Observation #4
This visit to Central Falls, we did a specific data
gathering method that they like to refer to as a walkthrough. The method basically consists of walking into
a classroom with a group of people for no more than 5 minutes, and then exiting
into the hallway where the group that just observed the class has a small
deliberation about what they just witnessed.
The people doing the walk through were looking for specific things such
as: content area, grade level, class size, how the class was configured, what
the teacher was doing, what the students were doing, if the students were
engaged in the lesson, level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, assessment, links to Common
Core, and literacy strategies. We had a
checklist that we would collaboratively decide upon after the observation, and
then that data gets submitted for further analysis.
My first thought about these walkthroughs, was that I thought
it was a complete waste of time. I
thought that we were not in the classrooms long enough to make any sort of
reasonable judgment or assessment of what we observed. But luckily, the principal explained the
significance of each brief observation in our meeting after our
walkthroughs. These brief data
collections are compiled and looked at holistically at different levels, such
as grade and subject. Also, they are not
intended to put added stress on individual teachers, but rather they are used
as a gauge of instruction quality at a broad level. This way, professional development can be
focused upon where the data shows it is needed, and other issues can be
addressed at department level, rather than focusing in on one teacher.
The entire process was very impressive. As I stated before, I was uncertain about its
effectiveness at first, but now I believe it is a great tool for
improvement. Not only does this system
provide great introspective data, but it might also inspire current teachers to
be their best without the direct risk of their own reputation on the line every
time someone comes in to observe them.
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