I NSTRUCTIONAL ROUNDS Cohort August 13,

M AKING C ONNECTIONS We are all learners… 2

R OUNDS I S A special kind of ‘walkthrough’, A special kind of ‘network’, A special kind of ‘improvement strategy’ I NTEGRATED INTO ONE PRACTICE 3

R OUNDS I S Developmental Complicated Messy 4

I NSTRUCTIONAL R OUNDS What it is NOT…What it is… A program A practice designed to support an existing improvement strategy at the school or system level An event A practice that is iterative and woven into existing improvement processes An evaluation tool No assessment of individual teachers or schools Separate the person from the practice; focus on the practice Learn about effective learning and teaching An implementation check Rounds focuses on patterns of practice, predicted results, not compliance with directives Training for supervision Rounds focuses on collective learning, rather than individual supervisory practice Passive A community of practice where we expect to push each other and learn from each other 5

O VERVIEW OF THE R OUNDS V ISIT 6  Preparatory work with host school & network  Logistics  Engagement of staff and school community  Challenge of practice development  Visit  Challenge of Practice  Observation of Practice  Observation Debrief (Describe, Analyze, Predict)  Next Level of Work  Post visit follow-up with host & network  Sharing data  Following up (at host school)

G RAPHICAL O VERVIEW OF R OUNDS V ISIT CHALLENGE OF PRACTICE CHALLENGE OF PRACTICE OBSERVATION/DESCRIPTION NEXT LEVEL OF WORK PREDICTION: “IF YOU WERE A STUDENT...WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW & BE ABLE TO DO.. ?” ANALYSIS: THEMES/PATTERNS THEORY OF ACTION IMPROVEMENT STRATEGY 7

T HE F OUR E LEMENTS OF R OUNDS 1. Identifying a problem of practice 2. Observing 3. Debriefing - Single-loop learning - Double-loop learning 4. Focusing on the next level of work 8

W ILL BE BACK … 10:00 AM 9

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF THE INSTRUCTIONAL CORE Principle #1: Increases in student learning occur only as a consequence of improvements in the level of content, teachers’ knowledge and skill, and student engagement. TEACHER CONTENT STUDENT TASK Principle #2: If you change one element of the instructional core, you have to change the other two. Principle #3: If you can’t see it in the core, it’s not there. Principle #4: Task predicts performance Principle #5: The real accountability system is in the tasks that students are asked to do. Principle #6: We learn to do the work by doing the work. Principle #7: Description before analysis, analysis before prediction, prediction before evaluation. 10

L EARNING TO S EE … Seeing is a discipline It’s like a muscle – it gets stronger with repetition Foundation of our practice … U NLEARNING TO J UDGE 11

L ADDER OF I NFERENCE Chris Argyris; Senge et al. (2000), The Fifth Discipline 12

D ESCRIPTION WITH J UDGMENT 13 “The teacher read from the book, Oliver Twist, which was not at the appropriate level for the class.” “There was too much time on discussion, not enough time on individual work.” “The students conducted a sophisticated lab experiment.”

D ESCRIPTION WITHOUT J UDGMENT 14 “Student 1 asked student 2: ‘What are we supposed to write down?’ Student 2 said, ‘I don’t know.’” “Students followed directions in the text to make circuit boards.” “Teacher introduced a writing prompt to students.”

L EARNING & U NLEARNING Students worked for 20 minutes on an application problem Students were focused on the task Task was to write a five paragraph summary of how metaphors enhanced the novel Task was a challenging application of literary knowledge Descriptions Inferences 15

D ESCRIPTION VS I NFERENCE E XERCISES 16

L EARNING & U NLEARNING Teacher asks, “How did you know this” Student explains. Teachers asks a question. Task: find different ways to create a total of 31. Student 1: =31 Student 2: 20+9 = 03 Student 3: 41 – 10 = 31 Student 4: 2+3x3+16 = 31 Task: find different ways to create a total of 31. Students wrote their responses in their math journal. Fine-Grained Large-Grained 17

F INE - G RAINED E VIDENCE VS L ARGE – G RAINED E VIDENCE E XERCISES 18

L EARNING TO S EE … … Unlearning to Judge Seeing is a discipline It’s like a muscle—it gets stronger with repetition Foundation of our practice

W ILL BE BACK … 1:30 PM 20

S TIMULATING A S CHOOL V ISIT What to Observe… What are teachers doing and saying? What are students doing and saying? What is the task? 21

D EBRIEFING On your own… Describe what you saw  Read through your notes  Transfer only descriptive statements from your notes to sticky notes  Assign task manager/facilitator/timekeeper 22

D EBRIEFING Small Group Describe what you saw  Share your sticky notes and help each other stay in the descriptive voice What did you see/hear that makes you think that? Overcoming a culture of nice … 23

D EBRIEFING Small Group Group the sticky notes/evidence in ways that make sense to you.  Single pieces of evidence and be a “group”.  Label your groupings 24

J OURNAL E NTRY Reflection Prompt  Hopes and fears…  What I have learned…  Questions I am pondering… 25