Thursday 31 July 2014

An Overview Of Instructional Rounds

By Annabelle Holman


These rounds are one of the most significant tools that a school or a district can employ to enhance teachers pedagogical skills and develop a culture of collaboration. The purpose of this approach is to observe teachers and compare their own instructional practices with those of the teachers being observed. Furthermore, the benefit instructional rounds occur at the end of observation when discussions occur among the observing teachers at the end of observation.

This approach requires the participation of every teacher in the process at least once every semester. The facilitation of the rounds should be facilitated by a lead teacher or someone the teachers have respect for and look up to as a profession. Instructional coaches and administrators normally possess these characteristics and may lead some rounds, but the main purpose is to evaluate the teachers being observed.

Individuals involved in this process normally are volunteers or those individuals who are usually requested by a higher authority to be involved in the process. The most active and influential teachers are the ones who are usually selected among a staff. The selected individuals will be involved in rounds where they will go to observe the instructors while in action. Once the day reaches the teachers should let their students know that there will be visitors in the classroom.

Once the visitors arrive, they are required to knock on the door and walk quietly towards the back of a class to a place that doe not disrupt the lesson. Teachers are supposed to watch out for strategies that are of interest to them like how the teacher employs his graphic organizers and the questioning strategies. The observing teachers are supposed to put down a record of what they were able to observe during the ten to fifteen minutes that a round lasts.

The members of the groups are normally expected to meet after the rounds and have a moment to think about their experiences and what they have learnt. A Round robin approach is normally effective to enable the trainers comment on what they have noted. The leader reminds everyone that they are not there for evaluation purposes but rather there are some rules of engagement to be followed.

The reflections made during the whole process are supposed to remain within the group and it should not be shared or discussed with any individual who is not involved in the procedure. In addition, the trainers should not at any given moment give suggestions or comments to an instructor unless they have been requested or asked to.

An observing teachers take turns in commenting and they begin by giving out the positive responses and then give a speculation of what brought out the positive outcome. Then the observer raises some question of concern, the deltas aspect about the observed educators strategy. An observer can chose not to share the analysis with the group at any time.

At the end of an observation, the educators are able to identify instructional practices that they will continue to use because they saw other teachers employing them effectively, and reexamining their current practices, establish the techniques they saw other teachers use but they do not use but are willing to employ.




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