16. Instructional Rounds Theory of Action Improvement Strategy Observation/ Description Analysis Themes/ Patterns Prediction: If you were a student…What would you know & be able to do…? Problem of Practice Next Level of Work
DEBBIE 2:15 Good Afternoon. It is my pleasure to be here and to provide you with some introductory information about Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning, which I understand you will be reading as a group this year. I have had the great privilege to work with some of the Harvard professors in this area and am so pleased to share some beginning information with you today. Today will serve as a starting place– we’ll just begin to build some common language and understand how this might help your work this year in Carlsbad.
The process in this book is based on the medical rounds process. As you know, the medical rounds process is the major way in which physicians develop their knowledge of practice and, more importantly, the major way in which the profession builds and distributes its norms of practice. The rounds model embodies a specific set of ideas about how practitioners work together to solve common problems and to improve their practice.
We know that school improvement, just like medical improvement, is a knowledge intensive activity : We improve schools by using information about student learning– from multiple sources Find the most promising instructional problems to work on, and then systematically develop, with teachers and administrators, the knowledge and skill necessary to solve these problems.
I know that yesterday, you received news that your student assessment results were flat. What typically begins to happen in schools and districts is that we continue to work on a problem that’s already been solved– remember how Devin framed today. You’ve done some solid work aligning the curriculum to your assessments. Even in medicine, they often talk about doing a good job of curing a disorder that it has already cured. It’s now time to address curing the next disorder. What’s the next problem of practice you need to figure out? I think this quote definitely frames our work in education… We’re never done with our work--We only have new opportunities to learn. Instructional rounds will provide you with a process that can help turn these problems into opportunities. As an instructional leader, we know from McREL and others, that when you spend time in classrooms you not only send a strong message that the center of the schoolhouse is where student learning is taking place– you also communicate what is important at your school and therefore, what impacts student achievement. Plus, your visits provide observation-based data about the quality of instruction, student learning, expectations, climate and school culture, that inform future decisions. As a leader, this also helps you build schoolwide norms of practice. Your observations of teaching and learning in classrooms are part of the rounds process.
The big idea in this book… just like in medical rounds: EVERYONE is working on their practice EVERYONE is knowledgeable about the common task of instructional improvement EVERYONE’S practice is subject to scrutiny, critique and improvement In Carlsbad you have begun to deprivatize practice • Some of you, as instructional leaders, have been going in classrooms on a regular basis to observe teaching and learning. Some of you have released your teachers to observe one another as well. You have a sense of what’s good and where something seems to be missing • As a system you’re beginning to figure out how to articulate the indicators of powerful teaching and learning. A perfect example are the math articulation teams that you engaged in last spring. The study of Instructional Rounds will help you move this practice forward.
Instructional Rounds will provide you with a continuous learning process to improve instruction in your building and across your district. It all begins with an improvement strategy (such as the improvement of student engagement) and a theory of action (which helps you move from your current state to the state you envision). This theory of action is usually refined as you study teaching and learning. We’ll talk about Carlsbad T of A later today. Related to the district’s theory of action, you will identify a problem of practice at your individual sites. This is the problem you want to solve. Much like in medical rounds-this is the medical issue you want to put several heads around to figure out. Practice is observed and you’ll become more skilled at describing what you see and hear, rather than making judgments. This conversation will begin to build norms of practice-resulting in coherence across your school and across the district. You’ll conduct an analysis of the teaching and learning and identify patterns across your school and your district and make predictions about what students are actually learning. (For example in one school, they noticed an average of 4 students provided oral evidence of their learning, the rest were nodding and copying notes from the board/overhead. Based on these predictions, you will identify the next level of work that you need to embark- what you are going to try on to address your problem of practice.
Simply (and for those of you who are more linear in your thinking), the process has four steps
Read what it is and what it is not… A CONTINOUS process, not a program Learning to describe what powerful teaching and learning looks and sounds like, not about evaluating teachers Opportunity to dive into problems and continually learn how to improve, not a monitoring tool that checks for implementation Engages everyone in collaboration for the purpose of creating coherence across a school and district, not about training leaders in supervisory skills Very active process where you build a community of practice– expecting to learn from each other and push the thinking of each other. Is is NOT A PASSIVE EVENT.
The instructional core anchors the practice of rounds and any other school or district instructional improvement process. The model of the instructional core provides the basic framework for how to intervene in the instructional process so as to improve the quality and level of student learning.
2:35- 3:10 A. Count off and pass out the handouts 2 min. B. Read your appropriate sections. Everyone reads pages 21-23 and then your principle. 6 min. Jigsaw the seven principles: Page 24-25 Page 25-27 Page 27-30 Page 30-31 Page 31-33 Page 33 Page 34-1 st paragraph on page 36 In writing summarize what this principle means to you and how it applies to your work as a leader of instructional improvement- 3 min. Share at tables- 20 min. Ah-has- 3 min.
3:10 READ The power of rounds will only be realized when and if rounds becomes embedded in the actual work of the district. Only if rounds develops a collaborative, inquiry-based culture that shatters the norms of isolation and autonomy and if it leads to the establishment of an “educational practice” that trumps the notion of teaching as an art, a craft, or a style will rounds transform teaching and learning. Therefore, Carlsbad has committed to have you study this process as a means to improving teaching and learning.
In order to embed rounds in the work of Carlsbad, a theory of action is developed. This is your hypothesis about what should happen if you put certain strategies into place. If you think back to the model of the process, the theory of action is at the center. The theory of action is the story line that makes a vision and a strategy concrete. Here’s an example…
Your instructional services staff have created a beginning theory of action for your study this year. ORIGINAL: If we focus our collective “professional learning communities” on student engagement, then student achievement should increase
3:20- 3:35 WRITE- 3 MIN. SHARE WITH PARTNER- 3 MIN. READ- 3 MIN. TALK TO PARTNER ABOUT QUESTION- 6 MIN. Page 11- If the process did not result in awkwardness and disequilibrium, it would not effect any significant cultural transformation. An example of this discomfort comes from a typical pattern
Instructional Rounds brings you a learning process that intersects your observations of teaching and learning; the focus on the district-wide initiative and your use of networks (or professional learning communities) 1)Allows you to create agreed-upon definitions of what high-quality instruction looks and sounds like- through the vehicle of classroom observations 2)Allows you to utilize your professional learning communities as a network to continually improve teaching and learning 3)Allows you to focus your improvement on the district-wide focus/theory of action.
As you study this book and implement the process of rounds in your study of student engagement… You will become more skilled at identifying concrete problems of practice AND Utilizing this process for improving teaching and learning Through your increased ability to describe what you see and hear, you will create expected norms of practice throughout your school and district Your ability to make predictions based on the patterns you observe, will provide you with more clarity about determining next steps -Which will allow you to validate and refine your theory of action. I hope this has provided you with some foundational information that will support you as you study this book and implement the process of instructional rounds. Thank you. TURN BACK TO DEVIN