Earlier this month the Beachside Network of Schools Instructional Rounds group had its first ‘Round”. Thanks to the generous support of the teachers from Black Rock PS a group of principal class educators gathered to discuss instruction with a focus on differentiated Instruction. We also heard about a potential problem of practice identified by teachers engaged in the Data Wise process.
The group has grown over 2 years and now has 18 members ( a 200% increase). If there is one take away from our work together its that ‘Rounds’ allows principal as educators and leaders a safe place to engage in evidentiary based discussions on instruction. We share our reflections on readings, engage in the protocols of respectful challenge and staying low on the ladder of inference relearn the skills of non judgemental observations.
We always take back some new thoughts about instruction to our own schools and hopefully leave the host principal some useful feedback to share with their staff. This round was no exception as we left with some wonderings about differentiated instruction and how teachers might use student work or artefacts for formative assessments in perhaps the monitoring phase of an assessment schedule.
The picture below show some participants analysing observations into groups looking for patterns across classrooms.
