Conducting instructional rounds is a process that school districts and schools use to better understand teaching and learning in schools in order to improve learning at scale. In an instructional rounds session, a group of educators, from perhaps 20 to 40 in size, makes a series of visits to multiple classrooms to observe what is taking place in the instructional core (the interactions between students and teachers in the presence of content). Low inference observation notes are taken about a learning problem (a "problem of practice") identified by the school being observed. The observation notes are used to create a data picture of what has been seen in teaching and learning practices throughout the school. It is these data and practices that are shared with the school, not information about individual teachers or students. Adapted from the practice of grand rounds in medical school, [1] the aim of instructional rounds is to observe teaching and learning to discern root causes for problems identified by the school and to help the school and district create more productive outcomes. Distinct from supervision and evaluation, instructional rounds are used to describe what is happening in classrooms and to share observations with educators - and are not intended to be evaluative.
The process of instructional rounds was adapted from medical rounds model that is used in schools of medicine and teaching hospitals to improve practice of prospective and current doctors in diagnosing and curing patients. Physicians use medical rounds as a major way of improving their theory and practice. "In the most commonly used version of medical rounds, a group of medical interns, residents, and supervising or attending physicians visit patients, observe and discuss the evidence for diagnoses, and, after a thorough analysis of evidence, discuss possible treatments." [1]
Instructional rounds include several steps: formation of a network that ideally includes representative members from all those who impact student learning; choosing a problem to be addressed; classroom observation; observation debrief ; detection of the next steps, and regular repetition of this process. [2]
Network formation involves the gathering of educators who will regularly meet with each other to do rounds. There are not specific criteria sets for the creation of networks, it depends on the situation, time and preferences of educators. Different kinds of networks could be used to do rounds. [1] Some of them are cross-functional in which teachers and administrators work together, while others are homogeneous in nature composed of superintendents or teachers exclusively. Instructional rounds could be integrated into existing networks or specially formed new networks of educators. Sometimes members of the network are selected intentionally, according to the subject, content they teach or problem area they share. Other networks are more pragmatic, for instance, teachers with the same planning time engage in rounds together. [2]
The problem of practice is a specific issue that the school needs constructive feedback on, worries about or struggles against. [1] The problem should be observable and focused on improving teaching. It is unsolved problem that the school has spent time and money to address, but it is in further need of assistance. [3] There are different ways of identifying problems of practice. The best way is to relate these problems to continuous school improvement and to proceed based on data. To determine the problem of practice sometimes the entire staff gathers or only the leadership team meets to identify a problem. [2]
An example of a problem of practice could be the following: "In reading and writing, our students seem to be doing relatively well on decoding, vocabulary, and simple writing tasks, but they are not doing as well as we had hoped on comprehension free-response tasks. Teachers have begun using a workshop method to work with smaller groups of students, but there is no consistency in what happens in those small groups". [1]
After determining the problem of practice, the network splits into smaller groups of 4-5 teachers that visit approximately 4-5 classrooms for 25 minutes each. Observers collect descriptive data rather than evaluative, meaning that they do not have any rubrics to guide them. Observers do have guiding questions associated with the problem they are investigating. For instance, 'What are students and teachers doing and saying?,' 'What is the assignment?,' 'What do students do when they do not understand the concept or instruction?'.
Observers do not look at every issue in the classroom, but only those connected with the problem of practice. For instance, if the issue is lack of higher order thinking skills among students, observers do not pay attention on behavior and attendance of students, their involvement in the task, or teacher behavior, such as writing objectives on the board. Observers attempt to find the cause of the existing problem of practice in school and then identify a viable cure for it.
It is very important that observers do not talk between class observations and save everything they saw, their descriptive feedback, for the official debrief. [2]
The process of debrief consists of three steps: description, analysis, and prediction. During the description stage, all groups of the network meet together and share their evidence that pertains to the problem of practice with the others. The evidence should be specific and descriptive rather than evaluative and general. Regular practice and peer help could facilitate learning to collect specific and descriptive evidence.
Having gathered a set of evidence, the network can begin analyzing it by looking at trends, patterns, and exceptions across the data. Examples of patterns could be: Students are divided into groups, but work individually; teacher asks simple questions that requires short 1-2 words answers. Each groups of teachers share trends and patterns that have seen. This could help educators to determine common patterns in subject area, grade level and across school. However, sometimes patterns could vary in each subject or grade level. [2]
At the prediction stage observers answer to the following question, “If you were a student in these classes today and you did everything the teacher asked you to do, what would you know and be able to do?” This question is asked to see what students could learn as a result of the completed assignments and tasks in the class. The responses of the observers could be: Learners will be able to solve mathematical problems, recall information, etc. [2]
There are different ways of detecting next steps of work. Some networks brainstorm action plans for the following week, next month or by the end of educational year. Other networks creates reflective questions to reflect
Instructional coaching involves a cooperative, supportive approach where a seasoned educator teams up with a classroom teacher to offer tailored assistance and direction. This collaboration seeks to elevate teaching methods, enhance student achievements, and cultivate an environment of ongoing learning in educational institutions. [4]
Learning theory describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge during learning. Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a worldview, is acquired or changed and knowledge and skills retained.
A teaching method is a set of principles and methods used by teachers to enable student learning. These strategies are determined partly on subject matter to be taught, partly by the relative expertise of the learners, and partly by constraints caused by the learning environment. For a particular teaching method to be appropriate and efficient it has take into account the learner, the nature of the subject matter, and the type of learning it is supposed to bring about.
Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process, some social science, and some teaching pedagogy. The standards for science education provide expectations for the development of understanding for students through the entire course of their K-12 education and beyond. The traditional subjects included in the standards are physical, life, earth, space, and human sciences.
Educational technology is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech," it often refers to the industry of companies that create educational technology. In EdTech Inc.: Selling, Automating and Globalizing Higher Education in the Digital Age, Tanner Mirrlees and Shahid Alvi (2019) argue "EdTech is no exception to industry ownership and market rules" and "define the EdTech industries as all the privately owned companies currently involved in the financing, production and distribution of commercial hardware, software, cultural goods, services and platforms for the educational market with the goal of turning a profit. Many of these companies are US-based and rapidly expanding into educational markets across North America, and increasingly growing all over the world."
Reflective practice is the ability to reflect on one's actions so as to take a critical stance or attitude towards one's own practice and that of one's peers, engaging in a process of continuous adaptation and learning. According to one definition it involves "paying critical attention to the practical values and theories which inform everyday actions, by examining practice reflectively and reflexively. This leads to developmental insight". A key rationale for reflective practice is that experience alone does not necessarily lead to learning; deliberate reflection on experience is essential.
Mastery learning is an instructional strategy and educational philosophy, first formally proposed by Benjamin Bloom in 1968. Mastery learning maintains that students must achieve a level of mastery in prerequisite knowledge before moving forward to learn subsequent information. If a student does not achieve mastery on the test, they are given additional support in learning and reviewing the information and then tested again. This cycle continues until the learner accomplishes mastery, and they may then move on to the next stage. In a self-paced online learning environment, students study the material and take assessments. If they make mistakes, the system provides insightful explanations and directs them to revisit the relevant sections. They then answer different questions on the same material, and this cycle repeats until they reach the established mastery threshold. Only then can they move on to subsequent learning modules, assessments, or certifications.
Constructivist teaching is based on constructivism. Constructivist teaching is based on the belief that learning occurs as learners are actively involved in a process of meaning and knowledge construction as opposed to passively receiving information.
Formative assessment, formative evaluation, formative feedback, or assessment for learning, including diagnostic testing, is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment. The goal of a formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work. It also helps faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately. It typically involves qualitative feedback for both student and teacher that focuses on the details of content and performance. It is commonly contrasted with summative assessment, which seeks to monitor educational outcomes, often for purposes of external accountability.
Inquiry-based learning is a form of active learning that starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios. It contrasts with traditional education, which generally relies on the teacher presenting facts and their knowledge about the subject. Inquiry-based learning is often assisted by a facilitator rather than a lecturer. Inquirers will identify and research issues and questions to develop knowledge or solutions. Inquiry-based learning includes problem-based learning, and is generally used in small-scale investigations and projects, as well as research. The inquiry-based instruction is principally very closely related to the development and practice of thinking and problem-solving skills.
Medical simulation, or more broadly, healthcare simulation, is a branch of simulation related to education and training in medical fields of various industries. Simulations can be held in the classroom, in situational environments, or in spaces built specifically for simulation practice. It can involve simulated human patients, educational documents with detailed simulated animations, casualty assessment in homeland security and military situations, emergency response, and support for virtual health functions with holographic simulation. In the past, its main purpose was to train medical professionals to reduce errors during surgery, prescription, crisis interventions, and general practice. Combined with methods in debriefing, it is now also used to train students in anatomy, physiology, and communication during their schooling.
Classroom walkthrough is a model of professional development for teachers. Clinical supervision, or the practice of classroom observation and feedback has been one of the most often used tool in evaluating teacher performance, however the extent to which it helps teachers to improve their instruction is questionable. As a result, the classroom walkthrough, not designed for evaluation, but for the purpose of professional development, has gained increasing popularity.
Evidence-based education (EBE) is the principle that education practices should be based on the best available scientific evidence, with randomised trials as the gold standard of evidence, rather than tradition, personal judgement, or other influences. Evidence-based education is related to evidence-based teaching, evidence-based learning, and school effectiveness research.
Differentiated instruction and assessment, also known as differentiated learning or, in education, simply, differentiation, is a framework or philosophy for effective teaching that involves providing all students within their diverse classroom community of learners a range of different avenues for understanding new information in terms of: acquiring content; processing, constructing, or making sense of ideas; and developing teaching materials and assessment measures so that all students within a classroom can learn effectively, regardless of differences in their ability. Differentiated instruction means using different tools, content, and due process in order to successfully reach all individuals. Differentiated instruction, according to Carol Ann Tomlinson, is the process of "ensuring that what a student learns, how he or she learns it, and how the student demonstrates what he or she has learned is a match for that student's readiness level, interests, and preferred mode of learning." According to Boelens et al. (2018), differentiation can be on two different levels: the administration level and the classroom level. The administration level takes the socioeconomic status and gender of students into consideration. At the classroom level, differentiation revolves around content, processing, product, and effects. On the content level, teachers adapt what they are teaching to meet the needs of students. This can mean making content more challenging or simplified for students based on their levels. The process of learning can be differentiated as well. Teachers may choose to teach individually at a time, assign problems to small groups, partners or the whole group depending on the needs of the students. By differentiating product, teachers decide how students will present what they have learned. This may take the form of videos, graphic organizers, photo presentations, writing, and oral presentations. All these take place in a safe classroom environment where students feel respected and valued—effects.
Literature Circles in EFL are teacher accompanied classroom discussion groups among English as a foreign language learners, who regularly get together in class to speak about and share their ideas, and comment on others' interpretations about the previously determined section of a graded reader in English, using their 'role-sheets' and 'student journals' in collaboration with each other.
A flipped classroom is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning, which aims to increase student engagement and learning by having pupils complete readings at home and work on live problem-solving during class time. This pedagogical style moves activities, including those that may have traditionally been considered homework, into the classroom. With a flipped classroom, students watch online lectures, collaborate in online discussions, or carry out research at home, while actively engaging concepts in the classroom, with a mentor's guidance.
Teacher leadership is a term used in K-12 schools for classroom educators who simultaneously take on administrative roles outside of their classrooms to assist in functions of the larger school system. Teacher leadership tasks may include but are not limited to: managing teaching, learning, and resource allocation. Teachers who engage in leadership roles are generally experienced and respected in their field which can both empower them and increase collaboration among peers.
Educator effectiveness is a United States K-12 school system education policy initiative that measures the quality of an educator performance in terms of improving student learning. It describes a variety of methods, such as observations, student assessments, student work samples and examples of teacher work, that education leaders use to determine the effectiveness of a K-12 educator.
Data based decision making or data driven decision making refers to educator’s ongoing process of collecting and analyzing different types of data, including demographic, student achievement test, satisfaction, process data to guide decisions towards improvement of educational process. DDDM becomes more important in education since federal and state test-based accountability policies. No Child Left Behind Act opens broader opportunities and incentives in using data by educational organizations by requiring schools and districts to analyze additional components of data, as well as pressing them to increase student test scores. Information makes schools accountable for year by year improvement various student groups. DDDM helps to recognize the problem and who is affected by the problem.
The term learning environment can refer to an educational approach, cultural context, or physical setting in which teaching and learning occur. The term is commonly used as a more definitive alternative to "classroom", but it typically refers to the context of educational philosophy or knowledge experienced by the student and may also encompass a variety of learning cultures—its presiding ethos and characteristics, how individuals interact, governing structures, and philosophy. In a societal sense, learning environment may refer to the culture of the population it serves and of their location. Learning environments are highly diverse in use, learning styles, organization, and educational institution. The culture and context of a place or organization includes such factors as a way of thinking, behaving, or working, also known as organizational culture. For a learning environment such as an educational institution, it also includes such factors as operational characteristics of the instructors, instructional group, or institution; the philosophy or knowledge experienced by the student and may also encompass a variety of learning cultures—its presiding ethos and characteristics, how individuals interact, governing structures, and philosophy in learning styles and pedagogies used; and the societal culture of where the learning is occurring. Although physical environments do not determine educational activities, there is evidence of a relationship between school settings and the activities that take place there.
Inclusive Classroom is a term used within American pedagogy to describe a classroom in which all students, irrespective of their abilities or skills, are welcomed holistically. It is built on the notion that being in a non-segregated classroom will better prepare special-needs students for later life. In the United States, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 guaranteed civil rights to disabled people, though inclusion of disabled students progressed slowly until the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, after which almost half of US students with disabilities were soon in general classrooms.
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