The more we immerse ourselves in the unexpected – like visiting different grade levels or subject areas – the more we benefit and can see possibilities for our own “classroom worlds”. Amy Burvall ‘PD Walkabout’

When it comes to change and transformation, a strategy often used to support the process is the classroom visit. The question though is whether the greatest benefit of such walkthroughs and observations is the feedback provided to the teacher or what we learn as an observer? This post was prompted by David Hopkins’ #OpenBlog19 series.


Alexis Wiggins, the daughter of the late Grant Wiggins, shared a reflection on her experience of shadowing a 10th and 12th grade students across two days. The focus was not on providing feedback for teachers, as is often the case, but instead on empathising with the learner. Her revelation was that high school students spend a majority of their time sitting passively and listening. In response, Wiggins left with a range of thoughts about what she would change in her own classroom, such as providing time to stretch, offer brief mini-lessons and dig into personal experiences.

Approaching feedback from the perspective of leadership, Peter DeWitt discusses some of the focuses associated with walkthroughts. This includes cooperative learning vs. cooperative seating or surface level vs. deep level questioning. In conclusion, DeWitt suggests that,

Too many times the success of walkthroughs is a myth because they focus on compliant behavior, and making sure te huachers are covering curriculum. Walkthroughs will be much more successful if they bring about deep learning on the part of students, teachers and the leaders who are doing them.”

What stands out for me is that, like Wiggins, DeWitt’s focus is on learning for all.

Continuing with the idea of learning, Amy Burvall explores the opportunities to engage with and give feedback to colleagues from disparate areas. The intent is to open ourselves to the serendipity. As she states:

The point is I think the more we immerse ourselves in the unexpected – like visiting different grade levels or subject areas – the more we benefit and can see possibilities for our own “classroom worlds”.

Through such strategies as the ‘Wow, How, Now’, Burvall demonstrates the benefits to being open to others.

Exploring effective teaching, Jason Borton discusses how giving all teachers the opportunity to participate allows for ownership over their own accountability.

Raising the performance of our entire teaching team is the focus as well as each teacher taking individual responsibility for improving their implementation of quality teaching practices.

With different teachers released each week, the focus is on collective feedback. However, on the flipside of this, each teacher is then given the opportunity to learn and reflect.


As someone who visits a lot of different schools it is not my play to provide feedback as to how things are. Like a flaneur, I am instead interested the lessons I can learn. Sometimes the best feedback is what we learn as an observer and self-determined learner, I think this is where coaching is so powerful.

As always, intrigued in your thoughts and learnings. Comments welcome.


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Image via JustLego101
Image via JustLego101

Google Classroom is a platform for communicating and collaborating using Google Apps for Education. Unlike other platforms, Classroom focuses on three key areas: pose questions, make announcements and set assignments. Although this may seem somewhat limited, as Alice Keeler demonstrates, it provides a foundations for so many possibilities.

Some of the benefits include:

  • Sharing Resources: Whether it be as an assignment or through the announcements, you can easily share resources with students. In addition to this, Classroom creates a structured filing system in Google Drive.
  • Structured Organisation: Unlike spaces like Edmodo which can end up with a random student who mysteriously has three accounts, Classroom provides a central management system through Google Apps Admin meaning that you can in fact add students yourself. In addition to this, you are now able to have multiple teachers, something that was not possible at the beginning.
  • Extending Google Apps: Not to be confused with Learning Management Systems, Classroom works best when it is integrated with Google Apps. For example, through the creation of an assignment you can generate an individual copy of a Google Doc.
  • Multiple Device: Like Edmodo, Classroom is available in the browser, as well as on the iPad and iPhone.
  • Assessment and Rubrics: Although there are answers, such as Alice Keeler’s Sheets Add-on RubricTab or Andrew Stillman’s use of Goobric and Doctopus, the easiest way to create a rubric with Classroom is by creating a copy for each student via assignments. Associated with this, Classroom provides the ability to turn work in. This means that students can signal to you that although they may have shared a document with you, they have actually finished with it
  • One Less Logon: A part of Google Apps, using Classroom as opposed to other spaces means one less log on for students to remember.

So what about you? Have you used Google Classroom in your classroom? What have you seen as some of the benefits and challenges? As always, comments welcome.

Resources


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