In my last post I shared some tips to get started with informal walkthroughs. After posting it, I received this question on twitter: So, here are the books I read in classrooms during the first week of school… During my first year as Principal, I read: This was my favorite Read more…
Of all the things I have to do each day as a principal, my favorite “task” is getting into classrooms each day to see what students are learning. I actually don’t see it as a “task” of something I “have to do,” in fact I prefer it over all the Read more…
Here’s another cross-post of my Friday Focus post for staff, in which I openly reflect for them on how my practice impacts their reflection. I’d love to hear feedback from other administrators trying to balance between the coaching and evaluating hats.—————————————————————————————— In a previous Friday Focus posts I have shared Read more…
If I were to go back to being a classroom teacher, I think I would be one of the best teachers ever…not because I think so highly of myself, but because as a principal, I get to see the best practices in classrooms every day. I could take the best Read more…
Last week I tweeted that I had completed 126 classroom visits during the month of September and quickly had several replies from other administrators (in public mentions and direct messages): How long do you stay in a classroom? What form/method are you using? Do you always give teachers feedback? How Read more…
Blog 12 of Spilling Ink Challenge More on walk-throughs…I’ve explored various ways of keeping track of walk-throughs. This past year I used a spreadsheet for each quarter. On the left collumn were all teacher names (organized by grade level, then alphabetically, because that was easiest for me). Then there were Read more…
Blog 11 of Spilling Ink I’ve previously talked about my professional development plan (for state licensure renewal) being focused on using walk-throughs to improve student learning. My goal this year was to get into at least 15 classrooms each week and provide staff with meaningful feedback. When I wasn’t inundated Read more…