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 First Day book as a … [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 other things that are on … [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 with you my goal to … [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 from each teacher I’ve seen … [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 do you make time for … [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 9 collumns…one for each week … [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 with tasks related to my … [Read more…]