February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons NYSED Principal Evaluation Training Program

Pacing guide timeactivityslide 8.30Agenda / Aims and Objectives / Aims of sessions1-6 8:40Multiple ways of observing lessons7 -8 8:50Activity 1: Self- review continuum9-10 9:00Lesson Observation and Evaluation11 9:05Activity 2: Why shadow Principal lesson observations :20What is the lesson observation process :28Teaching and Learning Pact End18 February 8, 2012 Session 1: Highly Effective Leaders

1. Whole Group Introduction Session 1: Observing Lessons – 8.30 am Aims of today’s session Learning and Teaching Break 9.30 am to 9.45 am 2. Breakout session 2: Recording Evidence am Lunch – pm to 1.00 pm 3. Breakout session 3: Effective feedback 1.00 pm Break 2.45 pm to 3.00 pm 4. Breakout session 4: Dynamic Process – 3.00 pm 5. Breakout session 5: Gathering Feedback for Teaching pm Review and reflection 4.45 pm to 5.00 pm Close p.m. 1. Whole Group Introduction Session 1: Observing Lessons – 8.30 am Aims of today’s session Learning and Teaching Break 9.30 am to 9.45 am 2. Breakout session 2: Recording Evidence am Lunch – pm to 1.00 pm 3. Breakout session 3: Effective feedback 1.00 pm Break 2.45 pm to 3.00 pm 4. Breakout session 4: Dynamic Process – 3.00 pm 5. Breakout session 5: Gathering Feedback for Teaching pm Review and reflection 4.45 pm to 5.00 pm Close p.m. Agenda: Day 2 2 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Session 1: Observing Lessons Session 1: Observing Lessons 3 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

4 Aims of The Day To further enhance your understanding as principal evaluators of what a principal needs to know and do in order to establish and maintain an effective performance management system. Including the importance of: preparation collecting and recording objective evidence providing clear and concise feedback which leads to actionable change implementing effective systems to track agreed actionable action February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Leader of Learning Wallace’s work since 2000 suggests this entails five key responsibilities: 1. Shaping a vision of academic success for all students, based on high standards 2. Creating a climate hospitable to education in order that safety, a cooperative spirit and other foundations of fruitful interaction prevail 3. Cultivating leadership in others, so that teachers and other adults assume their part in realizing the school vision 4. Improving instruction to enable teachers to teach at their best and students to learn at their utmost 5. Managing people, data and processes to foster school improvement THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AS LEADER: GUIDING SCHOOLS TO BETTER TEACHING AND LEARNING - The Wallace Foundation, January February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Aims of The Session To increase participants’ cognition of: Different ways to observe lessons Common features of effective lesson observation Self confidence to observe lessons and provide reflective feedback Role of lesson observation in principal evaluation Overview of best practice in observing lessons Impact of observing lessons on improving teaching and learning 6 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Multiple Ways of Observing Lessons There are a number of ways to observe lessons. These include: walkthroughs focused observation whole lesson observation peer observation video 7 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Common features of Effective Lesson Observation Preparation by the principal, this may or may not include pre- conferencing with the teacher Collecting evidence - the lesson observation, part or whole of lesson Post observation feedback, which focuses on actionable change - ideally this should be done face to face Summative year evaluation to align evidence against the agreed upon rubric 8 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Activity 1 Consider your experience and confidence in observing lessons and providing feedback to principals on their work as instructional leaders Now, complete the ‘Continuum for self-review’ chart individually, as a personal self-reflection Place crosses to indicate your current position 9 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Continuum for Self-Review NO EXPERIENCEEXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE LOW CONFIDENCEVERY CONFIDENT Lesson observation: Using data to inform feedback Looking at students’ work Gathering evidence from talking with students Lesson observation: Using data to inform feedback Looking at students’ work Gathering evidence from talking with students Complete this individually as a personal self-reflection. Place crosses to indicate your current position. ‘No experience’ may indicate lack of opportunity. It will be useful to review this at the end of each stage of the training. 10 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Lesson Observation and Teacher Effectiveness The main reasons for principals to observe lessons and provide evidence based feedback are to: drive changes in teacher practice drive changes in teacher effectiveness 11 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Activity 2: Why should evaluators shadow the principal observing lessons and giving feedback? In pairs or threes identify the: positives and benefits issues and concerns about evaluators shadowing the principal classroom observations through the lens of the principal and separately through the lens of the evaluator 12 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

In summary 13 Principal evaluators shadow principals observing lessons and providing feedback so that the evaluator can: obtain objective first hand evidence of the principal’s ability to lead learning in the school February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

What is the lesson observation process? Observing in the context of evaluation includes: documenting objective evidence matching the recorded evidence against agreed upon criteria using the outcomes from the lesson observation notes in a positive way to provide feedback which promotes student learning by driving actionable changes in teacher and principal practices 14 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Improving Teaching and Learning Recorded observations informative feedback to teachers improvement in teaching and learning HIGH LEVELS OF ACHIEVEMENT FOR ALL STUDENTS provide the basis for leading to 15 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Student Achievement and Student Progress Over Time Note from the previous slide that our target is high achievement for all students. The rate of individual student learning varies over time. Imagine a class of students learning long division…. Example: students have 20 questions to complete during the first 30 minutes of the lesson. You observe that: one student only completes five questions and gets two wrong, another completes 12 and gets them all right. How can this evidence be used as part of a post observation discussion with the principal about differentiation of learning? 16 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

The Teaching and Learning Pact To the PACT they bring Self esteem and motivation Mutual respect and high expectations Shared commitment to learning goals Active participation in the learning and teaching process Learning from each other Reflection and performance feedback Willingness to take risks The LEARNER brings their background their capacity for, and experience of, learning their prior and current knowledge, interests, skills and understanding their preferred learning style their current profile of intelligence The TEACHER brings Knowledge, enthusiasm and understanding about the matter to be taught Understanding of the learning process A design of teaching and learning that is fit for purpose And emphasis on instruction An ability to create a learning environment with appropriate learning conditions 17 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Break 15 minutes Transition to breakout room Break 15 minutes Transition to breakout room 18 February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons