Last year, I wrote a blog post for Learning Forward Nebraska on the power of this Instructional Rounds for job-embedded professional learning. Since then, I have continued to participate in Instructional Rounds and still believe they provide an amazing learning experience. However, I often get asked the question, “What if my building is not ready for Instructional Rounds?” I love this question because it demonstrates an understanding of the importance of culture and how establishing a culture of learning plays a crucial role in building professional learning experiences. Instructional Rounds do not just happen on their own. They take time to prepare and are most successful when participants are open to learning and sharing. So how do we get there?
Ultimately, the goal is for education professionals to be able to spend time in each other’s classroom, engage in professional discourse, and build a culture of continuous learning around instructional practices. This requires vulnerability and trust (see Daniel Coyle’s The Culture Code). What are ways you might edge toward a culture of learning that integrates Instructional Rounds? The following structures are designed to get people into each other’s classrooms and begin sharing and discussing:
Peer Observation | Pineapple Classroom | #ObserveME |
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Culture Building
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Culture Building
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Culture Building
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Building a culture of continuous learning amongst professionals is akin to how we build a classroom community with students. It requires invitational teaching pedagogy and a clear vision of success criteria. Small steps of professional collaboration through structures like Pineapple Classroom or Peer Observation can lead to more formalized sharing through Instructional Rounds. Stay the course and visualize your success for 2020!
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