Learning Walks

[Guest]

Does anyone carry out learning walks at their school. we are starting to do them when observing other classes instead of using the normal obs sheets. If you do has anyone got a proforma which I could have a look at- sitting here trying to come up with a format to use.

 

Thanks

[Guest]

If I'm thinking of the same thing (not always guaranteed!) then we don't actually do this although we had a 'trainer' who talked about it. Basically it involves being very clear about what management expects in terms of things like displays, classroom organisation etc. As these things are then set in stone and not debatable then it is possible for managers to walk around the school and into classrooms and see at a glance if things are as they should be. If they are then you can just say, 'Great display,' or 'It's good that you're following our organisation policy'. However, if people aren't following the 'rules' then you're meant to point this out quite bluntly: 'This display needs to be more interactive' etc. It was explained to us as a means of cutting down monitoring things that should be done as a matter of course as well as reducing paperwork.

 

I can see the merits of this system but think you'd need to be very determined to set it up and carry it out in the beginning or perhaps I'm just thinking of my school...

[Susan]

My sons attended a school that worked like that. The staff either stayed forever or they left very quickly! It was very a highpowered environment and quite stressful for all concerned--staff,pupils and parents!

Does it allow teachers to be individuals and reflect this through their own classrooms?

[Guest]

It certainly is something to think about. I like the things about praising people's practice for following policies, etc, and I also agree that staff need to be able to be creative and individual.

[Guest]

A learning walk is a chance to go into others classrooms. It is not somewhere where you comment on the teaching involved like Moose said but you look at the learning environment. yOU look to see if displays are interactive and you get a feel for what the learning environment is like. you can even ask questions to the children after10 mins of being in the classroom and is seen as an effective way to monitor the learning and to improve standards. It is supposed to be for all teachers to use not just for the managers.

[Marion]

Maybe this will explain

http://networkedlearning.ncsl.org.uk/colle...s-travelled.pdf

[Guest]

A learning walk is a chance to go into others classrooms. It is not somewhere where you comment on the teaching involved like Moose said but you look at the learning environment. yOU look to see if displays are interactive and you get a feel for what the learning environment is like. you can even ask questions to the children after10 mins of being in the classroom and is seen as an effective way to monitor the learning and to improve standards. It is supposed to be for all teachers to use not just for the managers.

 

Sorry - obviously my mistake.

[Marion]

It seems to be an idea adopted from the US......... This isnt my defination so I do appologise for the jargon

The description is very much along the lines as described by Moose.

 

“An organised tour through a school’s learning areas, looking at those learning areas through the lens of the Principles of Learning… to focus the participants on improving the core functions of schooling. These core functions are how teachers teach how students learn, what gets taught to whom, and how schools are organised for the purposes of instruction.”

 

The Learning Walk as defined by The Institute for Learning, Pittsburgh

 

During a LearningWalkSM, participants move in and out of several classrooms looking at student work and classroom artefacts, and talking with students and teachers. When they look at student work, they may view it through one or more Principles of Learning and ask themselves if the students completing the work were engaged in deep thinking and problem solving. They might also look at how the quality of the work

was judged, and determine if the work was of a high academic standard.

They use similar processes when looking at classroom artefacts, questioning the quality of the artefacts and whether or not they

reflect the deep thinking and language of students. With teacher and principal approval, participants speak to students to determine if they know what they are learning and why it is being taught, if they have to work hard to learn it, and how they

know their work is moving towards meeting standards.

 

Outside the classroom participants gather to discuss what they

have learned, by making factual statements or generating questions they have about what they saw which, if asked of the

teachers, could provoke the teacher to think more deeply about his or her practice.

 

Finally, participants provide feedback to the headteacher that also follows the practice above, factual statements and provocative questions on which the headteacher can reflect as well as share with teachers to provoke their learning.