A strong instructional culture makes for a sustainable school culture, and it makes sense why: When teachers understand not just what they’re teaching, but how to teach it best, they embody the reflective, responsive, and mindful practices that sustain a thriving school environment.
As a result, teachers must have tools for strengthening their instructional knowledge in a sustainable manner. External training and conferences often do not lead to sustained gains in student achievement; rather, job-embedded experiences, where teachers learn in their own classrooms or in community with their colleagues, lead to the best results.
We can harness the fuel for job-embedded professional learning through sound practices to help ourselves and our colleagues take an evidence-based and inquiry-driven approach to professional learning. In addition to student work analysis protocols and efficient PLC processes, instructional rounds can provide a structure for teacher- and inquiry-driven learning.
Instructional rounds provide teachers opportunities to see one another in action and develop a “network” within their school to improve teaching and learning. Consider the following process to begin instructional rounds at your school.
1. Identify a research theme.
As a school, identify a research theme and research question. For example, to explore scaffolding, consider the following research question: How might we scaffold learning experiences to build learner agency? This question provides a lens through which to examine students’ behavior and work during instructional rounds.
One of my partner schools created this question in relation to a problem of practice. Aligning with the district’s goal of building learner agency, the school itself sought to strengthen student decision-making in the classroom. They wondered: How might we scaffold this process appropriately so that students are making productive decisions in the classroom?
2. Generate “look fors” related to the research theme.
To ensure investment from all staff, collaboratively create a list of success criteria related to the research theme. Provide teachers with research-based texts to inform the success criteria, and then guide them through an exercise where they generate ideas using sticky notes. Sort the sticky notes into groups, creating the list of success criteria—or “look fors”—that teachers can use during instructional rounds.
The aforementioned partner school generated the following to address their research question. Notice the precision of language:
- Students use strategies or tools that support them within their zones of proximal development.
- Students field questions through discourse that are appropriate to the task and developmental levels.
- Students can identify tools that are available to them for problem-solving and overcoming barriers.
- Students reflect on strengths and challenges to identify possible next steps for learning.
- Students make choices based on learning menus provided by teachers.
- Students articulate various ways they can demonstrate understanding.
Instructional rounds provide teachers opportunities to see one another in action and develop a 'network' within their school to improve teaching.
3. Hold a “pre-brief” before each session.
In the pre-brief, the facilitator should reiterate the research question and success criteria; provide participants time to ask clarifying questions and propose additional “look fors”; and share professional learning agreements for instructional rounds.
Consider the following norms for instructional rounds, ensuring they fit into your school’s culture:
- Observations are rooted in research. We are not judging our colleagues, but instead looking at evidence of student learning.
- We are all equals, and we are all learners. Default to questions, not judgments.
- Remain quiet observers while in classrooms. Do not interact with learners unless necessary to gain reliable data on student learning. Save questions and comments for the debrief.
- Stay present in body and in mind while in the lab lesson.
4. Create a schedule for instructional rounds (10–15 minutes per classroom).
While scheduling, find a variety of classrooms to visit, including a variety of grade levels and subject areas that provide a representative sample of the school. Make sure your research question and success criteria lend themselves to the time of day you will be conducting instructional rounds. Additionally, share the schedule a few days in advance, so teachers have time to inform students that they will have visitors.
5. Reflect on instructional rounds using a structured debrief.
Summarizing insights is critical to consolidating any professional learning experience. This is the step that builds capacity and, hopefully, transfers insights to future teaching experiences.
Consider prompting participants with scaffolded reflection on instructional rounds:
- What student behaviors or student artifacts provided evidence of the look fors?
- I saw ___.
- I noticed ___.
- What insights do you have about the research question?
- I realized ___.
- ___ was effective because ___.
- I used to think ___. Now I understand ___.
- What are your next steps?
- Tomorrow, I will try ___.
- I will stop ___.
- I need to do more research on ___.
Next steps are most effective when paired with a deadline. If a teacher is working with an instructional coach, the coach should plan to follow up on these actions in a future meeting.
A Cycle of Inquiry
The ultimate test of a research question is that teachers can return to it, gaining new insights with each set of instructional rounds. If instructional rounds are conducted monthly using these five steps, teachers will engage in a job-embedded cycle of inquiry. This process will both strengthen the instructional culture of the school and illustrate that rich professional learning can be sustainable, using the gifts their colleagues bring as the fuel for learning.
