As school leaders, we know our time is precious. It can be hard to prioritize our days with all the duties we are expected to complete. At the top of our list of tasks should be monitoring and supporting classroom instruction. Too often this task gets shifted down the priority list.
Before my current assignment as elementary principal in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, I asked for feedback from my former faculty about how I could improve. One of the repeated suggestions was to be more visible in the school. This surprised me. I thought my presence during lunch, at recess, and in the hallways was addressing this need. Digging more deeply into their comments, I realized that I wasn’t a regular visitor to classrooms. The teachers wanted recognition as well as feedback on their practice.
Increasing my visibility in the classroom wouldn’t happen by accident. I needed to shift in both how I scheduled my day and how I approached my visits in classrooms. This led me to revisiting my daily habits as a school leader to support our school priorities (literacy) through regular classroom visits.
I have adopted the practice of instructional walks, developed by Regie Routman and described in her book Read, Write, Lead: Breakthrough Strategies for Schoolwide Literacy Success. She defines instructional walks as regular classroom visits where “we are looking first for the teacher’s strengths, noticing where support is needed, and also discerning instructional patterns across a school.” With this approach in place, I was better prepared to be visible with a purpose. The next steps describe how this process commenced.
Examine what is and is not part of our jobs. Although we might enjoy visiting our students during recess and even at lunch, this does not mean we should be serving as a daily supervisor. Staff members can be tasked with these duties. I still make the rounds during these less structured times, yet I expect staff who are assigned to these areas to be in charge. If you are unsure what is and is not part of your job, make a T-chart. On the left side, write down everything you do that is aligned with your job description and your school’s goals. On the right side, write down everything else you do that other staff members could take on. When approaching these teachers and assistants, explain that you are trying to be more present in the classroom, where learning occurs. This is a hard rationale with which to disagree.
Schedule your classroom visits. If you don’t explicitly plan to be in classrooms, you are less likely to not follow through on this commitment. Initially, schedule one hour a day for making the rounds. This is in addition to any formal observations you may have to complete as part of the teacher evaluation system. Although you might be saying to yourself, “How can I possibly do both?” I think you will find each practice supporting the other. For example, the observational notes you write during instructional walks could serve as artifacts for teachers when they gather evidence of effectiveness.
Visit classrooms with intent. As Regie Routman notes regarding instructional walks, “We are not just quietly observing and writing notes the teacher may or may not see, checking off look-fors, or collecting numerical data through a clicker.” My goal with this process is to notice what is going well in the classroom, write notes of my observations, and then communicate with the teacher (and students) these points of success. What is noticed is connected to a school’s professional learning goals. At our school, we are focused on authentic literacy experiences, so I have a list of related concepts such as “engagement” and “self-directed learners.” Taking this positive approach to classroom visits builds professional trust between an administrator and a teacher. An additional benefit is that teachers are less likely to feel anxious about formal observations.
Celebrate success and recognize efforts. No accomplishment is too small to recognize. We can do so with respect to each teacher’s efforts to adopt better practices and all the steps they take to become more accomplished in their profession. This means we need to differentiate our affirmations. For example, a few teachers have embraced a more personalized approach to their instruction. I’ve noted this several times during instructional walks, as well as asked those teachers to lead professional development sessions for colleagues on this topic. Another teacher may just be starting out in implementing a workshop model in their classroom. My observations note how they have successfully crafted norms with the classroom, and I verbally recognize their efforts at conferring even when this is their initial attempt. In essence, I am personalizing my observations and conversations for each teacher based on where they are and where they want to be.
Offer feedback judiciously. Unless trust is fostered between the administrator and teacher, any suggestions or idea sharing can be construed as a mandate or a judgment on classroom practice. Teacher identities are intertwined with their personal and professional lives. As a school leader I need to be aware of my level of trust with teachers and proceed cautiously with feedback. For example, I recently observed one of our teachers facilitating student discussion in groups of three. She would ask questions to check for comprehension as a whole group and then move on to the next part of the text. After the lesson was over, I acknowledged her decision to facilitate small-group discussion for building student comprehension. My next comment was feedback in the form of a question: “I saw this other teacher doing what you were doing. After they checked for understanding, they said to that same student, ‘Tell me more about that.’ What are your thoughts on that?” The teacher was receptive to the idea largely because (a) trust had been previously built between us through celebration, and (b) I started with celebration before offering any ideas.
The results of a more positive approach to classroom may be starting to reveal itself. Trust has increased between the staff and me, according to an annual survey. Possibly related, reading assessment results are also showing a decrease in the number of students below grade-level expectations. I am humble enough to admit that these outcomes are largely about teacher instruction. My role, after much reflection and professional shifting, is to be help create the conditions in which teachers can feel safe to take risks and improve.
The work is not done. This year, I am enrolled in a course on improving my coaching skills. Yet I am satisfied with the efforts so far in being more visible in our school in a way that is purposeful and influences student learning. And that could not have happened had I not hit “reset” on my current practices and habits as a school leader.
