Action Plan

If in doubt, ask an administrator…

Written by Laura Ross

Going into the last F2F meeting, I had already done a preliminary round of experiments relating to my action plan.  Based on a comment from @jmedved, I had decided to approach my Vice Principal for help with an upcoming observation assessment.  Conveniently, he was also due to come and observe one of my lessons, so I thought this could be a clever way to transfer the focus of the lesson from me to the students.  What followed ended up being one of the most constructive professional interactions I have had in over a decade of teaching.  It went something like this (very paraphrased version):

Administrator (over email):  Could we arrange a time to meet sometime before my lesson visit next week?

Me: Yes, that sounds good.  I really would like some ideas for the observation assessment I will be doing that lesson.  Maybe you could help me do it?

Administrator (during first meeting): Have you thought about using a spider web discussion? I saw another teacher use this during one of their lesson observations last year.  Here is a link: http://spiderwebdiscussion.com/

Me: I have only tried to record observation assessments using a rubric and ‘look fors’ before. That sounds really interesting.  Do you want to give it a try?  I can put a template together.

Administrator: Yes, see you next week.

To cut a long story short, our Vice Principal came to our lesson, we both wandered round listening and assessing the quality of student contributions to the Natural Resources Stakeholder Consultation meetings they were conducting.  Then we had a post lesson feedback meeting:

Administrator:  Here are my observations, what did you see from student X?

Me: Yes, I agree, it is really helpful to be able to discuss my observations with someone else and either confirm, or amend my assessments.  I really want to focus on deepening students’ thinking because I feel like time is short and we are only able to cover topics and issues in a superficial way.  This has been really helpful, thank you.

Administrator (comes to find me during parent teacher interviews): I have found this online course that you might be interested in.  You will get to work on it with two of your colleagues. https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ppe/program/visible-thinking 

Me: That sounds amazing!  It is exactly what I am looking for.  Where do I sign up?

The moral of the story is: find an administrator who shares your interests and they will be only too happy to help you achieve your goals.

I have just read the first chapter of ‘Making Thinking Visible’, but would really recommend it to anyone who is interested in inquiry and critical thinking.

11 thoughts on “If in doubt, ask an administrator…”

    1. Hi @jmedved, thanks again for the suggestion. It was great to have an in depth professional conversation – it felt a lot more natural and positive, rather than a box ticking exercise. I have been teaching for long enough now that I am reasonably confident going into an observation lesson, but that also means that I stopped finding them useful a while ago too. This time around, I felt like I definitely learned something. Having a specific focus and discussing something new that you are trialing for the first time / having an additional pair of hands during an observation assessment provides more of a basis for discussion. As an HR exercise, I would guess that it also gives the administrator a more realistic measure of a teacher’s skills and ability (as well as being a chance to get to know the member of staff a little better). I would recommend this as a route for administrators to try out too.

  2. This is a great post @lross. You aptly demonstrate learning in action as a result of the initiative you have taken to seek out feedback and advice from school administration. Many educators typically employ teacher-to-teacher feedback in pedagogical design. It is great to see that you have cast your net a tad wider to use valuable resources at hand in the school community. Thank you for sharing the spider web discussion method. This looks like a simple way to make thinking visible, and also to document student conversations.

    1. Thanks @mbrims, it was great. I found it useful to get some input from someone outside our usual department / course team circles. I was really surprised and impressed that the administrator (who shall remain nameless) went the extra mile to sort out a PD opportunity after our conversations.

      One of the questions on the 3rd F2F placemat was ‘Who listens to you when you have a challenge, or new idea?’ I honestly couldn’t think of anyone… Hopefully, that has begun to change. I suppose it just takes time before people get to know what you are doing and what your interests are.

  3. Hey @lross, what a wonderful experience to have had with an administrator. I think this is the future of education. Less focus on punitive and more support for teachers who are on a continuum of growth at all times in their careers. This book and course is where I got those Visible Thinking Routines that I shared with you earlier this year and many Ts at my school have benefitted from the course offered through Harvard Edu. The other course that has changed people is Teaching for Understanding – Harvard as well, it looks at throughlines and figuring out what is meaningful learning. It’s also an excellent course for later perhaps.

    Thanks for sharing the spider web discussion. Have you looked at Parlay – it’s a great way to make students thinking visible and to record their thoughts on various aspects of a project or concept.

    I hope things are rolling well with your action plan! @jbornstein @ckirsch @lmustard @amacrae

    1. Hi @ddoucet, yes I would definitely approach an administrator again for suggestions and help with large scale projects. I think it was good for the administrator to see the students in their natural habitat too! I try to practice what I preach – you can’t expect those around you, or your students to adopt a growth mindset, unless you yourself exemplify to begin with. I hope I manage to stay on the path to life long learning, I am some way off bitter and cynical yet.

      I have used Parlay a couple of times and intend to do another parlay class discussion assessment after March Break. The other project I am experimenting with over the next couple of weeks, is a Sustainable Lake Management presentation assessment with grade 7. I have built on the inquiry journal idea from my previous Comparing Earthquakes experiment last term. Instead of a conversation assessment, I am going to try a different observation assessment recording technique. The kids are in groups of 3-4, so will test out a new look fors recording sheet I put together based on their generated assessment criteria for good presentation skills, and some from the rubric.

      I have finished reading the Making Thinking Visible book and have challenged myself to test out a couple of thinking routines per week as part of my regular lessons. My favorite so far is the 3-2-1 (3 words, 2 questions and 1 metaphor / simile / anecdote) for gauging and building upon existing understanding. The other I have tried is Generate, Sort, Connect, Elaborate. It is great for stimulating discussion after students have been introduced to a new topic, or read a fairly involved article / text. I will post about other favorites over the next month or so. The Harvard course starts this week, so should be interesting. I am also considering doing a Global Citizenship one over the summer, since this is another pet project of mine.

      1. Hi @lross,
        I love the protocols you have tried! How did your Sustainable Lake Management project go? Are you in the thick of the Visible Thinking course? Are there any new insights that have come about?

        Looking forward to connecting again soon!

        1. The Sustainable Lake Management Presentations went well too, once they had chosen an appropriate case study (some groups were determined to choose one in the middle of nowhere, or volcanic and void of life!) I was pleasantly surprised at how well the grade 7s put their slides together, they collaborated better than expected. I felt having them each take responsibility for one section eg. human impacts, then come together at the end to create a sustainable management plan for the final two slides worked well. It meant that most students had a broader understanding of the case study as a whole, rather than simply an in depth knowledge of their own section. Avoiding creating an elaborate jigsaw activity in group work is always a challenge.

          Yes, we are in the middle of the Visible Thinking course. It is a bit time consuming, but much more practical than most PD I have done. It is also better having to do it as a small group. I have tried out several of the thinking routines over the last few weeks. My current favorites are:
          Connect-Extend-Challenge
          Claim-Support-Question
          Sentence-Phrase-Word
          They are fairly self explanatory! What I like is that they are more formulaic ways to approach activities that I have been doing for a long time. Making the process more overt and signposting the type of thinking that is required will, I hope, become helpful to students over time. Last week was all about helping students become more sensitive to the type of thinking disposition they should apply to a given task. Ideally, they should become increasingly able to identify an appropriate approach independently, once they are used to the routines. We are just beginning to experiment with the routines, so it will be interesting to see how our students respond over a longer period.

          Laura

  4. Hi @lross,

    I echo the sentiments above, and applaud your admin’ too! It’s great when a need meets an idea and it gets some traction. It would be great to hear from your admin’ on your blog now too 😉

    But seriously, I think that these approaches that you’re taking are really important in making not only the thinking visible, but also student learning. I am curious as to your students’ reaction to these tools. Any feedback?

    @ddoucet I’m interested in that Global Citizenship one – can you send me the details?

    1. I think it has been a very valuable experience for me. The students are always a bit suspicious of new approaches, but I think most like a change from the usual repertoire. They seem to respond most to the clear structure – it is very obvious to them what information is required for the specific phase of the task. That said, I do not stick religiously to the prescribed routines, but tend to pick and choose which aspects fit best with my objectives for the lesson.

      I would recommend reading the book to anyone looking for some new scaffolding ideas. I think the course would be good for anyone looking for some immersive and highly usable PD.

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