1 1 Session #2 Superintendent’s Network January 28, 2009 “ Schools with a high degree of ‘relational trust’ are more likely to make the kind of changes that help raise student achievement. Improvements in such areas as classroom instruction, curriculum, teacher preparation and professional development have little chance of succeeding without improvements in a school’s social climate. (Bryk, A. and Schneider, B., 2002)

2 Learning Goals By the end of today, we will:  Understand the elements of the instructional core  Be familiar with the practice of network rounds and its connection to instructional improvement  Develop skills in observing teaching and learning— describing what we see  Have a basic understanding of Theory of Action and Problem of Practice  Continue to build relationships within the group  Be excited to go observe real classrooms together in April/May 2

3 Group Norms Covenant

4 4 Homework review: 4A’s In groups discuss from the text & be prepared to share with the group:  Assumptions  Agree with  Argue with  Aspire to…..  What does this mean for our work with students?

5 Ready Set Recall…The Instructional Core  List everything you can remember about the instructional core  Meet with your partner and compare lists and add to each others  Be prepared to share with the entire group. 5

6 MEMORIZE THIS PROPORTION OF VARIANCE IN STUDENT GAIN SCORES-- READING, MATH-- EXPLAINED BY LEVEL--PROSPECTS STUDY CLASS 60% READING 52-72% MATH STUDENTS 28% R 19% M SCHOOLS 12% R M ROWAN, ET AL., “...PROSPECTS...” TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD ( 2005).

7 Descriptive vs. Evaluative “House” video clip Rounds Process Handout

8 Next Year: Rounds is like…….

9 Evidence: Sticking to the Facts! What do you see?  Just the facts please, Ma’am! 9 She did a great job of transitioning from the whole class lesson to independent work time.

10 Just the facts…?  At the end of the lesson, the teacher asked students what materials they needed to get for their upcoming independent work. She took a few responses and released students to go to their desks four at a time.

11 Just the facts…? During a period of 20 minutes, the teacher asked 1 question. The teacher used a very interactive teaching style.

12 Grain Size Using the Sample Data (or “evidence) template, place each statement in the correct column. Compare your answers with your table partners

13 Developing the Discipline of Seeing  Seeing is a discipline  It’s like a muscle—it gets stronger with repetition  Foundation of our practice: 1.Specific description 2.non-evaluative, non-judgmental description 13

14 Ways of Classifying Student thinking With your group:  Spread out the cognitive skills sort cards.  Sort the cards into categories that make sense to you.  Label categories.

15 Taxonomies of Educational Objectives  Marzano Cognitive process Knowledge

16 Identifying Cognitive Skills With your group:  Compare your list to Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives.  How do your classifications differ? How are they the same?  How would you sort the list of skills using Bloom’s taxonomy?

17 Bloom’s Taxonomy  Watch the following video clip and take notes on sticky notes-1 comment per sticky note  With your table categorize your sticky notes using Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy.

18 Video Clip: Teaching for Deep Comprehension The Summer My Father was Ten Problem of Practice What: Are students able to elaborate and explain rationale for their answers? Vs How: Is the Teacher asking high level questions?

19 What Do You See?  What is the teacher doing?  What are the students doing?  What is the task?

20 Our Work Together: What it isn’t  A program  Evaluating teachers  Training in supervision skills  Passive What it is  A process  Learning to describe and identify effective teaching and learning  “Collaboration to create coherence”  A community of practice where we expect to learn from each other and to push each other

21 Reflection  What difference does sticking to evidence make in your conversations?  What is challenging for you?  Insights?  To what degree do your district conversations stick to evidence?

22 What is a good Problem of Practice?  Connects to an improvement strategy  Directly observable in class  Actionable-within the districts control and can be improved in real time  High leverage-if addressed will improve student learning  Addresses the What not the How

23 POP’s  Implementation question: What evidence do you see of Six Traits Writing strategies? How Question  What evidence do you see that students are producing high level writing? What Question

24 POP  Practice writing a POP  Share with your partner  Be prepared to share orally

25 Theory of Action VisionStrategy Theory of Action Problem of PracticeTheory of Action If………..Then Statements Connects to the Instructional Core

26 THEORY OF ACTION  A way of making practice transparent and accessible to yourself and others.  A way of tracking learning over time.  A way of focusing energy and attention on essential dimensions of the work.

27 THEORY OF ACTION  A set of If-Then propositions that capture the essential connections between your practices and what happens in classrooms.  Falsifiable – possible to know when you are wrong.  An accurate representation of our practice at this moment.  Distinguishes the essential elements from the less important ones.

28 AEA 267 Theory of Action If AEA staff have high levels of service delivery/content competences, then AEA 267 will be more effective.

29 Theory in more detail:  IF high levels of service delivery/content competence, THEN they will be experts in their field and highly qualified to teach adults.  IF experts in their field and highly qualified to teach adults, THEN they will have more creditability and be better accepted by LEA partners.  IF they are highly creditable and well accepted, THEN they will be more effective in their work.

30 Practice Writing a Theory of Action  Question: How will common planning time improve student achievement? If “a” Then “b” If “b” Then “c” If “c”, Then “d”

31 Theory of Action Don’t need a Theory of Action now. We will move forward without one. It is Elmore’s experience that the further we move into this work, the more a Theory of Action for your district’s work will just evolve.

32 Theory of Action  Vision: Every child will read and write at the highest level.  Strategy: Curriculum & Professional Development in Literacy (Reading First, Peer Coaching, Leadership Development, Common Planning & Accountability).  Theory of Action: If we provide teachers with curriculum support and professional development, if teachers engage in common planning of literacy lessons, and if we provide principals & teachers with data on instructional practice and student learning, then students will engage in higher level reading and writing tasks and their learning will be evident in measured performance.

33 Task: Theory of Action  Using the problem of practice you have defined, develop a theory of action that will address it.

34 Theory of Action However, after a Rounds visit, we will make recommendations for the next level of work in the district. How does that next level lead to improved teaching and learning? In other words, what is our Theory of Action.

35 Homework: Team Rounds  With your assigned partners schedule practice rounds in one of your buildings  All go to 2 classrooms together  Then each go to one other classroom  Debrief on what you saw

36 Reflection: 3-Track Processing  What was your experience like as a learner today? Content: Insights into teaching and learning? Questions? Process: When were you most alert? What kind of learning worked best for you? Challenges?  What did the facilitators do that contributed to that experience? What could they do to help your learning in the future?  What are the implications for your own work? What is one protocol, question, idea, or practice you might bring to your own work?