He can be found at www. Read more from this blog. Schools are supposed to be educational institutions where students are engaged, teachers are nurturing and offer rigorous lessons, and principals are educational leaders where they can help create inclusive environments.
Unfortunately, this is often a Utopian view of schools. Too often principals stay in their offices and teachers close their doors and become their own islands. Fortunately, those old practices are changing. Walkthroughs are becoming popular with principals. At least, they should be popular with principals because they are an effective way to observe what is going on in the classroom.
Walkthroughs also provide administrators with the opportunity to establish important connections with students. Simply put, there is no downside to doing walkthroughs in a school. As much as it may be difficult to break away from the computer or not schedule back to back meetings, even a walkthrough that lasts a few minutes can be an important part of the day and should be done as frequently as possible.
As a school administrator I try my best to get into every classroom every day. Administrators with larger buildings may not have the same luxury but they can still get out. Administrators need to be educational leaders and need to be more than visible. Principals need to be engaged. The best way to do that is observe great instruction in the classroom to see if it matches what experts say in educational research journals and blogs.
As a former teacher I miss the magic of a classroom, so walkthroughs provide me with an opportunity to see the great things my teachers and students are doing together. How an administrator does the walkthrough and what they do with the information after the walkthrough are two important aspects of this educational leadership practice. Quick walkthroughs of two or three minutes or longer walkthroughs where the administrator stays to take part in the lesson are both beneficial.
Following up with an educator about great aspects to the lesson, or what you noticed students doing during the lesson, is important as well. Sometimes I am guilty of doing that and it is something I need to improve upon.
In other words, the goals of classroom walkthroughs are to ensure everyone is on the same page when it comes to instructional goals. As we stated earlier, one problem many districts face is that, since teachers work independently of each other, they often come up with different teaching strategies or techniques.
Teaching effectiveness can thus differ between classrooms in the same building. What classroom walkthroughs do is help create a common teaching language for a school or entire district. The main benefit of establishing a common teaching language is that it helps avoid confusion or misunderstanding during team meetings and professional development contexts.
For example, if teachers are using different language and terminology to teach the same concepts, then students might get confused and performance will suffer.
Also, having a common core technique smooths student transitions from one learning environment to the next. It is a way to ensure a kind of uniformity among teaching standards that ultimately allows students to be more successful. Classroom observations are often used as a way to gauge teacher performance. Constructive criticism and observation is a good way to give teachers positive feedback that can help them improve. Most employees want to hear feedback on their performance.
There is quite a bit of evidence demonstrating that a lack of actionable performance reviews is a major cause of employee turnover, regardless of the industry. Walkthroughs not only help teachers become better and keep them happy, but they also give administrators and those who may not spend as much time directly in the classroom a first-person view of how the classroom functions.
This, in turn, allows for a better relationship between teachers and administrators as it builds trust and respect. Classroom walkthroughs and observations are not without their detractors and critics, though.
The main criticism is that different administrators and teachers might have differing opinions about how classroom observations should work and what kind of evaluation criteria should be used. A fellow middle school principal calls to check on me and to see how things are going. I share how I am slammed with this, that, and another thing but am quickly interrupted with his burning question: Had I been in classrooms yet that day? His question gave me pause as I considered my own experiences as a teacher.
My former principals weren't consistently in my room during the first week, either. The conversation quickly ended, and I headed straight out to classrooms feeling incredibly guilty that I'd yet to leave my office and school was almost done for the day. Over the next few months, the principals that I connected with would regularly ask me how classroom visits were going and if I was making it to each classroom, every day.
The fact that they were asking me this, that it was a social norm and expectation within this group of leaders was very powerful.
It made me realize the importance of being present as a building leader. I feel very fortunate to have had these folks as my peer group at such a formative time because they really helped shape my practice of being in classrooms.
Now, my mantra as a principal is "every classroom, every day. I believe that as an education leader, you have to be present and in classrooms on a daily basis in order to truly understand the full magnitude of the work both staff and students are taking on and accomplishing.
Do I hit this goal every day? No, but by making being present in classrooms a core value of my leadership, I ensure that it happens more often than not and that my teachers are not surprised to see me circulating among their students. So how do I get into classrooms on a consistent basis? I schedule it. Some of the best advice I received as a new principal is that my calendar reflects what I value. My primary job is to be an instructional leader, which means being present in the classroom.
Although things do come up and there is always more to do in the office, those things can truly wait. My advice to fellow principals is to make a plan for getting into classrooms this year and then stick to the plan. Teachers need and want us to be visible partners in the success of their classrooms. Over the past eight years, I have worked to refine my visits and the connections I make with students and staff when I come into the classroom.
During my first few years as a principal, my district held extensive, job-embedded training in classroom observations: what to look for, best practices, and practicing debrief conversations. This training really helped me hone my observational skills and provided me with sentence frames for follow-up questions—like asking why.
Nowadays, I am constantly talking to fellow principals in and out of Oregon about how they are approaching observations and suggestions for making this a meaningful, supportive, and positive experience for all involved. I read multiple books on this topic each year, take classes when I can find them on coaching teachers, and I visit other schools to see how they are supporting teachers. Through it all, we principals will get our best feedback from talking with teachers like you.
During my first year as a principal, a veteran teacher gave me some feedback that still resonates. We were meeting to go over her observation, and as we were wrapping up, she noted that she appreciated my positive comments. In fact, she noted that her previous observations had been heavier on criticism instead of being balanced.
She appreciated that I made an effort to point out the great things she was doing. This feedback hit me hard and I reflected on it for a long time.
In fact, it still comes to mind every time I am writing up an observation. Principals need to be consistently present in classrooms, but we also have a duty to ensure that our feedback includes and elevates the positive things we see in your classrooms every day.
Paul Murphy is a 3rd grade teacher in Michigan and a blogger at TeacherHabits. The Why and When of Walkthroughs. Paul Murphy ,.
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