their answer as a group.  This allows more students to be engaged during a class period by allowing them to speak, test their answers in a smaller setting, debate answers and form supportive relationships with each other.

Principals:  Greet as many students as possible, and get to know them by name.  Before joining the Avenue Scholars program, most of these students had spent considerable time in the principal’s office for disciplinary reasons.  All expressed a genuine wish for administrators to seek them out in positive situations.  Say hello when they come into the building.  Know something about their courses so you can ask a specific question:  “How’s that woods, project coming along, Joe?”  Call them into the office every once in a while to offer up some praise vs. punishment.

Teachers:  Get to know something about each student’s personal circumstances.  Most of these students face considerable pressure and responsibility outside of school.  They are responsible for younger siblings, household work, meal planning and preparation, as well as contributing to the family income via part-time jobs.  Many are also involved in student activities and sports.  Students want teachers who understand that school is just one demand that they face.  They aren’t asking for less work, but for teachers who form relationships with them and help them grow through support, caring and high expectations.

They've spoken.  Is anybody listening?

Find the Bright Spot

In the book Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, the authors talk a lot about change. One of the techniques to changing behavior they mention is to look at problems from a different angle.  Rather than focusing solely on fixing a problem they suggest finding what is working - mining a nugget of success and then seeking replication.

For example if a student is struggling in school with academics and behavior, we tend to delve into an analysis of the causes and try to fix the problem.  Conversely to find the bright spot - we should ask when does the student find success?  It may be in only one class - but why not try the things from the successful class in other classes?
I think the key is to ask some basic questions:

• Where do we have success?
• What is different about these situations - what are people doing differently?
• How can we use what works in other situations?

I think the same thing applies to the improvement of instruction.  Rather than continually trying to fix the struggling teachers, we could look for the bright spots. For example we ask the question "in what classes are students really engaged in learning?"  We then look to see what happens differently in those classes; it could be a simple set of practices that could be used by the staff at large.   Granted there are a lot of factors that will come into play through implementation - but we are leveraging success rather than trying to fix failure.

As a leader think about this quote from the book: "'What is the ratio of the time I spend solving problems to the time I spend scaling successes?"   I think I'll try to spend more time scaling successes.

Toby

Try Something New

As most schools have been in session for a week or so, I would encourage all teachers to do a very simple thing: try something new.  As I have stated before on this blog teachers need to continually enhance/improve/refresh their educational practice. Teaching isn't about finding immutable truth and constantly deploying it.  Teaching is about connecting with kids in a fluid, changing environment. So I'll give you a few things our team has suggested:

• Try some physical movement - even if it is to have the kids touch two walls; their brains will be more receptive with increased oxygen.  The longer the sermon, the less engaged people tend to be.
• Chunk the material and give kids a chance to summarize aloud; humans are verbal so let them talk through the content.  
• Use technology even if you don't know how to use a tool.  This tip comes from Lynne Herr - give kids an outline of what you want regarding content, such as provide three types of governments and give an example of each. Then turn them loose on some tech tools; some kids could create an online comic book, others could create a online video, or they might create a voicethread.  In any event let them use technology even if you don't understand how it works. The kids will figure it out - and if they run into trouble there is always a help menu or a Google search.  Don't try to limit the technology based on what you know; let them run with it.  They won't break the internet!

Good teachers want to improve their practice, but often find it overwhelming to make major changes; so take it slow and just try something new. If teachers do this often enough they can really improve on the good things they already have in place.

Have a great start to the year - do something new!

Toby

Would you go to Doc?

We had one dentist in my hometown - Doc H.  Doc was the only game in town and if you went with a toothache more than likely you would be missing that tooth by supper.  It seemed his remedy was to just pull the offending tooth - I suspect that is all he really knew.  I think Doc did his best, but I never got the feeling that he was consistently trained in cutting edge dentistry.

What kind of doctor do you want?  The one that has been doing the same thing for 20 years, or the one that continually learns and improves?

What kind of teacher do you want?   The one that has been doing the same thing for 20 years, or the one that continually learns and improves?

I caught part of Diane Sawyer's interview with Chris Christie - the New Jersey governor about his battle with the state teacher union - specifically over tenure.  Sawyer made the comment "Isn't tenure not having to prove yourself anymore?"  I immediately thought of Doc; he never had to prove himself - he was a fixture.  I'm sure people got adequate dental care - but it's a stretch to say we got premium services.

It seems to me that all of us should prove ourselves (or improve ourselves) everyday by working to get a little bit better.  I don't buy that at some point anyone in a field has all the knowledge and skill - there is always room for improvement.  Why would Tiger Woods hire a swing coach if this weren't true?  Athletes and coaches constantly preach the "get a little bit better" and "continue to improve" mantra.

Do we preach the same in education?  Is professional development mandatory - that is, are teachers expected to continually improve, and yes, change their teaching practice?  As I've said before - the good teachers continually examine their practice and on occasion completely re-vamp what they do.

So, what kind of doctor do you want?  What kind of teacher do you want?

Doc might have been acceptable in his time - but I doubt if I would go back today.

Toby

Formative Assessment - For Teachers

I think we can all agree about the value of formative assessment.  Learners gaining continuous feedback about their level of proficiency makes a profound difference.  Formative assessment typically applies to students - but why not teachers?

Since teachers have the greatest impact on student achievement wouldn't it make sense to provide formative assessment so teachers can improve as well?  Principals will need to ratchet up their ability to supervise instruction, through both formative and summative assessment.  Most principals try to conduct walk-through observations of teachers, which can provide ongoing conversations leading up to a summative evaluation. 

Some suggestions to using formative assessment of instruction include:

• Develop and use a common language of instruction. You can't discuss instruction without vocabulary.  Name the strategies so they can be replicated.
• Get feedback from the teachers about the formative assessment.  Let them test drive the instrument on themselves so they have a better understanding of what will be collected.
• Provide a variety of assessment methods. Self observation, peer observations, as well as principal walk-through observations should be used.  People will see trends if the information comes from a variety of sources.
• Set goals.  Teachers should use the formative assessment data to set goals for instruction, as well as new strategies to try.
• Get out of the office.  Set weekly goals for classroom visits; the benefits to the principal go far beyond observing the individual teacher.  Students will see the principal from a different perspective and the principal will have a keener understanding of curriculum and instruction.
• Utilize technology to make gathering the formative assessment data more efficient.  Good principals try to have the information collected by the time they leave the classroom.  Needing to go back to the office to write up the formative observation prohibits frequent visits. For example, Google Forms can be used to gather and send the data on a variety of devices.
• Follow-up.  Have teachers respond to reflective questions, discuss what was observed and what can be changed.

Committed teachers generally want to improve their craft and formative feedback only makes sense.  The principal doesn't need to know everything about the content or even all the strategies, but they do need to provide a process for reflection and improvement. 

Special thanks to Mitch at Dorchester and Jen at ESU 6 for their work on developing quality processes.

Toby

Feedback, Feedback, Feedback

I had two opportunities to see the value of feedback to improve instructional practice.

First I had the chance to see a high quality model for instructional supervision.  The foundation of the model is continuous feedback from the building principal and even district administrators. Teachers set goals and constantly receive feedback about their practice, with new teachers receiving extensive support as they learn the craft of teaching. It struck me that this school has built a culture of continuous improvement through conversations about instruction.  Since personnel make up the bulk of the budget in any district, it only makes sense that feedback and support be provided to the most valuable resource - the staff.

The second instance was at a session on digital walk-through training provided by one of our principals - Mitch Kubicek- to a group of 14 principals from schools across the state.   Mitch provided the group not only the technical expertise about how to use a digital tool - Google Forms, but also the rationale for continuous feedback.  Mitch uses the data from 5 minute walk-through visits to provide feedback to teachers and to look at aggregate results for the building.  This not only provides the opportunity to set individual teacher goals, but also to look at professional development needs for the building.  For example, if the building data indicate a majority of the instructional methods involve presenting new information, professional development on how to practice and deepen content knowledge may be in order.  None of this is possible without providing feedback to the teachers about what is happening in the classroom.  Mitch even has the teachers tape 15 minutes of classroom instruction and use the walk-through tool to analyze their own teaching - self observation.  His goal is to walk through 6 classrooms a week - which takes about 30 minutes to complete.  Imagine the impact on teaching and learning that costs just 30 minutes a week?

Neither of these two examples are possible without feedback models.  In order to truly examine the teaching practices we need to uncover them, provide feedback, and insist on continuous improvement.  If each teacher can get a little better everyday, over time the improvements in teaching and learning would be profound.  It all rests on feedback.

Toby

Kid Talk

The following exchange took place between my wife (a math teacher) and my teenage daughter after a math homework session:
Mom: How often do you get to talk through solving your math problems?
Teen: We don't
Mom: You don't get to talk?
Teen: No, but we ask each other anyway
Mom:  How does the teacher know if you have problems or questions?
Teen: You're supposed to go up and ask - if you don't know and don't ask, it's your own fault.

Really?  I hope this isn't the case - but it is at least one student's perceptions.  We need to extinguish the sage on the stage mentality and get students talking.  How can we expect students to learn by sitting and listening with only quiet seat work to follow?  Is that how you learn?  Is that how anyone learns?  Humans are verbal creatures - we learn by talking (and doing).

Our staff has been training engagement techniques over the past several months that promote student talk.  I thought this would be a good time to list a few and consider how these techniques could change the above conversation.  All of these techniques get kids talking and many of them promote physical movement.  See how many you recognize or call by another name:

Inside - Outside Circle: two circles of students facing each other for verbal review.
Clock Partners: students paired for reflection/review based on "appointments".
Choral Response: whole class response technique when answers are short and the same.
I have...Who has...: structured verbal review of important concepts.
Musical Cards: students trade concept cards while music is playing, then pair to discuss.
Line-ups: students line up according to degrees of agreement, then discuss viewpoints.
Run the Tournament: students discuss important concepts and determine winners that advance in the tournament.
Academic Games: Pyramid game, taboo, Who am I?: each game requires students to verbalize answers.

So, why would we want to get kids up and moving and talking when we have them quiet and look like they are paying attention?  Because the brain needs processing time; the brain will drop concepts that are not processed.  Academic talk provides processing and results in greater engagement and retention of both concepts and skills. Ever talk your way through a difficult task or chore?  Talk's not just for memorizing jargon.

So how prevalent are these practices?  Are students expected to still stay in their seats, listen and do quiet seat work?  The teachers who have tried these techniques report positive results from their students and indicate their classes are more enjoyable.  We've learned it doesn't take much to implement; teachers just need to try a few things. 

So maybe the conversation could go like this:
Mom: How often do you get to talk through solving your math problems?
Teen: All the time.
Mom: How?
Teen: We work in partners, we trade up all the time, we talk about how to get answers.
Mom:  So what does your teacher do?
Teen:  Most of the time the teacher just listens and if somebody is wrong they get help right there, or the teacher goes over it with the class.

Change the Discussion

We just attended parent - teacher conferences and had some good discussions with our child's teachers.  I've been one one side of the table or other for going on 30 years and it occurred to me that the conversations at the middle and high school level seem to follow a familiar pattern:

• The accounting section. This is where the debits and credits get tallied and reported from the grade book. It sometimes goes like this:  "his grade is an 84, but he didn't re-take the last quiz, so if he gets at least an 80 on it, his grade should be about a 90."  It's here where we can find out about missing assignments, low or high scores, and sometimes a preview of upcoming things that are going to count a substantial portion of the quarter/semester/final grade.   Often this section of the conference is used to validate the accuracy of the reported grade.
• The student qualities section.  We get to find out about the in class attributes of our child; we find out if they participate in class, or if they turn their work in on time.  Inevitably this section turns into a discussion about what the student can do to improve their grade (see the accounting section). Recommendations might include coming in to re-take tests, pay attention in class, or ask questions if they are confused.
• Final salutations.  Generally this is the "thanks for coming in and let me know if you need anything or have questions." 

This is not an indictment on the process - believe me I followed the sections to the letter when I was in the classroom.  But it seems to me that we need to change the discussion from accounting and student work habits to one about learning.  What has the student learned well?  What are their struggles?

So an interesting thing happened at conferences - the teacher let us know what things our child did well and an area of improvement based on the content.  Now we're getting somewhere - the conversation changes when you find out your child is strong in adding and subtracting fractions, or needs to improve on solving multi-step problems.   It seems that we got a lot more of this kind of discussion at the elementary level - the teacher told us about how many sight words they had mastered, or how well they were adding and subtracting.  Maybe we need more of that in the upper grades.

You can find examples of grading scales that describe the academic expertise necessary at various levels.  If we have a descriptor of "A" through "D" grades - then the conversation can include the kinds of academic understandings a student possesses and those that need to be gained. 

Whether schools go to scales or not, we put a lot of time and effort into parent -teacher conferences - maybe we should try to change the discussion.  After all nobody should know the academic abilities of our children better than the teacher.

Toby

Now that's how to welcome a new student!

Check out the following video; a "Lip Dub" by the students of Magnolia High School in Texas.  That's how to welcome a new student. 

Teaching is Hard

Teaching is a complicated business.  I thought the December - January issue of Educational Leadership did a nice job of presenting some good points about effective teaching.  Some themes I noticed  (or looked for) throughout the issue are:

• Teaching is hard - it's a complicated human activity
• Humility - great teachers understand they don't have all the answers and there is not a magic bullet
• Reflection is key - the effective teachers are reflective about their craft and adapt their strategies
• Great teachers are learners - they always look to improve their instruction
• Purpose - the best teachers have a passion, and their excitement transfers to the students

When you put some of these together it seems evident that we need to recognize the complexity of teaching and foster growth among teachers in every stage of their career.  I think a pretty commonsense approach to helping teachers improve would be:

• Define a model or language of instruction- Marzano and Danielson provide a couple good ones that are more than the quick checklists
• Have teachers set some goals - let them decide what they want to improve upon.  Marzano suggests that about three goals a year per teacher.
• Promote professional development - Charlotte Danielson writes that this is "not because teaching is of poor quality and must be 'fixed' but rather because teaching is so hard that we can always improve it."

This notion of continuous improvement is what we expect from our schools, so it seems natural that we provide a way for each teacher to reflect upon and improve their practice.  The notion of incremental gains as opposed to a massive "fix" is more appealing as it provides a differentiated approach.  How much more will our students learn if all of our teachers get a little better at a few things each year?

Toby

The December - January issue of Educational Leadership can be viewed at 

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec10/vol68/num04/toc.aspx