Let’s preface this article with a couple of assumptions. First, the administrators in the building have created a culture where walkthroughs in a classroom a not “gotcha”, but they serve the dual purpose of coaching and assisting teachers while at the same time showing the importance to students that what is goes on the classroom is the most important thing that goes on a campus.
The Significance of Administrators Going into Classrooms
First and foremost, the principal and their team are the instructional leaders of the campus. Yes, they are also the culture leaders, vision leaders, and disciplinarian leaders of the campus; the instructional leaders of the campus need to be inspecting and monitoring the instruction on campus.
They need to see if their writing initiative is being executed the way it is supposed to be executed. Is the rigor level of the lesson meeting what is being asked on that state standard? Are the teachers growing in their profession? Are they giving them the tools they need to help students and themselves succeed? If administrators are not in classrooms, how can they effectively be the instructional leaders of a campus?
Second, being in classrooms equips the administrators to help defend the teachers with parents and other issues that might come up in the classroom. Unfortunately, today we find ourselves defending more than anything else. We had an incident last year where a parent was only getting bits and pieces of what was going on in a math teacher’s classroom. When the parent approached us about all that she had heard was going on, our personal walkthroughs in that classroom were able to diffuse the situation.
Thirdly, as instructional leaders, if administrators are not in the classroom with teachers, how are administrators supposed to have the credibility to help teachers grow professionally. How can an administrator who has not been in a classroom tell a teacher what they need to improve on?
Another angle of why administrators need to be going into the classroom is for the students. I tell my teachers every year (starting my seventh as a high school principal and twelfth as a high school administrator) that my purpose in a classroom is fifty percent for them and fifty percent for the students.
The students need to see administrators in classrooms because it adds importance to what is happening in the classroom. If a principal never went to a football game at a school, it would come across that it was not as important. Some people may say, “That principal is never here, I guess it doesn’t matter to him. Why should it matter to us?”
The same is true for students. It should not be a surprise to students when an administrator comes into the room. By administrators being in classrooms it shows the students you are monitoring the teachers and students. I take personal joy when students note that I have been in their classes a lot that day. It also creates a perception among students that you never know when an administrator will be around. The same is true for teachers…hopefully they never know when you are coming…keeping everyone a little more on their toes. I also would like to think when I beat students in Kahoot and participate in other classroom activities and discussions while I am there that they see the importance of what they are doing in the classroom.
What We Look For
The number one thing this administrator looks for when I walk into a classroom is not the objective on the board (although I touch on that in a minute), but evidence of learning taking place.
If the objective on the board says, “Students will be able to explain the difference between procaryotes and eucaryotes”, then that is what I expect progress toward or happening in the classroom. Is the product they are working on taking them toward that goal?
Second, is what students are doing on that product with the same rigor they are expected to perform later. For example, to explain the difference between procaryotes and eucaryotes, there will need to be some steps to get there. Are students going over the vocabulary for each one? Are they doing an exercise that will demonstrate the differences (thinking map)? Are they talking to each other about what differences and similarities they see in each? I might not be in the classroom to see a goal achieved, but I should see something happening that helps students achieve the objective.
Granted, in this example for the uber curriculum specialists out there, explaining is not on the highest end of Bloom’s Taxonomy. But in the end, we should see, hear, or watch something that is on that rigor level to achieve this standard/objective.
There are some other things we look for:
This administrator does prefer the objective to be on the board because I like the teacher to be able to refer to it is they need to ask a student what they are doing for that day, it also tells the students what the end result that day will be, and it helps me because I can’t walk around with everyone’s lesson plans every day.
Strong admin teams will also have different items they are focusing on that grading period. Maybe the focus is on classroom management, or what questions the teacher is asking, or where the teacher stations themselves most of the time.
These are more intricate but help the ultimate goal of whether or not the students are learning something in the classroom.
Two quick other examples for the teachers out there. This administrator is not a fan of movies, but at least if you have a movie connected to your learning standards, and a watching guide for the students to answer questions to, you have a chance to make something meaningful.
Last example, we had a walkthrough with a World Geography teacher who had students coloring maps in ninth grade. It didn’t look much different than a student in kindergarten coloring something.
However, after the students colored the map and other geographical aspects of the region, the students ended the lesson with a writing exercise on how the mountains and river’s locations would have impacted the movement of different groups in the region…and now we have some application. Application saved the day from what otherwise was a very low-level activity.
Walkthroughs are as much for the students as they are for the teachers, and as long as there is evidence of learning taking place, the walkthroughs will continue until learning is complete.
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