Classroom walkthrough

Last updated

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. [1] As a result, the classroom walkthrough, not designed for evaluation, but for the purpose of professional development, has gained increasing popularity. [2]

Professional development is learning to earn or maintain professional credentials such as academic degrees to formal coursework, attending conferences, and informal learning opportunities situated in practice. It has been described as intensive and collaborative, ideally incorporating an evaluative stage. There are a variety of approaches to professional development, including consultation, coaching, communities of practice, lesson study, mentoring, reflective supervision and technical assistance.

Teacher person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competences or values

A teacher is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence or virtue.

Classroom room inside school building where lessons are held

A classroom is a learning space, a room in which both children and adults learn. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, ranging from preschools to universities, and may also be found in other places where education or training is provided, such as corporations and religious and humanitarian organizations. The classroom provides a space where learning can take place uninterrupted by outside distractions.

Contents

Instructional leadership is critical to the improvement of teaching and learning and plays a significant role with student achievement. [3] For schools to respond and adapt, systems must exist that create the capacity to collectively process and apply knowledge about teaching and learning. [4] Learning within a school is fostered when a group can identify a problem, and create a plan to collectively solve it. [5]

School Institution for the education of students by teachers

A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools. The names for these schools vary by country but generally include primary school for young children and secondary school for teenagers who have completed primary education. An institution where higher education is taught, is commonly called a university college or university, but these higher education institutions are usually not compulsory.

The walkthrough model, derived from Hewlett-Packard’s supervisory practice of Management By Wandering Around, has been portrayed as an effective and efficient system to collect data regarding instructional practices and provide feedback. [6] Elliot Eisner suggests that to be effective, leaders must spend one third of their time in classrooms, and when principals spend more time in classrooms, teachers report a positive perception of the principal. [7] For teacher quality to improve, Sergiovanni states that leadership is the key. [8] School improvement relies heavily on the working relationship between instructional leaders and teachers. The success of the organization is sustained when the leaders serve as teachers for others. [9]

Hewlett-Packard American information technology company

The Hewlett-Packard Company or Hewlett-Packard was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components as well as software and related services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health and education sectors.

Leadership is both a research area and a practical skill encompassing the ability of an individual or organization to "lead" or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints, contrasting Eastern and Western approaches to leadership, and also United States versus European approaches. U.S. academic environments define leadership as "a process of social influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task".

The classroom walkthrough model consists of a series of frequent classroom visits where the observer(s) are present to look for predetermined evidence of specific practices. The observations last anywhere from two to forty-five minutes, and are intended to support the faculty in the delivery of instruction and curriculum. [10] Carolyn Downey is known for her early work in the development of the classroom walkthrough model, however, there are several models available and some school districts have created their own. The aim of the classroom walkthrough is to provide direct and specific feedback to teachers based on the snapshot observed. The feedback can then be given to an individual, or the observer may provide a report of patterns noted during the walkthroughs. [11] According to the National Staff Development Council, walkthroughs, sometimes referred to as "learning walks," provide the opportunity to:

Curriculum Educational plan

In education, a curriculum is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experiences in terms of the educator's or school's instructional goals. In a 2003 study, Reys, Reys, Lapan, Holliday, and Wasman refer to curriculum as a set of learning goals articulated across grades that outline the intended mathematics content and process goals at particular points in time throughout the K–12 school program. Curriculum may incorporate the planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials, resources, and processes for evaluating the attainment of educational objectives. Curriculum is split into several categories: the explicit, the implicit, the excluded, and the extracurricular.

Definitions

Classroom Walkthrough - an organized observation that requires the principal or supervisor to frequently visit classrooms to look for specific instructional practices. [13]

Debriefing the Faculty - general feedback provided to the entire faculty that focuses on what to present in the school, and not an individual teacher [6]

Downey Walkthrough Model - Short, focused, informal observations; time for reflection: a focus on curriculum and instruction; occasional follow-up; and informal collaborative process. [6]

Look-fors - a precise indicator of teaching strategies that tell the observer what the strategy looks like when applied to the classroom [14]

Related Research Articles

A teaching method comprises the principles and methods used by teachers to enable student learning. These strategies are determined partly on subject matter to be taught and partly by the nature of the learner. For a particular teaching method to be appropriate and efficient it has to be in relation with the characteristic of the learner and the type of learning it is supposed to bring about. Suggestions are there to design and selection of teaching methods must take into account not only the nature of the subject matter but also how students learn. In today's school the trend is that it encourages a lot of creativity. It is a known fact that human advancement comes through reasoning. This reasoning and original thought enhances creativity.

Learning styles refer to a range of competing and contested theories that aim to account for differences in individuals' learning. These theories propose that all people can be classified according to their 'style' of learning, although the various theories present differing views on how the styles should be defined and categorized. A common concept is that individuals differ in how they learn.

A lesson plan is a teacher's detailed description of the course of instruction or "learning trajectory" for a lesson. A daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide class learning. Details will vary depending on the preference of the teacher, subject being covered, and the needs of the students. There may be requirements mandated by the school system regarding the plan. A lesson plan is the teacher's guide for running a particular lesson, and it includes the goal, how the goal will be reached and a way of measuring how well the goal was reached.

Personalized learning, individualized instruction, personal learning environment and direct instruction all refer to efforts to tailor education to meet the different needs of students.

An edublog is a blog created for educational purposes. Edublogs archive and support student and teacher learning by facilitating reflection, questioning by self and others, collaboration and by providing contexts for engaging in higher-order thinking. Edublogs proliferated when blogging architecture became more simplified and teachers perceived the instructional potential of blogs as an online resource. The use of blogs has become popular in education institutions including public schools and colleges. Blogs can be useful tools for sharing information and tips among co-workers, providing information for students, or keeping in contact with parents. Common examples include blogs written by or for teachers, blogs maintained for the purpose of classroom instruction, or blogs written about educational policy. Educators who blog are sometimes called edubloggers.

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. 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.

Practice-based professional learning (pbpl) is understood in contrast to 'classroom-' or 'theory-based' learning. It is kindred to terms such as 'work-based learning', 'workplace' or 'work-centred' learning. Distinctive, though, are a concern for professional learning, and the preference for 'practice' rather than 'work'. While it does not disdain propositional knowledge and what is sometimes called 'theory', its prime interest is in the formation of self-renewing and effective professional practices—a distinct theoretical position in its own right.

Fenwick W. English American writer

Fenwick W. English is an education professor.

A professional learning community (PLC) is a method to foster collaborative learning among colleagues within a particular work environment or field. It is often used in schools as a way to organize teachers into working groups of practice-based professional learning.

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 ability. Students vary in culture, socioeconomic status, language, gender, motivation, ability/disability, personal interests and more, and teachers must be aware of these varieties as they plan curriculum. By considering varied learning needs, teachers can develop personalized instruction so that all children in the classroom can learn effectively. Differentiated classrooms have also been described as ones that respond to student variety in readiness levels, interests and learning profiles. It is a classroom that includes all students and can be successful. To do this, a teacher sets different expectations for task completion for students based upon their individual needs.

Teacher quality assessment commonly includes reviews of qualifications, tests of teacher knowledge, observations of practice, and measurements of student learning gains. Assessments of teacher quality are currently used for policymaking, employment and tenure decisions, teacher evaluations, merit pay awards, and as data to inform the professional growth of teachers.

The "teacher look" is an emotionless, expressionless stare that primary school teachers are taught to direct towards misbehaving students as an alternative to yelling or threatening. The purpose of the teacher stare is to stop simple disturbances from escalating, while minimizing disruption to the rest of the class. Educators say the teacher look is most effective with young and compliant students.

Robert J. Garmston is an educator, author, and cognitive theorist. He is Professor Emeritus, School of Education, at California State University, Sacramento. In 2014 he is the director of Facilitation Associates, an educational consulting firm specializing in leadership, learning, and organizational development.

Robert J. Marzano is an educational researcher in the United States. He has done educational research and theory on the topics of standards-based assessment, cognition, high-yield teaching strategies, and school leadership, including the development of practical programs and tools for teachers and administrators in K-12 schools.

Teacher leadership

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.

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 classrooms to observe what is taking place in the instructional core. Low inference observation notes are taken about a learning problem identified by the school being observed. The observation notes are used to create a picture of what has been seen in teaching and learning practices throughout the school. It is these practices that are shared with the school, not information about individual teachers or students. Adapted from the practice of grand rounds in medical school, 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, rounds are used to describe what is happening in classrooms and the share observations with educators, and are not intended to be evaluative.

Social justice educational leadership emphasizes the belief that all students can and will reach proficiency, without exceptions or excuses, and that schools ought to be organized to advance the equitable learning of all students. Rather than focusing on one group of students who traditionally struggle, or who traditionally succeed, social justice leaders address the learning needs of all students. Social justice educational leadership specifically addresses how differences in race, income, language, ability, gender, and sexual orientation influence the design and effectiveness of learning environments. Social justice leadership draws from inclusive education practices from disability education, but extends the concepts further to support students from diverse groups with a wide range of needs. Through restructuring staff allocation and assessing student progress through disaggregated data, school leaders strive to create schools with equal access and equitable support for all students.

Instructional leadership is generally defined as the management of curriculum and instruction by a school principal. This term appeared as a result of research associated with the effective school movement of the 1980s, which revealed that the key to running successful schools lies in the principals' role. However, the concept of instructional leadership is recently stretched out to include more distributed models which emphasize distributed and shared empowerment among school staff, for example distributed leadership, shared leadership, and transformational leadership.

Educator effectiveness is a 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-driven instruction is an educational approach that relies on information to inform teaching and learning. The idea refers to a method teachers use to improve instruction by looking at the information they have about their students. It takes place within the classroom, compared to data-driven decision making. Data-driven instruction works on two levels. One, it provides teachers the ability to be more responsive to students’ needs, and two, it allows students to be in charge of their own learning. Data-driven instruction can be understood through examination of its history, how it is used in the classroom, its attributes, and examples from teachers using this process.

References

  1. ↑ Pajak,E (2001). Clinical supervision in a standards based environment: Opportunities and challenges. Journal of teacher education. Sage Publishing.
  2. ↑ David, J.L. (2008). What research says about classroom walkthroughs. Educational Leadership. 65(4), 81-82.
  3. ↑ Leithwood,K. Louis,K. Anderson, S. & Wahlstrom, K. (2004). Review of research. How leadership influences learning. NY: The Wallace Foundation.
  4. ↑ Louis, K. (2006). Changing Culture of Schools: Professional Community, Organizational Learning and Trust. Journal of School Leadership.
  5. ↑ Masci, F., Cuddapah, J., Pajak, E. (2008) Becoming an agent of stability: keeping your school in balance during the perfect storm. American Secondary Education. 36 (2) 57-66.
  6. 1 2 3 Downey, C., Steffy, B., English, F., Frase, L. Poston, W. (2004). The Three Minute Classroom Walk-Through: Changing School Supervisory Practice One Teacher at a Time. Thousand Oaks, CA. Corwin Press.
  7. ↑ Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and Creation of Mind. New Haven Yale University Press.
  8. ↑ Sergiovanni,T. (2006) Rethinking Leadership, Thousand Oaks, CA: Crowin Press.
  9. ↑ Sparks,D. (2007). Leading for results. Thousand Oaks.CA: Corwin Press.
  10. ↑ Downey, C. Steffy, B. English, F. Frase, L. Poston, W. (2004). The Three minute classroom walk-through: Changing school supervisory practice one teacher at a time. Thousand Oaks, CA. Corwin Press.
  11. ↑ Downey,C. Steffy, B. English, F. Frase, L. Poston, W. (2004). The Three minute classroom walk-through: Changing school supervisory practice one teacher at a time. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.
  12. ↑ National Staff Development Council, http://www.nsdc.org/
  13. ↑ Fink, E & Resnick, L. (2001). Developing principals as instructional leaders. Phi Delta Kappan 82(2) 598-607.
  14. ↑ Mooney, N & Mausbach, N. (2008). Align the Design: A Blueprint for School Improvement. Alexandria, VA. ASCD.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.