I had the good fortune to spend about three hours this morning with seven of my teachers as well as my instructional coach who are part of an intra-school “pilot” project inspired by Richard Elmore’s Instructional Rounds in Education. It’s a big chunk of my day, but this is the work that instructional leaders should be doing.
The Why
I have a personal goal to support teachers in talking to each other about their practice. As Elmore points out, “one of the greatest barriers to school improvement is the lack of an agreed-upon definition of what high-quality instruction looks like” (p. 3). The rounds process is intended to bring conversations about instructional practice into the school improvement process. The rounds process is adapted from the medical rounds model and includes “observing, analyzing, discussing, and understanding instruction” (p. 3).
My hope is that I can expand this school-wide next year, but I wanted to start small. I worked with my instructional coach to solicit seven teacher volunteers to be part of this pilot. I have a cross-section of disciplines, grade levels, and experience and we meet biweekly for a total of seven sessions. Each teacher will open their classroom to the group one time and have the opportunity to observe the other six over the course of the pilot.
In Elmore’s parlance, I have a theory of action that looks something like this:
If we develop and nurture a school culture that supports collaborative inquiry and the sharing of best teaching practices, then classroom instruction will be strengthened and students will learn in deeper, more authentic ways.
The How
The participants voluntarily come in to pre-brief at 6:45am on lab days. They have no incentive other than coffee and conversation along with their commitment to improve their practice through sharing in the lab experience. Though all participants are observing the same class at the same time, each bring a different inquiry question to the lab experience. These questions run the gamut and are highly dependent on the teachers’ interests and perceived areas for growth.
Some examples of inquiry questions from this group:
- How can a teacher foster global citizenship in his or her students?
- What strategies do teachers use to get students talking about text?
- How can social studies teachers more effectively include historical fiction in their units of instruction?
- How can I move students from external accountability to intrinsic responsibility for their learning?
- How can I ensure that my lessons are authentic and connect students with the larger social context?
The teacher being observed may also pose a specific question related to their class being observed. These questions are posted on our neopolitan-colored “Board of Inquiry.”
At our pre-brief, we also assign people to track specific data that the host teacher requests. For instance, this morning we tracked:
- Use of vocabulary by teacher and students that indicates “global literacy”
- Connections from historical fiction text to self
- Wait time between posing a questions and selecting a student to respond
The most challenging part is arranging class coverage for the observing teachers so that we can all be together to observe and de-brief the process. I am very passionate about the success of this pilot and have committed to using a chunk of the sub dollars allocated to me for professional development. On lab days, we use in-house coverage only when absolutely necessary, instead bringing in four or five half-day subs to cover for lab participants.
Following the one-hour classroom observation, we take a short break, top off our coffees, and re-convene for a de-brief.
Once everyone is back together, we sit silently for a few minutes to reflect on our initial observations. We go quickly around the table, sharing an objective, non-value-laden observation about what we’ve seen. Our instructional coach then leads the group through a discussion connecting one or two of the principles from the Elmore book to the lesson we observed.
It is at this point in the process that the requested data is shared and processed, along with other relevant information. For instance, this morning one of the participants noted that the host teacher had asked 70 questions in a 60-minute observation.
The hour-long debrief process usually flies by, and ultimately ends with each participant sharing something that they believe they have learned about the host teachers core principles. Examples include:
- Ms. X seems to value every student’s contribution to her class.
- It seems very important to Ms. X that her students access their personal experience to build background knowledge before tackling new text.
- Based on the discussion, it seems like Ms. X has high expectations that students are able to connect course content to real-world contexts.
Final Thoughts (For Now)
We are two lab cycles in to our pilot project and we continue to re-visit the norms we established at the outset. It is incredibly courageous of the teacher participants to open up their classrooms to their colleagues, and all have expressed their nervousness to do so.
All in all, I think the two teachers who have hosted to this point have come away feeling positive about the experience. My hope is to generate enough energy and momentum to roll this out school-wide next year. The logistics of pulling this off with 44 full-time faculty will be a bit of a challenge, but I believe passionately that this is the work we should be doing so I am committed to figuring out how to make it happen even if it means I’ll be covering classes.
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Hi Mr. Jelias,
My name is Brittni Sasser and I am a student majoring in Elementary Education at the University of South Alabama. This week I was assigned to post on your blog.
I believe that teaching students at a high level is great and very engaging, Some students are being to learn rapidly and educators need to be right there behind them. The Instructional Rounds in Education sounds like a awesome way to reach your goal. I read some things about this book and one of the things I liked was, “Through this process, educators develop a shared practice of observing, discussing, and analyzing learning and teaching.” I felt like this statement had a lot to do with your post and your idea.
http://sasserbrittniedm310.blogspot.com/
Hi Mr. Elias, my name is Jennifer and i am an education major at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed reading your post about what you are doing at your school. It sounds like you have a great program starting. Hope you are able to get it to where you want it. Maybe next year you will be able to make it school wide.
Mr. Elias, My name is Jacob Webb and I was assigned to your blog this week as part of an assignment for Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I think that the concept you introduced here is intriguing. I think that this is a great way to better inform teachers how their teaching is going and what they can improve on. Although teacher are observed by administration throughout the year this is not something that is happening everyday in the classroom. I think being observed by other teachers gives a better idea of what you can do to constantly be improving your own instruction. I think that since the teachers will both be being observed and doing the observing they have many opportunities to improve themselves. You could take away ideas not only that teachers give you as a part of your own observation as well as ideas you see while observing other teachers. I really like this idea and want to thank you for sharing it. Jacob Webb
Hello Mr. Elias,
My name is Nickolas Sullivan and I am student in Dr. John Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama.
I love this idea and how you liken it to medical rounds I would compare it to the continued education credits required by most medical positions as well. I think it is great that everyone gets to bring something away from the experience. the observing teachers get to view a different style of teaching and the host teacher gets pointers from a group.
It’s very important that educators continue to expand their repertoire and continue their own education to constantly improve their classroom. This idea trains many at one time and seems much more constructive than a simple workshop and since it’s also not required yet you are getting people who will want to actively participate.
Since you plan to expand it school wide and I already glanced over your post recent post over your new macbook air I have to ask. Have you considered having the host teacher be skyped or otherwise broadcasted in? This could expand your audience and experiences further, as well as given further depth into some global citizenship question.
It sounds as though you are doing good work and it was interesting to get this peak into your life! I hope you this program can continue to grow and people stay interested.
Nickolas Sullivan
Thanks for your post. I’m wondering if or how you have used instructional rounds alongside looking at student data: performances on teacher-made and/or standardized formative and/or summative assessments. Thanks.
Hi Jane -
Thanks for your comment. That is going to be the next piece in our puzzle!!
Hi Scott!
I am intrigued by your inspiration, Richard Elmore’s Instructional Rounds in Education. I will definitely be doing my homework on this method of fostering excellence in an educational environment.
By reading your post, I came away with the fact that what you are doing with your faculty, promotes a learning community, which is something I feel must be prevalent. Having the opportunity to host other educators to observe classroom techniques and methods, and then offer feedback, is invaluable. Not only is being able to constructively criticize effectively, important, it is also important to be able to accept advice (whether positive or critical) with gratitude.
I look forward to your next post!
Once again I have enjoyed reading your post. You seem to be a very organized person. I think that this is a great idea and it keeps ideas moving. Meeting often is also something I think is a great idea. I think it is great that each volunteer has a different question. I know that when I see other students asking a different question than me, it makes me think. Most of the time it brings something different to my attention. I think that this pilot is well thought out. I can tell you are determined. You have a great process for collecting data. Thank you for sharing your information with me. I hope that this does get bigger like you hope.
Hello Mr. Scott Elias. I am Dominique Spence in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I am majoring in Secondary Education, Science. I am looking forward to graduating and teaching in the future. Reading your blog post helps me see the point of view from a professionals point of view. Being that I have not been inside of a classroom as a teacher, so far I am just a learner and not yet an educator. Needless to say your blog post allows me an inside look and makes me want to prepare and be almost perfect for the road ahead of me. I like that you are so passionate about education and that you are devoting your time and efforts to the schools “pilot” project. It is very important as educators that we observe ourselves and the way in which our lessons are reaching and affecting our students. Because you care so much your teachers are able to grow and provide the best education to their students. I would like to participate in something like this that would allow me to prosper and become the best teacher that I can be. I would want to know what I needed to do so that my students are able to develop a love for learning and endlessly help educate themselves while I am there to guide them. Thanks for your blog and I look forward to more to come. I have much more to learn and I can definitely learn a lot from you.
Hello Mr. Elias,
I have enjoyed reading your post and think it is great that you, at the administrative level, are wanting to engage your teachers in the learning process. I believe teachers can learn a lot from their peers more so than a workshop. The pilot program you are trying to implement in your school is a good idea and good luck with it going school wide. I look forward to visiting your blog again so see what great things you are sharing with the education community.
Hello Scott, I am a doctoral student in MA and I too an interested in researching instructional rounds as a job embedded professional deveopment …. Any ideas for a conceptual framework? or Theory? Patricia
Hi Patricia -
I replied via email. Much of my doctoral work is centered around social and informal learning theory as well as the concept of communities of practice. That might be a good starting point for looking at why instructional rounds are effective.
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I am a high school English teacher in Texas, and my school will be taking on the Instructional Rounds model this coming school year, 2012-2013. In fact, a small group of faculty and staff is going to Boston in a couple of weeks for training. I’m interested in your thoughts on your progress throughout the year and how things ended. What advice do you have for a school on the verge of starting the transformation?