Instructional Rounds

Medical rounds have been used in the world of medicine for many years for improvement. Instructional rounds are a spinoff of this process. We began researching a more robust process for our teachers to observe each other and improve their practice in the spring of 2020. We started with our Teacher Leader Academy educators and have since rolled out a formal process for this school year. Our two instructional coaches (Mrs. Seykora and Mrs. Hager) have provided a simple five-step process to follow for our teachers. We are currently targeting our newer staff and their PLCs. 

1. Identify a problem of practice

Your PLC will identify a problem of practice. The problem of practice is something that would make a difference for student learning if you improve it. A rich problem of practice includes:

• Observable goals 
• Actionable goals (is within the teacher’s control and can be improved in real-time)
• A broad strategy of improvement (school, system)
• High-leverage actions (if acted on, student learning would be significantly increased)
• A focus on the learning you want to see, not teaching (focus on students, not teachers)

2. Observe the team's practice

Each PLC will observe all team members; also, you may observe other teachers.  You will try to improve learning in a network, not evaluate any educator. Be descriptive, not evaluative. Focus on what students are actually doing, not what the teacher has asked them to do. 

Questions to help identify what evidence will be collected and shared:

• What are teachers doing and saying? 
• What are students doing and saying? 
• What kinds of evidence would the group like to gather for the host teacher? 
• What did you hear and see? 

3. Observation debrief

The purpose of the debrief is to consider the collected evidence together and to move from agreeing on what people saw to eventually agreeing on what learning would result from what they saw. There are three steps to the debrief: description, analysis, and prediction. 

Basic principles for debriefings: 

• Stick to evidence
• Designate a facilitator/timekeeper and a note taker
• Debrief by questions or by classroom
• Share talk time (everyone speaks once before anyone speaks twice)

4. Reflection

Individual teachers should continually assess where they are at concerning the learning goal. What support do they need? Is student learning effective as a result of the goal? 

5. Next level of work 

Group members think together about what the resources should be and what kinds of support will best meet the needs of teachers to move instruction to the next level (i.e., Watch Lincspring lessons together, read research on the topic, record sample lessons, etc.). 

Here is the guiding document we have developed to guide this process in our district. 

If you're looking for an excellent resource on this topic, you'll want to check out this book: Instructional Rounds in Education