Expectations about Participation



Expectations about Participation

Directions: Respond honestly to each of the questions below—where 1 = low and 7 = high. There is no “right” or expected answer. You should take into account your emotional, physical, and intellectual energy for today’s session.

1. How valuable an experience do you plan to have in this session—not what kind of experience you want, but what kind do you plan to have?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Not valuable Very valuable

2. How engaged and active do you plan to be?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Not engaged Very engaged and

actively learning

3. How much risk are you willing to take?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Not willing to take risks Very willing to take risks

4. How invested are you in the quality of the experience of those around you? What is your level of concern about the well-being of the larger group?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Unconcerned about Very concerned about

others’ learning others’ learning

Reflections on Learning Processes that Promote Group and Individual Thoughtfulness

|Process and Description |Value to Learner |Potential Use with School Faculty and Learning |Potential Classroom Uses |

| | |Teams | |

|Expectations for Participation. A 4-item survey| | | |

|that asks participants to reflect on the | | | |

|commitment they are willing to make to the | | | |

|quality of the learning experience. Sharing | | | |

|ratings provides opportunities to meet others, | | | |

|to think aloud, and to begin to take risks as a | | | |

|learner. | | | |

|Ink Think. (p. 98, LQQ) | | | |

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|Read articles to expand Ink Think | | | |

|understandings. | | | |

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|Process and Description |Value to Learner |Potential Use with School Faculty and Learning |Potential Classroom Uses |

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|Reflective Questioning. (pp. 104-105, LQQ) | | | |

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|Four-corner synectics (p. 96, LQQ) | | | |

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|Interview Design. (pp. 100-101, LQQ) | | | |

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|Process and Description |Value to Learner |Potential Use with School Faculty and Learning |Potential Classroom Uses |

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|Connect/Extend/Challenge. Harvard Project Zero. | | | |

|Making Thinking Visible. | | | |

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|Bingo. | | | |

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|Four A’s text-based protocol. | | | |

|(National School Reform Faculty web-site) | | | |

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|Process and Description |Value to Learner |Potential Use with School Faculty and Learning |Potential Classroom Uses |

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|Final Word text-based protocol (p. 90, LQQ) | | | |

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|Say Something. (p. 106. LQQ) | | | |

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|Think/Pair/Share. (p. 108, LQQ) | | | |

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|Process and Description |Value to Learner |Potential Use with School Faculty and Learning |Potential Classroom Uses |

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|Here’s What, So What, Now What (NSRF website) | | | |

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Personal Theory of Action

Name: ___________________________________ Date: ____________________________

If I, as School Improvement Specialist,_____________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________;

then principals will ____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________;

and teachers will _______________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________;

and students will _______________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________;

and then, student learning and achievement will increase.

Ink Think: Individual Reflections

Think about each of the six ideas below. What does each one mean to you, in the context of the work that you will be doing as a School Improvement Specialist? Why might this concept (or approach to the work) be important in the work of school improvement? Quickly and silently record your ideas for each of the six concepts below.

1. Developing Relationships

2. Establishing Focus and Coherence

3. Creating a Collaborative Learning Culture

4. Initiating and Sustaining Change

5. Maximizing Individual and Organizational Capacity

6. Promoting Data-Informed Decisions

Deepening Our Understanding

Directions: Read the article(s) suggested for your lever. As you read, highlight concepts of interest and ideas you would like to remember. Also, look for:

• confirmation of ideas that appear on the “Ink Think” wall charts; and

• concepts and ideas that did not emerge through the Ink Think process. These latter ideas, you will add to your wall charts after discussion.

1. Establishing Focus and Coherence

• Curtis & City, Strategy in Action, pp. 3, 20-25

• Wagner, Change Leadership, pp. 65-68

2. Leading and Sustaining Change (Mobilizing)

• Wagner, Change Leadership, excerpts from pp..68-75

• Walsh & Sattes, Leading Through QQ, pp. 44-45

3. Maximizing Individual and Organizational Capacity

• Walsh & Sattes, Leading through Quality Questioning, pp. 36-42

• Wagner, 98-110

4. Promoting Data-Informed Decisions & Accountability

• Wagner, Change Leadership, pp. 134-137

• Curtis & City, Strategy in Action, p.p. 72-80 and 109-112

5. Creating a Collaborative Learning Culture

• Curtis & City, Strategy in Action, pp. 38-43

• Wagner, Change Leadership, pp. 71-80

6. Developing Relationships

• Coaching Conversations, Chapter 3, “Committed Listening,” pp. 23-25, 30-42

• Wagner, Change Leadership, pp 68-74

• Attached reading, “Developing Relationships”

Read as much as you can until time is called. In round-robin fashion, share ideas. Write down ideas that do not appear on the Ink Think product so that they can be added by members of your team.

Developing Relationships*

“Without trust, there can be no coaching….Trust can increase and become more solid, and it can be taken away.” Rafael Echeverria and Julio Olalla, The Art of Ontological Coaching

The person being assisted by a school improvement specialist is continuously assessing the trustworthiness of the SIS by asking such things as: Can I count on what she says? Is he sincere? How reliable is this person? Do they know what they are talking about? Could they do this job?

In the book, Blended Coaching, the authors suggest basic ideas that are incorporated into the following checklist for School Improvement Specialists. You may want to assign a rating (A-F or 1-5) or not; the most important aspect is to consider what evidence you could use to demonstrate this characteristic.

|Basic to Positive Relationship |Rating of Self |Evidence for Rating |

|Sincerity | | |

|Am I fully present with clients? | | |

|Am I truthful? | | |

|Do I admit mistakes? | | |

|Do I maintain confidentiality? | | |

|Do I respect others? | | |

|Reliability | | |

|Are expectations (for myself and others) clear? | | |

|Do I keep commitments? | | |

|Do I walk my talk? | | |

|Do I give equal opportunity to all clients? | | |

|Competence | | |

|Do I share my experience? | | |

|Do I admit when I don’t know? | | |

|Do I look for resources when I don’t know? | | |

|Do I understand the difference between being a competent | | |

|coach and being a competent principal or teacher? | | |

|Do I establish high expectations for myself and others? | | |

Building Rapport

“We define rapport as a state of harmony and understanding between two people. In a powerful coaching relationship, trust and rapport feed one another and create a space where tough issues can be addressed and where significant growth can occur.” (Blended Coaching, p. 29)

1. Make connections. To many, this seems like a surface task: getting to know others personal and professional experiences. But understanding another person’s world means understanding where they come from, what makes them tick. Much like good teachers get to know their students. Take the time to get to know others personally and professionally. Discover commonalities.

2. Be fully present. When you are in conversation, turn off all technology, forget your personal problems, think only of the relationship.

3. Use body language intentionally. We all communicate non-verbally as well as verbally. What are you saying with your eyes? With your posture? Research has been done to suggest that mirroring others’ body movements helps establish rapport.

4. Listen, listen, listen. Try to get behind the other person’s thinking; listen to fully understand. Try to limit your “autobiographical” listening stance; being in rapport “is the ability to enter someone else’s model of the world and let them know that we truly understand.” (Instant Rapport.)

5. Accept, don’t judge. We are all drawn to people who feel safe, with whom we are not threatened. Judgmentalism is a trap from which few relationships recover. When we are judged, we sense the other person’s disdain and sense of superiority. Remember to check for clients’ feelings. Sometimes, we assume that strong and competent teachers are FEELING confident and competent. That’s not always true. They may be feeling judged, even though that is not your intent. Keep listening; keep checking.

Reflective Questioning:

Reflections on Beliefs about How People Learn

Directions: Take a few minutes to reflect on the prompt in the left column. Jot down your responses. Then think about the questions in the right column; record your thoughts. Be ready to speak to another person about your ideas.

|What is your philosophy of learning, that is, what do you believe | Based on your beliefs about learning, what are the implications for |

|about how people learn? What are the necessary and optimum conditions|the work you will be doing in schools as a school improvement |

|for learning? What do teachers do to increase comprehension, skills, |specialist? That is, how can you apply your beliefs as you work with |

|and knowledge? |administrators, teachers, and others in your school to increase their |

| |understanding, skills, and knowledge? |

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Reflective Questioning Protocol: Description

Directions: Over the course of the next 20-25 minutes, you will work in triads to reflect on ideas about learning—and how these ideas and beliefs will affect your work as a School Improvement Specialist. By following the Reflective Questioning protocol, you will be able to learn from and with one another.

1. For each round, designate one member of the triad as the interviewer, another as the reflecting member, and the third as the observer. Rotate roles for each of 3 rounds.

2. Reflective Questioning (8 minutes)

• The reflecting member begins by talking about his or her personal beliefs and philosophy about learning. He continues by thinking about the implications of this for his or her new job, School Improvement Specialist. In what ways do adults learn best? What can the facilitator do? What conditions can be established to best facilitate learning?

• The interviewer asks questions for clarity; probes to get behind the thinking of the reflector (e.g., “Could you say more about that?” “When you use that word, can you explain what it means to you?”); and prompts for deeper thinking, (“How will that feel to you?” “What problems can you foresee with that approach?”) The goal is to listen to understand, providing encouraging feedback and questions or comments to encourage the reflector to think and share at a deep level.

• The observer watches and listens carefully, taking notes on the following page about what is said—especially when it is of interest to him or her. The observer records the questions and comments (verbal cues) that seem to prompt reflection as well as non-verbal cues (silence, nodding, learning forward) that seem to stimulate deep thinking and reflection.

3. At the conclusion of the third round, share your observations with one another. What kinds of questions seemed to stimulate deep thinking? What comments did? What non-verbal behaviors seemed important?

|Ideas from the Reflector that I Find Interesting, Confusing, or Memorable |

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|Verbal Cues and Questions that Prompt Thinking |Non-Verbal Behaviors and Cues that Appear to Prompt Thoughtfulness |

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Begin with the End in Mind

Imagine a school that you are working with. It is the year 2015. The school has been recognized as a high-performing school. Students in all sub-groups are learning at high levels.

You are doing classroom walk-throughs for a final time. Close your eyes and imagine what you see.

Now focus especially on the students. What are they doing? What do they say when you talk to them about their work? How are they interacting with one another? With the teacher? Write down your observations below.

Improved Communications: Interview Design

1. Questioning: “In our heartfelt urgency to improve student outcomes now, we educators tend not to ask those sorts of questions, which invariably take precious time to answer and, interestingly, often lead to more questions.” (R.E. Curtis & E.A. City, Strategy in Action, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2009, p. 68)

Questions:

a. What do you believe to be the characteristics of the questions to which these authors refer? (Provide specific examples of the questions themselves, if possible.)

b. Think now about the questioning process—the ways in which you ask questions and seek client response. What specific questioning strategies do you believe support productive responding?

2. Listening: “By deliberately deciding to be a committed listener, you convey to the other person that they are valued, that you are open to their ideas even if you do not agree with them, and that you sincerely want to engage in a dialogue rather than a monologue. Through committed listening, you are able to build relationships and trust or at least maintain a neutral stance.” (L.G. Cheliotes & M.F. Reilly, Coaching Conversations, Thousand Oaks CA: Corwin Press, 2010, p. 23)

Questions:

a. What strategies do you associate with committed listening?

b. What are the barriers to engaging in this type listening?

3. Dialogue: Peter Block writes: “If learning and change are truly our intent, a slower, more demanding, and more deliberative approach is required. We have to value struggle over prescription, questions over answers, tension over comfort, and capacities over needs and deficiencies.” (p. 330, Flawless Consulting, 2nd Edition, Jossey Bass) Dialogue is a conversational pattern that can be used to expand our understanding of a given problem or issue and refrain from jumping to conclusions or making recommendations. It is the type of conversation we will have with clients if we accept Block’s statement.

Questions:

a. What do you believe to be the salient features of dialogue?

b. In what situations related to your work with client schools do you believe that dialogue would be appropriate and productive?

4. Reflection: Reflection is a primary feature of cognitive coaching as conceptualized by A.L. Costa and R.J. Garmston (Cognitive Coaching, Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, 2002). “Cognitive coaching strengthens professional performance by enhancing one’s ability to examine familiar patterns of practice and reconsider underlying assumptions that guide and direct action. Cognitive Coaching’s unique contribution is that it influences another person’s thought processes. Cognitive Coaching is systematic, rigorous, and data-based. The initial purpose of this model is to enhance an individual’s capacity for self-directed learning through self-management, self-monitoring, and self-modification.” (p. 5)

Questions:

a. What do you believe to be the most important benefits associated with reflection and reflective practice?

b. What strategies can you use to nurture and enhance reflection and reflective practice?

5. Formative Feedback: Feedback is a component of cognitive coaching. Art Costa and Robert Garmston write: “Feedback is the energy source of self-renewal. However, feedback will improve practice only when it is given in a skillful way. Research by Carol Sanford has found that value judgments or advice from others reduces the capacity for accurate self-assessment. Feedback that is data-driven, value-free, necessary, and relevant, however, activates self-evaluation, self-analysis, and self-modification.” (p. 24)

Questions:

a. In your opinion, what kinds of opportunities will you have for providing educators in your assigned schools with formative feedback?

b. What do you believe to be the barriers to the giving and receiving of the type feedback described by Costa and Garmston?

Connect/Extend/Challenge(

Reflecting to make thinking visible:

1. How are the ideas and information presented and reviewed today CONNECTED to what you already knew and believed?

2. What new ideas did you get that EXTENDED or pushed your thinking in new directions?

3. What is still CHALLENGING or confusing for you to get your mind around? What questions, wonderings, or puzzles do you now have?

Bingo

Find a different person to answer each of the questions below. (In other words, no one can answer more than one of the questions below.) Put their name and the answer in each square. When you have found answers to all 16 questions, shout “bingo” and come to claim your prize!

|What are the three components of |What educational issues were |What is a Tier 1 school? How many |What is the job of Chuck Heinlein? |

|the Instructional Core? |addressed at the recent legislative|Tier I schools have been identified| |

| |special session? |in WV? | |

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|Who are the authors of Coaching |In your own words, describe a |What are the four levels of Depth |What is a CAG? Name at least 3. |

|Conversations? |“Theory of Action.” |of Knowledge (DOK)? | |

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|Where can you find descriptions of |What is the job of Jan Stanley? |Who are the authors of Blended |Who is the U. S. Secretary of |

|many group processes we have used | |Coaching? |Education? |

|during this training? | | | |

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|What is one example of the results |Who is the Superintendent of |What is the job of Richard |What is the most important thing |

|of the CAG work in schools? |Schools in West Virginia? |Lawrence? |you learned yesterday or last |

| | | |night? |

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Listening and Dialogue: Application

Form triads. Decide upon roles: one to be principal, one to be school improvement specialist, and one to be observer.

Task: Role play an entrance interview between the principal and school improvement specialist. Guiding ideas are included on the two pages related to contracts. The main purposes of this role play are:

1) to practice listening

2) to think about issues that need to be addressed with the principal

3) to consider—and validate—the principal’s point of view

4) to consider the value of a written contract for your work as school improvement specialist.

Having an observer of the role play serves two functions:

1) Having someone observe the interaction will cause both members of the role play to be more conscientious of what they say and how they say it. It will engage their own personal “observer” role.

2) The observer can give feedback—primarily to the school improvement specialist—on examples of listening that facilitated entry into dialogue between the two.

Before the role play begins, read through the two pages attached dealing with “contract” issues.

Then gather with others who have been assigned your role.

As school improvement specialists, consider the questions that you may ask.

As observers, decide what you will look for and how you will record.

As principals, think together about how you might perceive the school improvement specialist. Discuss the issues about which you will be the most concerned and perhaps the most sensitive. How might you demonstrate that sensitivity? Attempt to make your role as realistic as possible.

Contract: An Idea for School Improvement Specialists

Peter Block has served as a business consultant for many years. The role of School Improvement Specialist is the role of consultant: someone has hired you (or brought you to a school) to solve a problem. Often the consultant is expected to tell people how to solve the problem: the expert role. This usually does not address the real problem (which may be always looking for outside help; not building internal capacity) which is often much more complex than initially perceived. Another role of consultants is the pair-of-hands: doing the work for the organization. This is hard for a school improvement specialist, since they can’t be in all classrooms all the time. However, there are always things to do at a school; we have known some SIS folks who wrote and mailed invitations for parent night. Block advocates for a third role—collaborative—in which the consultant and client work together to solve a problem. This helps to build capacity; however it requires getting clear on expectations up front. If expectations, roles, and responsibilities are not addressed initially, the school will assume that the consultant is going to do the work and ‘fix’ things for them.

According to Peter Block, effective consultants negotiate contracts that explicate the roles and expectations of both parties. In consulting, sometimes that person is hiring you; more often, as in your position, someone else has decided to hire you but the work will be with the manager—or, in your case, with the principal and staff. The contract, as described by Block, is not so much a legal written document as it is a discussion that leads to clear understanding by both parties.

Creating a written summary ensures that both parties have a shared understanding of the discussion. So you may want to consider having a written summary/contract for the expectations of your working relationship.

Block asserts that to complete the contract successfully requires that the consultant behave authentically. What does that mean to you? It requires making yourself vulnerable, admitting “not knowing” or feeling uncomfortable about the relationship between yourself and the principal. As Block says, “It is always necessary to talk about control, vulnerability, your wants, and chances of success.” (p. 59)

What do you need to talk about?

How will you work together?

What does the principal think is your role? What do you think is your role? What do you think is the role of the principal?

How can you best help at the school?

How will you decide the initial focus of the work? Who will decide?

How will your role be communicated to the faculty?

When will you be at the school? Where will you be (office location)?

Other issues:

Ideas for a Written Contract*

1. Identify the areas to be addressed

2. Specify objectives for your work

3. Identify the requirements of your access to communication and data

4. Explicate how you expect to work with the school

a. Expert

b. Pair of hands

c. Collaborative

5. Specific product: oral or written product to whom and when

6. The specific support you need

7. Time schedule

8. Confidentiality

The Four A’s: A Text-Based Protocol*

Silently, read the assigned text, pages 19-27 in Leading with Quality Questioning, by Walsh and Sattes.

As you read, look for answers to the following four questions:

– What is an Assumption the author holds?

– What is something with which you Agree in the text?

– What is something you would like to Argue with in the text?

– What is something, in the text, to which you would like to Aspire?

Mark your responses with highlighters or post-notes so that you can refer to them later during group discussion.

In share-around fashion, ask each person to identify one of the assumptions they identified, citing the text (with page numbers, if appropriate) as evidence.

Continue in rounds about each of the A’s, taking them one at a time – what do people want to argue with, agree with, and aspire to in the text? Try to move seamlessly from one “A” to the next, giving each “A” enough time for full exploration.

Then move into a conversation about the text, exploring the question, “what does this mean for our work with schools?”

Finally, debrief the process of the text-based protocol. What did you like? What would you change?

The Final Word

Purpose: To explore a shared reading, to clarify thinking, expand perspectives, and build on one another’s thinking.

Preparation: Read Chapter 5, “Reflective Feedback” (pp. 63-77,) in Coaching Conversations. Identify at least three ideas that seem important to you. What concepts strike you as being of real significance—or raise questions for you? As you select your ideas, write them below or otherwise mark them in your book:

Idea Page, Paragraph, and Line in Text

1. _____________________________________ ___________________________

2. _____________________________________ ___________________________

3. _____________________________________ ___________________________

Process for Sharing and Discussion:

1. Select a facilitator and a timekeeper to keep your group’s discussion moving along. The facilitator will help the group follow the protocol and keep the discussion directed to the reading. The timekeeper needs a watch with second hand to keep time so everyone gets an opportunity to participate.

2. One person leads off by sharing one of his or her identified ideas. Direct others to the place in the text that you found your idea. Talk briefly about why this idea struck you and how you think it relates to the challenges you face. (up to 3 minutes) While the person speaks, others listen and take notes.

3. Proceeding around the circle in a clockwise fashion, every one in the discussion circle comments on the idea introduced by the first speaker. (no more than one minute per respondent) While each person speaks, others listen and take notes.

4. The person who began then has the “final word” about this idea—responding to colleagues’ comments. (up to 1 minute)

5. The next person in the circle then shares one of his or her ideas, repeating steps 2-4 until each one in the circle has presented.

6. Concluding Discussion: What significance does this have for us? How did this process work for us? How might we use the process with our students?

Promoting Reflection and Dialogue—Role-Plays

Directions: You will assume one of the following roles in a role-play focused on your assigned scenario: (a) the school improvement specialist, (b) the client, or (c) the process observer. Prior to the role-play, you will meet with one or two other individuals who will be assuming your role. The two or three of you will have an opportunity to prepare for the role-play. Here are suggestions to guide the preparation stage:

a) School Improvement Specialists: Formulate a limited number of focus questions to guide your conversation with the client or, in the case of Scenario #3, a colleague. Identify possible probing questions that might be needed to engage your conversation-mate in deeper reflection or dialogue. Also, review communications strategies that you want to practice during this role-play.

b) Clients: Try to put yourself in the identified client’s shoes. While we do not want to stereotype individuals, decide the type of persona the client you are role-playing will display, e.g., (1) passive and compliant—just tell me what to do and I’ll do my best; (2) defensive—we’re doing our best at this school; you just don’t know what we have to deal with; (c) open and eager to learn; or (d) some other prototype. Think about possible substantive responses the client might have to the school improvement specialist’s focus. Identify some themes you want to inject into this role-play.

c) Process Observers: Review the communications strategies—for example, questioning, listening, reflection, and dialogue—that we examined earlier in our session. Identify evidence you would look for to assess the extent to which the school improvement specialist is using best practice communications. Talk about other things you might look or listen for in your role as process observer. At the end of the role-play, you will provide feedback to your colleagues who were engaged in the role-play.

Suggested Times: Preparation—12 minutes; Role-Play—12 minutes; Feedback/Debrief—6 minutes

Scenario #1: The school improvement specialist assigned to Spring Blossom School has an appointment with the school’s principal to find out the focus of the school’s professional development for the past two years—and the principal’s perception of its effectiveness. She is particularly interested in any evidence the principal has of changes in teachers’ instructional practice as a result of each p.d. initiative as well as improvements in student learning and achievement that the principal might attribute to professional development. The SIS has already reviewed the school’s improvement plans for these two years and identified several professional development goals, including differentiated instruction, cooperative learning, and literacy across the curriculum. She cannot tell from the plans, however, what specific activities were to be implemented to achieve these goals, nor can she find any documentation associated with these goals.

Scenario #2: The school improvement specialist newly assigned to New Hope School has reviewed the literature of high-impact instructional strategies and concluded that formative assessment and formative feedback are key to improving instructional effectiveness and student learning. Although he plans to dedicate a significant amount of time to working with the principal and building a leadership team to develop strategies for improving collaboration and culture across the school, he is convinced that he must find a powerful lever for change at the classroom level—and he believes formative assessment and feedback to be strong candidates. His plan is to talk with each grade-level team about current practice in this area. He knows that it will be important to pose focus questions that will engage teachers in reflection and dialogue about this practice. His goals are to find out how knowledgeable teachers currently are regarding assessment for learning and current assessment practices that might be modified or strengthened to provide information about students’ progress toward identified instructional goals.

Scenarios #3: Two school improvement specialists have just completed their first month in this new role in adjacent school districts. They have arranged to meet to share what they’ve done and to engage in reflective dialogue about their personal practice. More specifically, they have agreed to select one of the six levers for change that were introduced in their initial training and to talk about their perception of personal strengths and challenges related to this lever—particularly, of course, as they are attempting to use them in their work in assigned schools. The focus of today’s conversation will be with Marge (in the role of client for this role play), who has selected “Developing Relationships” as her lever for reflective dialogue. Robert, the other SIS, has chosen “Establishing Focus and Coherence.” They have agreed that when they talk, they will be intentional in their use of the communication skills they reviewed in their first training—including questioning, reflection, active listening, and dialogue.

Here’s What, So What, Now What

Observer’s Form

Teacher: _______________________________ Observer: ___________________________

Date: __________________ Time: __________ Lesson Topic: ________________________

Directions: Reflect upon the teaching session that you observed. Use the form below to record your ideas about what you saw (descriptive). Think about what it means and be ready to ask the teacher for his or her own conclusions about the data. Finally, consider what you believe might be a good next step. Be sure the teacher makes this decision; you may want to give input, however, the next steps need to be in the control of the teacher.

Here’s What: Considering the data you collected, what are the most important things to share with the teacher? Include descriptive (not evaluative) data which might be construed either positively or negatively by the teacher.

So What: What do these data mean? Data are just numbers until meaning is attached to them. What does it mean to you? What does it mean to the teacher who was observed? What can we conclude that is positive? What can we conclude that could benefit from attention and effort?

Now What: What are the next steps? Having listened to the teacher talk about the data, interpretation of the data, things that were positive and things that need attention, where would we get the biggest pay-off for change? What does the teacher believe will make the most difference?

Note: If the “now what” are teacher behaviors, think about the relationship of all three parts of the instructional core. What are the implications for the content? For student behavior, skills, and attitudes?

Here’s What, So What, Now What

Observed Teacher’s Form

Teacher: _______________________________ Observer: ___________________________

Date: __________________ Time: __________ Lesson Topic: ________________________

Directions: Reflect upon the teaching session that was observed. Use the form below to record your ideas about what happened. Think about went well and what you wish might have gone differently. What might you have done differently? Listen as the observer reports what he or she saw and heard. Think about what the data means. Be ready to draw your own conclusions about the data. Finally, consider what you believe might be a good next step. Ask for the observer’s opinions as you think appropriate.

Here’s What: What data did the observer see and share with you? What data do you have about the lesson that was observed?

So What: What do these data mean? Data are just numbers until meaning is attached to them. What does it mean to you? What can we conclude that is positive? What can we conclude that could benefit from attention and effort?

Now What: What are the next steps? Having listened to the data, thought about what it meant, considered the things that were both positive and that need attention, where might you make changes? What would you like most to do to benefit students?

Logic Model for ____________________________________ (Lever for School Improvement)

As a team, talk about what might be involved in doing the work to put this lever in place to assist in accomplishing school improvement.

1. Think about specific activities that you might undertake as a school improvement specialist. Identify at least three. Describe each activity in one of the boxes in the first column of the table below.

2. For each activity, what resources (time, personnel, money, and materials) would be needed to accomplish it?

3. In the third column of each row, describe how you will know if that activity has been accomplished or not. This is not an indication of the results (or success) of the activity, this is evidence that the activity has been completed.

4. What is the desired result or outcome of each activity? What are you hoping to accomplish with this activity?

5. How will you measure that outcome? For example, if the outcome is “teacher buy-in,” what will you use as evidence or a measure of that outcome?

6. In the final column, identify assumptions, i.e., what assumptions are behind the thinking that this activity will result in this outcome?

|Activity |Resources |Outputs |Outcomes |Measures |Assumptions |

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|Activity |Resources |Outputs |Outcomes |Measures |Assumptions |

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|As SIS, I will… |How I Can Monitor |

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|then principals will… |How I Can Monitor |

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|then teachers will… |How I Can Monitor |

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|And students will… |How I Can Monitor |

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|then student learning and achievement will increase. |How I Can Monitor |

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* This reading is a summary of excerpts from Blended Coaching, Bloom et. al., (pp. 26-32) and Renewal Coaching, Reeves, (pp. 180-185).

( From Harvard Project Zero, Making Thinking Visible.

* Block, Peter. Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer Publishing. 2000.

* Adapted from Judith Gray, Seattle, WA 2005. National School Reform Faculty.

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