walkthrough+results

Type in the content of your page here. Lisette's Completed Walkthrough · Did you document any trends? In every room that I went in the objective was stated clearly on the chalkboard, the Promethean board or on a handout · Are students learning? How do you know? I believe that students are learning because they are engaged, asking questions and doing group wok · What follow-up activities would you suggest to improve the school and student learning? Are there problems that need attention immediately? I would ask the teachers how do they know that their students are learning and how do they address students who are not engaged and do not seem to be grasping the material. At this time, there are no problems that need attention immediately · How could a long-term professional development plan address needs resulting from the data? I think the continuation of staff development activities would help good teachers to become great teachers. There is always something new to learn and that could be provided by the staff development which is offered through the school and state.
 * · ** ** What is the objective? Is it stated clearly? **
 * The objective was stated clearly on the board and was related to the students verbally **
 * · ** ** Is the teacher using the curriculum and adhering to state standards? **
 * The teacher was using the curriculum and following the Maryland State standards **
 * · ** ** What are the students doing? **
 * The students were focused and taking notes. **
 * · ** ** How would you describe level of student engagement? **
 * The students were very engaged because they asked meaningful questions and again, seemed to be focused **
 * ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> ** ** Are students using higher level thinking skills? **
 * Students were asked to think link new material to previously learned material and to build on that. They were asked to think about possibilities of what could happen in the future. **
 * ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> ** ** What method(s) of instruction is the teacher using to help students achieve the objective? **
 * The teacher began with direct instruction and then led into group work. I feel that because she was asking the students questions as she taught the lesson it helped them to understand what she was teaching. **
 * ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> ** ** How would you describe the teacher’s classroom management? **
 * The teacher had great control in the classroom. The students raised their hands when a question was asked and never seemed to be off task. **
 * ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> ** ** How would you describe the classroom's physical environment (learning centers, organization, seating, student work posted, other evidence of teaching and learning, other evidence the teacher and students are adhering to school requirement)? **
 * The classroom environment was very welcoming. It consisted of all types of motivational posters, it had a word wall (vocabulary for the Unit), it also had a bar graph of how students were doing overall as a class. **
 * ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> ** ** Is technology being used? If so, how? **
 * There was technology being used for the lesson. The teacher used the Promethean board to teach her lesson using the PowerPoint. She also had students come up and use the Promethean to show that they understood what was being taught. **

Nancy's Completed Walkthrought

Using our team's walkthrought tool was very easy to use. The results of my walkthroughts were:
 * The objective was stated clearly and easy to find
 * All teachers were using the curriculum and adhering to state standards
 * The students were engaged in some sort of assignment, worksheet, problem of the day,working in groups,Quick write, working on social studies packet and discussion warm up solution/taking notes.
 * The level of engagement was good
 * Students were using higher level thinking skills by collaborating together, helping each other, group effort, learning how to use the book to find answers and with the use of technology.
 * The methods I was that the teachers were using for instruction to achieve objectives were groups, clarify directions, any assistance they needed they asked the teacher and technology.
 * The teachers classroom management was organized, there was a time limited, and excellent/students were engaged.
 * The classrooms physical environments were students worked in groups at tables, students work was posted on the walls and the desks were arranged so very student could see the board.
 * Technology was being used to have the problem of the day on the smart board so as soon as the student's entered the room they were ready for it, Lab tops, smart boards, doc carmeras they really grab the attention of the students with the information already organized.
 * The things that stand out as positive were when there was the use of technology use the students were really engaged. Some teachers really enforced positive reinforcement to the students for their involvement.

The trends that I saw was every teacher had their objective posted and covered with the lesson, the students were engaged with the lesson.

The students were learning because they knew as soon as they came into the classroom they sat down and got right to work and were very clear with the directions.

The actitives for a follow up I would suggest to improve the school and student's learning would be reviewing the information that was just taught, make sure the students know what the information is about, and keep reinforcing concepts to they have a correct understanding of the information. No these are not problems that need immediate attention, but can be focused on to develope better skills for the students and keep the test scores in decent percentage.

**Did you document any trends?**
 * Van's Walkthrough Answers **

The trends that I noticed were more negative than I wished. Though all teachers used the curriculum and materials, most did not put much of their own flare to implementation. During trainings, we encourage teachers to make the curriculum their own; it is a model not a script. As a result, many classes were not differentiated, relevant nor engaging. Other than one teacher, the highest level of "technology" used was the overhead projector. One teacher did use both his laptop and a Smartboard. Though most classrooms were arranged in cooperative learning sets, students did not interact with one another cooperatively. **Are students learning? How do you know?** This is a good question; the most important question. The best way that I could ascertain whether students were learning or not, was to ask them. I asked one or two students if they understood the objective written on the board and where they were on the agenda. I also asked what they believed they earned on their progress report (to be distributed next week). Another method of identifying if students were learning was to identify, by scanning the room, who was engaged and who was not. On my way out of the classroom, I also review what was on the "student work" bulletin board, if there was one (one classroom did not even have one identified; another classroom had one identified with no student work posted). On a whole, I would say that more than half but not most of the students were actually learning something in their classes. Interestingly, I would say that all of the teachers would say that they were teaching… My immediate concern for all of the classrooms is for a PD on writing objectives. For most of the classes that I visited, I was not certain that students understood the written objective. In other instances, students were not even informed of the daily objective, verbally. Lack of relevance was a common oversight in many classes. I also feel that teachers could revisit the use of cooperative learning strategies. Teachers may benefit from peer visits and time to discuss findings and share strategies. Most of the teachers that I visited have been with the program (Achievement Academies) for a number of years. Interestingly, most of them believe they are exemplar teachers. However, at this particular site, student failures are high. I think a year-long professional development series on "data driven decisions" would benefit the staff on a whole. From classroom level data to whole-school data, staff members need to not only know how to gather it and how to read it, but also how to use it. I think we take for granted that because someone has letters behind their name and can read what the charts, tables and graphs say, that he or she is well-versed in aligning the instruction to the needs of the students. As a result, having a long range PD plan would focus the efforts of all stakeholders, parents, students, staff and administrators towards meeting the common goal(s) and focus decisions with the end in mind throughout the school year.
 * What follow-up activities would you suggest to improve the school and student learning? Are there any problems that need attention immediately?**
 * How could a long range professional development plan address needs resulting from the data?**

The most interesting trend I noticed in the walk through was that there was no evidence of inquiry-based learning, which is the school's instructional focus. With a school full of almost all novice teachers (0-3 years of experience), I would have expected to see at least some of them making an early school-year effort in that direction. Most of the teachers were engaged in direct instruction, instead, which resulted in some very bored looks on students' faces as well as many who were acting out. The school clearly needs long-term professional development in implementing this crucial instructional component of the school's mission. As a school leader, I would seek evidence of inquiry-based learning in teachers' lesson plans and try to pair novice teachers with an experienced "buddy" teacher who implements the chosen instructional strategy on a daily basis (and include regular peer mentoring). There needs to be recruitment incentives for more experienced teachers to work in this school in order for that suggestion to work, though. The school environment and culture were not horrible, but experienced teachers who inspire learners and other teachers would go a long way to improving student learning (scores were down last year), engagement, and the utilization of higher level thinking skills in the classrooms.
 * Teresa's Notes from her walkthrough:**

The school's other focus is on social justice, and it was evidenced in much of the classrooms' physical environments, included in some of the conversations, and displayed in student work. Another thing I liked was that objectives are worded as "learning targets," beginning with statements such as "I can describe the habitat and surroundings of a butterfly." This approach is empowering for students, and teachers were rather consistent with posting and teaching to appropriate learning targets.
 * Team, please post your team comments on the Summary of Findings page. Doesn't have to be overly detailed. Thanks!**