How Instructional Rounds optimize learning for teachers and students
Vicki Wilson, the principal of the Monroe Elementary School in the Wyandotte, Michigan School District, and author of Lead with Instructional Rounds: Creating a Culture of Professional Learning, shares her views on why and how and when you use instructional rounds to both create a culture for learning, as well as support the teachers' learning.
Vicki Wilson recounted some of the experiences that shaped her approach as a school administrator and very passionate advocate for learning for both children and adults. As a fourth grade teacher, “I wasn't expecting the depth of the relationship that I had with students as individuals, but also that you have just with your class as a whole and the community that you build and the culture that you build. So that was the first thing that shaped me, is that realizing that it's so much more than sharing content with kids so that they learn it but it is about community and culture and family and getting to know each other."
The second experience Vicki Wilson recalled was as a principal in a school where she had been working previously. She visited the classrooms of teachers she knew and with whom she had taught and using a wider lens, “I realized that as I went into everybody's classroom I saw strengths that I did not know that they had and that changed me and shaped me dramatically. And I started to think about how can we leverage these strengths that are in classrooms.”
Moving beyond her walls and community and becoming an educational leader was the third experience that came later in her career as a principal. She became more connected, "reaching out beyond her district and joining the Michigan Elementary and Middle School Principals’ Association (MEMSPA) state association and building a professional learning network, getting active on Twitter and eventually writing a book."
The instructional rounds approach that staff took at Monroe Elementary School was to examine different research and best practices. “The research out of Harvard supporting ten minute visits with reflection and debriefing was a structure that felt good to us. We also like the work that Marzano discusses to be reflective educators, using the opportunities to observe colleagues to reflect on the practices you have in your classroom and think about them. Are you getting the impact that you want out of the class, out of those techniques that you're learning? Lastly we just wanted to strengthen our culture, so we looked at the research out of Gallup about strength-based employee feedback and how that contributes to greater gains. So, we made sure that we were very positive in the way we go about instructional rounds, and we talk about the positive impact that we're seeing with our kids.”
“We define it like this: instructional rounds is a process for educators, in small collaborative groups, to observe their colleagues teaching while reflecting on their own practices, followed by dialogue about the effective instruction and the impact on learning. I do believe that when adults learn more, students learn more also, and that was one piece that was really important. Are we growing ourselves as adults and knowing that there are strengths in all these other classrooms, how can we take that opportunity to do that? I don't believe we learn to our potential when we're in isolation as teachers, so how do we break down that isolation so that we can learn more?”
“To create a culture for learning for students and the adults in the school, it has to be safe for the adults to jump in and do it. You’ve got to put so much into the safety piece so that everyone can apply and compare and reflect and learn and process. It's really important for the leader to be involved in this work whether the leader's the facilitator or not. The principal needs to participate in the professional learning with their teachers and that in itself has an effect size of point eight four.“
“Teachers going on the rounds are in a deep reflective mind. They're walking in, they're observing, they're thinking about what they do with their students, and they're looking at what this person's doing. They're thinking about what we've learned about for best practices, rigor, and student success. As facilitator, my job is to step out with this group of teachers to talk about teaching and learning. I pose two strong reflective questions that will create some dialogue and discussion around the best practices we saw, the way the teacher executed it, that work that was positive and the impact that was having on the students. The teacher whose classroom we observed will get their feedback later.Upon completion of the rounds the staff that observed classrooms will write a note card to each of the teachers that we visited that validates a practice that they used with some very specific positive details and what we took away from it. The host teachers will receive five-six note cards in their mailbox that give them specific feedback on their instruction.”
"The gain for teachers is you're going to be able to see what someone else is doing and then take those very best ideas and make yourself better. What they'll find out later though, just beyond getting in someone's classroom is they're going to have such good dialogue with other colleagues in their building, it will strengthen their relationship. And they're going to see strengths of people that they didn't know that they had, so your culture is going to grow through this model."
In assessing the challenges to instructional rounds, Vicki Wilson indicated, “probably the biggest obstacle is a teacher evaluation process. It has to be presented as something completely different and separate, to the point where I hold different things in my hand when I go in during instructional rounds versus what I do when I go in for an evaluation or an observation. Obstacles to the process can be addressed with clearly communicated boundaries and guidelines, with genuine validation for teacher participation, and practices that are transparent and consistent.”
Turning to the impact of the pandemic, the challenges it revealed, and how it played out in her school, the thing that stood out so drastically to Vicki Wilson were the inequities and the obstacles students faced to get what they needed in order to learn. She identified “the important pandemic lesson learned was how do we make sure that we have equity in access and what students are given to be able to do the learning they need to do.” While change and progress in education moving at a snail’s pace has been frustrating for her, in terms of the pandemic’s impact, “I think probably the exciting piece of it is that it forced us to start to innovate and start making some changes, and start looking outside of the box. Last and I hope this comes out of the pandemic, I think what's really important is it forces us to look at our priorities in education and where we're investing our time and investing our resources. So I wish and I hope that we might look at some of the other obstacles that are preventing us from doing the true authentic work of teaching and learning for kids and for adults.”
Vicki Wilson’s ideal teacher preparation program would reflect a partnership between colleges of education and strong or model schools to be connected more deeply to the school experience and setting. “You learn your content in your college class and then you can go in and look at that instruction happening and then start to see the art of that content being delivered and how does that teacher engage those students around that content, I think that would be so powerful. When I have student teachers in the building they always go on instructional rounds with us. They learn so much from that experience and being a part of the conversation with veteran and mentor teachers. Beyond the content that's happening in their college classroom or observing in their assigned teacher's classroom is that dialogue piece with other educators after looking at learning.”
Dr. Suzanne Klein confirmed that is the model in the Oakland University Teacher Education Program. “The students are in a partner district, and they work with a cluster of teachers. The professor goes to the school for their instruction and it gives the students an opportunity to do just what Vicki Wilson suggested, see the real teaching and learning in action, make the instructional rounds, invite some of the teachers in as guest speakers, and it makes it so much more relevant, real and impactful for the students in the program.”
Finally, Vicki Wilson’s advice for a new principal is to “find a strong mentor that you can talk to, and be authentic and real with. Also don't think that you have to know it all. Ask for help don't drown, don't let yourself drown. If you've been treading water even one minute ask for help, because nobody expects you to have this mastered and know what you're doing right now and especially in a pandemic. I also recommend joining your state association; MEMSPA's the one I'm in, MASSP, whatever level you're in but join a state organization, because besides the networking and the connections you make, they also provide legal assistance that you may need and that's just important to protect yourself. And then I would just say get connected, whether through Facebook or Twitter. There are a lot of really good groups or principal communities that are really supportive. So get support within your district but also stretch beyond there with that social media or a state association.”
Wilson, Vicki, Lead with Instructional Rounds: Creating a Culture of Professional Learning, Dave Burgess Consulting, Incorporated, May 21, 2020.