This year, I have been doing instructional learning walks with campus deans. Last week our Assistant Director of Secondary Math was also able to join us at one campus. In years past when I walked classes, I have simply left a sticky note of positive highlights from the class and thanked the teachers for letting us visit. At the beginning of this year, I was talking with another campus dean and in our roles as a dean and an instructional specialist, we wanted to find a way to provide more meaningful feedback beyond the sticky note for instructional coaching with non-evaluative criteria. After attending the Visible Learning Institute, I thought it would be great to also include the three questions of assessment capable learners on the form to help us be even more student centered in our feedback and learn from student voice. Below is the form we developed (and click here for the Word doc.) We decided to continue writing the sticky note of positive highlights and this form so that teachers are getting both the immediate quick feedback of a sticky note and the more in depth feedback for further reflection.

I love that that this form helps us focus on our district goals of learning targets and success criteria while staying student centered. (At her campus, she also has teachers share individual professional goals and she added a part on the form to provide feedback for this as well…I love that idea!) These walks have been one of my favorite things to do as I get to see the inspirational things teachers and students are doing in their classrooms, and I love getting to debrief with the campus deans and/or other people I walk with. It has also been rewarding hearing the success teachers have had as they enact the feedback we provide. Lastly, the dean I created this with plans to have teachers share what they are doing in their classrooms at department meetings as a way to share, grow, and learn from each other.

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