Instructional Rounds...say what now?

These last few weeks have been...interesting.  On the home front, my daughter decided that it would be super fun to catch the flu.  She made sure to do it directly after February vacation to have maximum impact on disrupting virtually everything.  She didn't stop there, though, she upped the ante by tacking on a robust round of pneumonia, just to keep life interesting.  *Side note - as I type this, my son is sitting crouched at my feet, banging a drum with a pencil.  I can't tell if he wants my attention!?! 

Add to all of this the third nor'easter to come through in March and I feel as if I have spent so much time at home and so little time in school that I'm not even sure what I teach anymore!  *My son has moved on to drumming the Jumanji theme song when danger approaches...I'm feeling slightly menaced.

  

Being snowed in by Mother Nature, and sidelined with a sick kid, I decided the timing couldn't be better to explore yet another UDL practice: Instructional Rounds.  I had never heard of instructional rounds before.  I started doing a little research, guided by the UDL class that I am taking.  Basically, Instructional Rounds (IRs) is the practice of going into other teachers' classes and observing them, but not to offer feedback, rather, to seek an answer to an instructional practice that you are struggling with.  This article, The Art & Science of Teaching / Making the Most of Instructional Rounds by Robert J. Marzano, is an excellent resource to get you started.  

 

 I immediately liked the idea.  Our high school principal has been encouraging something similar at our school.  He put a big whiteboard schedule up in our teacher's room and encourages us to write down what class/period we are teaching a best practice so our peers can come witness it.  I really liked that idea too.  That doesn't mean I've taken the time to do it, however.  Therein lies the rub: time.  Theoretically it sounds like a fabulous idea, but I never want to leave my own class to take part in it.  I have things to do, people!  Isn't that one of the cool things about taking a class, though?  It forces us to make time to sometimes do things we have wanted to do all along, but just haven't prioritized enough. 

So, I know I want to do some IRs, but I'm kinda stuck at home and not able to go from classroom to classroom whilst recording my observations.  It turns out that DESE has a page with unedited videos of classroom instruction that I could watch to jumpstart the process.  Sweet! Next I needed an instructional problem of practice to work on.  Which one to choose from!?!  Katie Novak has created an IRs protocol for her school district and was kind enough to share it with our class.  I used one of the sample problems to observe the classes with: "All students are not engaged in rigorous, accessible learning experiences."  I liked this instructional focus because I think that it is a common problem that many teachers face: reaching all students in a meaningful way that leads to actual learning, not just compliance. *My son and daughter have now incorporated the drum act into a single act play.

Now I needed some kind of format to get started.  I researched a number of different forms for recording my observations. However, some of them felt nit-picky, or like they were focusing on overall performance to provide feedback, and I was looking at it in a different way.

 

 I wanted to observe the classes to improve my performance.  So I went back to the original video and articles I watched and read in class and made a simple chart: pluses, deltas, new ideas.  As I watched the videoed lessons, I filled out my chart so I could make some final observations about my practice.  What do these teachers do that are effective practices that I also do and will continue (pluses)?  What do they do that I have questions and concerns about (deltas) - do I also do that?  If I do, maybe stop? Finally, what new ideas did I get from watching these videos? [If you would like to know which classes I watched, feel free to contact me (email at bottom) and I can forward you the links to the videos.]

I watched three lessons and here are my notes:

In this first video I also added some Mastery Oriented Feedback on my notes.  As a viewer who came in, probably halfway through the lesson, I truly couldn't tell what her ultimate learning goal was.  How often has that been the case in my room?  I know I don't reinforce the goal behind my lessons nearly enough.  Ok, lesson learned.  

  

This class was super interesting.  I almost forgot I was watching to inform my own instruction! I was interested in the topic, the instructor was engaging, so I bought in.  However, what if I wasn't into the subject?  I think that this class may have been a bit too teacher-oriented, and therefore a student not interested would be able to kind of fade into the background of the class.  UGH.  I know that there are times my class is just. like. this. Great for the kids who want to be there, but for the others...

 This last round was another engaging class.  One of my deltas was that the instructions were on the front board, handwritten in cursive.  In the video you could see students struggling with reading it.  It became a barrier to learning immediately.  The teacher referred to the information on the board a lot, so clearly it was important.  How often have I referred to something visual as a learning opportunity that not every student can access?  Oops! This class had students working together the most.  I think that there was more ownership over the learning when they were working in groups.  That is something that I have slowly been adopting more and more in my classes, and after watching this, I will certainly continue to do so.  

So, there.  My first forays into Instructional Rounds.  I liked it.  I actually had fun.  I think that next time I dive in I will maybe be brave enough to try a more detailed observation form, maybe not the nit-picky ones (like the ones that ask if "Teacher has a Reading block schedule posted in the room.") but I think I can handle questions like "Teacher encourages peer interaction." 😉

Are you enjoying this blog?  I am new to the scene.  Feel free to hit me up with questions/comments/concerns!  mshannon@cbrsd.org 

*My children made tickets to their play: