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One of the most powerful data collection strategies a district can employ is walkthroughs. They can provide clear, actionable feedback about how professional learning efforts are translating into the classroom. But making them effective requires setting up strong protocols and building a culture of teacher buy-in so that they can serve their purpose as formative assessment without feeling too evaluative to teachers.
In this article, we’re focusing on walkthroughs that are short visits to several classrooms. Although such walkthroughs may also be referred to as learning walks or instructional rounds, we use the term “blast” due to their nature–continuous, numerous, and brief.
Before you start implementing blast walkthroughs, how will you gather support from your staff? Consider hosting a meeting to establish clear expectations on the purpose, process, priorities, and information-sharing for the walkthroughs.
Define your scope and area of focus, making sure these are explicitly shared with teachers before the walkthroughs start.
Guiding Questions:
In general, visits should be short and unannounced to give you the most accurate reflection of a typical day.
Guiding Questions:
Your purpose should define who conducts the walkthroughs.
Guiding Questions:
What you do with the data you’ve collected afterward will define the success of your walkthroughs. Consider how the information will inform your professional learning approach and also how you can tighten the feedback loop to build teacher buy-in.
Guiding Questions:
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