instructional rounds

INSTRUCTIONAL ROUNDSMarch 11, 2013

A ROUND IS NOT A WALKTHROUGH Rounds are very much meant to be

a learning experience for people going through the process. This can be teachers, administrators, coaches, or Central Office personnel. You are gathering evidence about what's happening within the classroom/school and thinking of the implications on student learning.

A ROUND IS NOT A WALKTHROUGH This is not an evaluative process and no teacher is ever singled out or named within the reflection process. Judgment is suspended and only general data is reflected upon to gain deeper understanding improve school growth.

A ROUND IS NOT A WALKTHROUGH Debriefing: Comments are descriptive, examining the teacher-student interactions within classrooms, how students are feeding data back to teachers. The goal of this step is to grow collaboratively as well as instructionally.

Problem of Practice:

Time: Instructional Grouping (s): Teacher-directed Small Group, Collaborative Group, Centers, Independent Work, Whole Group

What is the instructional task?

What are the students doing and saying?

What is the teacher doing and saying?

Template for Descriptive ObservationsInstructional Rounds

School:__________ Grade Level: ____ Content/Subject Area: _______ # Students in Class: ____

DEBRIEFING AND REFLECTION ACTIVITIES Individual Reflecting: Review notes

and evidence & identify those that are relevant to the Problem of Practice.

Observation and Team Dialogue: Write evidence of observations on sticky notes and group like evidence together. Once this is done discussion takes place and the group names or categorizes the evidence on sticky notes.

DEBRIEFING AND REFLECTION ACTIVITIES Paired Team Work: Two teams combine

to analyze the charts and identify similar patterns and contrasting elements. We create a chart consisting of Patterns, Contrasts, Evidence of Practice, & Questions.

Whole Group Debrief: ALL teams take a gallery walk to see final charts. The guiding question is So what are we learning about instructional practices that relate to the school’s focus or Problem of Practice?