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Instructional Super Vision
Instructional Rounds and Instructional Super
Vision
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Agenda
1.
Mechanisms of Change to Lead Instruction
2.
Supervision and Super Vision
3.
Instructional Rounds
4.
Implications
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3 Key Mechanisms of Change for
Quality Instruction
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A Super Vision of excellent teaching in mathematics, language
arts, science, etc….
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Wisdom of Practice of Exemplary Teachers in the Building
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Locally agreed upon; discussed; shared between all in school
Worst kept secret in the building;
Do teachers who represent exemplary practice in your school guide
the shift in teaching at your school? – In many schools, they don’t
Instructional Rounds
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A way of seeing, discussing, analyzing and engineering for excelent
teaching
Quality of a sample of lessons in
primary and middle schools - 2007
25
Number of lessons
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4
20
15
Primary
Middle
10
5
0
Inadequate
Satisfactory
Good
Outstanding
+ Features of inadequate lessons –
Bermuda Education Review

An M1 class that was crayoning and cutting out (!) photocopied pictures to
make a history timeline on a predetermined template;

An S4 marine biology class that was superficially describing
(rather than classifying) a range of marine artefacts, working in
small groups, without either clear purpose or the precise
observation that sketching would have entailed;

A P6 class which was ‘calculating’ areas of simple two-dimensional
geometrical shapes by counting the squares on squared paper;
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An M2 social studies class considering early Bermudian visitors,
into which bored students drifted in and out, and copied
information from the board in poor handwriting into unmarked
exercise books.
5
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Instructional Rounds
Mechanism of Change for High Quality Teaching
Inadequate lessons could and
should be virtually eliminated
by principals and their deputies
through keeping more closely
in touch with the quality of day+ to-day learning in their
classrooms.
- 2007 Bermuda Education Review
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Instructional Rounds
Problem of
Practice
The Next
Work
Instructional
Rounds
Conversation
and
Engagement
Observation
of Practice
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1. Problem of Practice
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Focuses on the instructional core;
is directly observable;
is actionable (is within the school/district’s
control and can be improved in real time);
connects to a broader strategy of improvement
(school, system).
Network adopts the problem of practice as the
focus for the network’s learning.
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2. Observation of Practice

descriptive not evaluative;

specific;
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about the instructional core;
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related to the problem of practice.
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3. Debrief on Practice
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Describe what you saw.
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Analyze the descriptive evidence (What patterns do you
see? How might you group the data?)
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Predict what students are learning. If you were a
student in this class/ school and you did everything the
teacher told you to do, what would you know and be
able to do?
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4. Next Work

Share system context, including resources, professional
development, and current initiatives.
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Brainstorm the next level of work for this week/next
month/by the end of the year.
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Brainstorm suggestions for school level and for system
level.
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Tie suggestions to the district’s (and school’s)
improvement plan
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How We Describe?
What are Teachers Doing and Saying?
What are Students Doing and Saying?
What is the Task
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Judgemental or Non
Judgemental
Where our descriptions with or
without judgement?
How would you lead off a
conversation?
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Description Includes Observer’s
Judgment

Fast-paced
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Too much time on discussion, not enough time on individual work.
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Excellent classroom management
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Teacher used effective questioning techniques with a range of
students
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Teacher read from a book that was not at the appropriate level for
the class
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Teacher had a good rapport with students
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Students conducted a very sophisticated lab experiment
Description Without Judgment
•Teacher asks, “How did you figure out this problem?” Student explains
•Students followed directions in the text to make circuit boards.
•Teacher said, “Write the words that I spell in the blank spaces. S-P-O-T.
D-O-T. P-O-T.”
•Task: Find different ways to create a total of 31.
Student 1 wrote in math journal:
5+5+5+5+5+5+1 = 31
10+10+10+1= 31
S2: 20+9=03
S3: 41 -1- = 31
2+3X3+16= 31
• Student 1 asks student 2: “What are we supposed to write down?”
Student 2: “I don’t know.”
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Implications for Principals and
Their Work
 Having
in place a school vision for quality
instruction
 “Seeing” Instruction
is an ingrained part of teacher
and principal habits
 Feedback
and professional conversations are
supported for individuals and school
 Formal
documentation is completed and accurate