PEDAGOGICAL LEARNING WALKS: MAKING THE THEORY; PRACTICE DR. BEV FREEDMAN
B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
LEARNING LEADERS ARE Discuss and share..
THE PURPOSEFUL OF CLASSROOM/SCHOOL OBSERVATIONS IS TO OBSERVE The impact on student learning Hattie, 2015; Smiths, 2015
is an important data set. It provides school & system leaders with information to determine if the intendent is the taught and if coherent effective practices occur across classrooms Freedman, p.1, 2015 OBSERVATIONAL DATA
PISA, 2009 READING VARIABILITY IN OECD COUNTRIES Between schools 36% Within schools 64% OECD, 2010
MONITORING & VISIBILITY Part of a larger component not in isolation part of the work Intentional need to understand the structures for capacity building and inter-relationships among structures Intentional rationale for why the classroom visits Opportunity to learn about administrators and teachers collectively as a trend and individually Responsive NOT reactive Who is your class? building the capacity of students, teachers, principals Structure follows function Differentiation not all the same differentiated opportunities including content, level of support, types of feedback Participating in learning teams builds context and learning about others learning
INTENTIONALITY VISIBILITY MONITORING FOR IMPACT WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING TO LEARN? Sustainable Intentionality Be familiar & comfortable with the data what do the data say? Using the evidence from district review and how they are unpacking the problems of practices and moving the change agenda forward Clarify the problem of practice and then clarity on indicators and evidence Differentiate between the needs of all and the needs of the some Shorter and frequent or longer and less frequent WHY? Change the focus for the context Co-learning model, differentiate, learn across school visits, learn to build capacity Clarify the reason for the visit Cultivate VPs into the process Questions - Distinguish between questions clarification, metacognition, information
CONSIDERATION FOR MONITORING That which gets monitored gets done, Millar, 2013 Making sense of evidence of learning - intentional Demonstrating that you, as a leader, care and are purposefully visible Understand what effective learning looks like Engage staff collaboratively in school improvement initiatives Expectations for all administrators Frequent and short (5 to 10 minutes/classroom) but focused, intentional ongoing form a collective message about a school-based focus and system directions Use the observational data to develop feedback and questions to engage in professional conversations about practice B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
TIDE Tasks involving and/or questions posed to students during the observations. Instructional Strategies. Design of the classroom resources, cuing systems Learning Goals, Rubrics/Success Criteria, Academic Vocabulary, anchor charts, desks, technology. Student engagement or attentive and compliant. B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
CONSIDER THE OBSERVATION SHEET What is important to write down about student learning? What is judgmental? Task What is the student doing or responding to? Instructional Strategies and actions Design of the Classroom Engagement or Compliance
Task p.5 Instructional Strategies p.5 Design as Learning Space p.7 MONOGRAPH - FREEDMAN
Indifference vs On Task Compliance vs Excitement Active Learning vs Engagement ENGAGEMENT P. 8
Questions 1,4,6,9,10,12 5 point scale = 5 points for very like me and 1 point for not like me Questions 2,3,5,7,8,11 5 point scale 1 point for very like me and 5 for not like me at all Duckworth, Peterson, Mathews, Kelly, 2007 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 9: 1087-1101 GRTI SCALE
B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015 QUESTIONS TO ASK STUDENTS What are you learning and why? Is what you are learning easy or difficult? What makes it easy or difficult? Do you know how to improve your work? What makes learning interesting? Where do you get help from when you are unsure? Groups who established? How often do they change? P.9 (Freedman, 2015) Norwegian variance
T I D DESCRIBE THE TASK, FREEDMAN, P.4-5 INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES TEACHER DIRECTED STUDENTS IN GROUPS INDEPENDENT WORK FREEDMAN, P. 5-7 DESIGN AS LEARNING SPACE ROWS FLEXIBLE GROUPINGS CUING SYSTEMS ANCHOR CHARTS, STUDENT WORK Freedman, p. 78 E (ACTIVE COMPLIANT) COMMENTS + ENGAGEMENT YOUR COMMENTS Freedman, p. 9-10
OBSERVING STUDENTS Observe, Reflect, Discuss How are students interacting with one another? (Student Voice) How are students interacting with the task? What evidence is there of students understanding the learning goals? What evidence is there of students using success criteria, rubrics etc to improve the quality of their work? What evidence is there of students meeting the learning goals? How did the planned instructional strategies impact student learning? Evidence? B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
PROTOCOLS FOR THE CLASSROOM Not evaluative for professional learning not judgemental. Visits are 5-10 minutes per classroom. Silence electronic devices. Enter (without knocking) and leave as a group. Arrive with note paper and pen (or e-tablet). Move about room, and talk to students when appropriate (independently and interdependently). Refrain from talking to network colleagues in class or hall. Looking for patterns and trends. B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
HATTIE, 2009: 36,37 Teachers need to know the learning intentions and success criteria of their lessons, know how well they are attaining these criteria for all students, and know where to go next in light of the gap between students current knowledge and the success criteria. B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
Use the index cards to write your classroom observations, across classrooms Group by TIDE Think about adding the evidence of learning from the classrooms What in the halls & public space is confirming evidence of learning? OBSERVATIONAL NOTES
Write TIDE Each one take some post-it-notes and write down your individual observations Think, group, share Put them on the wall or table discuss and begin to eliminate (critical) and refine Add few, some, many, most, all as descriptors Keep those agreed to by consensus Present REQUIRES THINKING AND VOICE AND AGREEMENT A VARIANCE WAY TO GET A PICTURE OF THE LEARNING
The big ideas of the task are obvious and understood by students The learning is visible The tasks/questions have depth and rigour and go beyond knowledge and understanding There is adequate wait time for students to process their thinking There are opportunities for students to collaborate and share their learning The tasks are purposeful and students make connections to the learning There is a high level of meaningful choice FEEDBACK: IN A FEW, SOME, MANY, MOST, ALL
PEDAGOGICAL LEARNING WALK PROCESS Individually, use post-it notes to write down your own observations/evidence that occurred. Focus on the TIDE protocol. In groups, we will determine which are useful and discard those that are judgmental, too vague, too broad to be useful. As a group, agree on your findings. Analyze the evidence. Look for patterns and trends related to the areas of focus and feedback. Predictions if students did exactly what was asked what would be the learning? Next level of work - Descriptive feedback to the school. B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
Gather in your groups and talk about what you observed across the classrooms and the evidence Together decide what you are going to write for each of the 4 frames TIDE Write 3 or 4 points for each PRESENT
FROM A LEARNING WALK B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
Thin (recall/knowledge) who is the Prime Minister of Norway? short wait time 3-5 seconds Thick Big Idea, cause students to make connections and think, raise more questions, provoke discussion, encourage curiosity, demand evidence, Extend wait time or think time to 10 seconds encourage students to share their answers get students to formulate their own questions If asking meaningful questions but tests/exams focus on factual information not like PISA then a disconnect QUESTIONS WWW.TEACHTHOUGHT.COM/LEARNING/25-QUESTIONS -STEMS-FRAMED- AROUND-BLOOMSTAXONOMY
QUESTIONING Some teachers instinctively ask questions that are open-ended, and complex that require students to consider, evaluate, and think critically beyond memory, These types of questions require students to have factual knowledge, and time to interact with the complex questions including interaction with other students. Most teachers overemphasize knowledge and comprehension. The textbooks and most curriculum emphasizes factual materials. Most are posed at a specific student, if incorrect go to another student, (ask question, wait, then ask a student, stay with the student offering hints and suggestions to guide their responses). Most questions asked have a short wait time 1-5 seconds, (7-10 seconds). Questions that require a short response less than 5 words. Not even a complete thought. B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
CLASSROOMS AS LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS 3 RD TEACHER What do you anticipate seeing classrooms in terms of evidence of teaching and learning? How would it differ elementary to high school? Seating & Desk arrangements Posted Student work & Teacher Messages Anchor Charts & Visual Cuing systems Co-constructed Learning Goals and Success Criteria Resources Technology B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
INQUIRY B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
ASSESSMENT Formative For learning Improve learning & achievement Carried out while lesson is in progress Focused on the learning process - integral Collaborative & fluid Teacher and students are learners Evidence gathered used to inform teaching & learning for learning Summative Of Learning Report Cards, tests Measure performance or attainment Snapshot of performance captured Focused on the products of learning - separate Teacher directed Teacher evaluates & grades B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
LEARNING GOALS: PART OF THE FEEDBACK CYCLE Describes the Big Ideas drawn from the curriculum expectations of what a student is expected to know, understand and do Builds comprehension, clarification, understanding What they are learning The reason for the learning Share the learning Present in an appropriate language students to restate Revisit the learning goal throughout the task Provide the basis for Success Criteria Co-create/Discuss, Display, Ongoing process B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
WHY COMPLEXITY AND ENGAGEMENT? [We need] less dependence on rote learning, repetitive tests and a one size fits all type of instruction, and more on engaged learning, discovery through experiences, differentiated teaching, the learning of life-long skills, and the building of character, so that students can develop the attributes, mindsets, character and values for success. Minister of Education, Singapore B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
TAXONOMY REVISED Knowledge Dimension Remember Recall Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Comprehend Factual Basic elements Conceptual Inter-relationships Procedural How to do something, method of inquiry or problem-solving Metacognitive Thinking about thinking, awareness, reflection B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
ANCHOR CHART
Q THINKING CHART ANCHOR CHART TO REINFORCE CONCEPTS? DID CAN ELSE STRATEGY WOULD MIGHT WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? HOW? WHY?
RICH TASKS Thoughtful and intentional design, Require reasoning & deep thinking, Authentic and relevant grounded in the students lived experiences, Engage the students in inquiry during the learning process, Open-ended and allow for curiosity, creativity and choice, Focus on conceptual understandings, Have intellectual rigour, Requires analysis and justification, Cause substantive conversations among and between students and students and the teacher, Makes learning visible Remember your impact B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
STUDENT THINKING
RICH TASKS ILL DEFINED PROBLEM OR OPEN-ENDED QUESTION OR DEFINING PROBLEM Rigour isn t more its deeper often just an inch deep cause permanent changes in the learning Gradual release of responsibility from teacher directed to student-focused constructivist Research gather data Analyze and evaluate through close reading and analytical reasoning Alternative hypothesis and possibilities Conceptual understandings Intellectually challenging promotes and provokes thinking = communicate B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
FEEDBACK For leaders and teachers about impact and progress and growth. It should cause thinking. B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
Effective professional development is ongoing, involves training, practice & feedback (Teachers Matter, 2005, OECD, p. 136) TEACHERS NEED TO SHARE EXPERTISE & BUILD CUMULATIVE KNOWLEDGE
If all the teachers we observed were in the room: What is one thick question you would like them to reflect on? Think Hattie & impact on learning. What is one piece of advice you want the school to collectively think about? Why? What is your evidence? USEFUL FEEDBACK
MOVING FORWARD For effective practices to happen intentionally and coherently in classrooms with students, it helps teachers to experience the strategy first. Do teachers believe that they are treated respectfully, and do they perceive that their opinions count? Gradual release of control happens when leadership and accountability are distributed. Often, staff learning does not involve complexity and rich tasks. If intellectual stimulation of adults generally isn t happening in schools, it is hardly surprising that most learning for students is at the knowledge and recall stages. B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
Evidence: What is your evidence of learning? Vary the focus Overall Impressions: Based on observational and other data sets, are you seeing evidence of the indicators/look-fors that were intended? Key Next Steps: Now what? What is the plan of action? Monitoring and Follow-up: What are your plans and schedules? B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015
1. Be intentional about setting priorities 2. Fight the adrenaline rush of the urgent 3. Let go 4. Don t catch the ball every time it is thrown 5. Routinize what you can MAKING TIME, P.1
JUST DO IT School-based leaders know that it is easy to be distracted by the day-today management routines; however impacting student learning requires instructional leadership. They need to see teaching and learning in practice daily or at a minimum weekly. B. Freedman OISE/Norway 2015