Classroom Walk-Throughs
Tony McCoy- Elmwood HS
EDL 560
Spring 2010
Reflection Activity
 How often does your principal walk into your
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classroom?
When was the last time he/she came into your
classroom? And what was the purpose of the visit?
How long does he/she stay in the classroom on these
walk-throughs?
How frequently does your principal provide follow-up?
What is this follow-up like?
 Record and share
Walk-Through Definition
Walk-throughs are a technique used by principals…
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Observe student work in the classroom environment …
In a non-threatening way…
Using a focus question as a guide…
This process provides data for reflection…
Dialogue between the principal and teacher…
And decision-making that improves student learning.
Walk-throughs are:
 Non-evaluative…
 The basis for questions, observations, and professional
dialogue…
 They link the philosophical beliefs that the school has
embraced …
http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/readit/readit019.shtml
Types of Walk-Throughs
 Data Walks
 Learning Walks
 Peer Coaching
 Downey 3-Minute
Classroom WalkThrough
 Principal Professional
Learning Walks
 Quick Visits
 Focused WalkThrough
http://www.lease-sped.org/resources/walk%20throughs.pdf
What is the Downey Walk-Through ?
1- Short, Focused Informal Observation
Time to Gather Information
Teacher makes over 1,000 decisions a day
2-3 minute walk-through may observe 5-10 decisions
Goal on professional growth and not evaluation
2- Possible Area for Reflection
3- Curriculum/Instructional Focus
Gather data about curriculum and instructional decisions
What is the Downey Walk-Through ?
4- Follow-up Occasionally NOT After Every Visit
May wait 8-10 visits before reflective dialogue
Do NOT leave notes… one way communication
5- Informal and Collaborative
Colleagues working to help each other think about practice
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Still will need formal observations
May want to spend more time with novice teacher
Documentation/Judgments of marginal teacher
Classroom data collecting observation
Evaluation of group staff development needs
Reflection Activity
 Why Should Walk-Throughs Be a High
Priority in Your Work?
 Record and share
Reasons…
 Validity to teacher’s
 Observe how effective
actions
 Lower teacher
apprehension making
formal observations
more effective
 More you observe the
more you learn
 Identify areas of group
staff development
staff development are
being
implemented/impacting
teaching
 Better informed for when
parents call about a
concern
 Identification of marginal
teachers
 Keep perspective about
your work
MBWA Research Results
(Management By Wandering Around)
1. Enhanced teacher satisfaction as defined by higher
frequency of “flow” experiences
2. Improved teacher self-efficacy
3. Improved teacher attitudes toward professional
development
4. Improved teacher attitudes toward teacher appraisal
5. Increased perceived teacher efficacy of other
teachers
The Three-Minute Classroom Walk-Through by C.Downey (2004)
MBWA Research Results
(Management By Wandering Around)
6. Improved classroom instruction
7. Improved teacher perception of principal
effectiveness
8. Improved student discipline and student acceptance
of advice and criticism
9. Improved teacher-perceived effectiveness of the
school
10. Increases student learning across socioeconomic
and cultural lines
The Three-Minute Classroom Walk-Through by C.Downey (2004)
What do you do when you conduct
walk-throughs in the classrooms?
 What do you pay attention to first?
 What do you do… walk around… look at student
work… talk with students or the teacher?
 What do you observe?
 What do you do with the data you collected?
Five-Step Walk-Through Observation Structure
1- Student Orientation to the Work
2- Curricular Decision Points
3- Instructional Decision Points
4- “Walk-the-Walls”
5- Safety and Health Issues
The Three-Minute Classroom Walk-Through by C.Downey (2004)
Five-Step Walk-Through Observation Structure
1- Student Orientation to the Work
Are students engaged?
Attending behavior is a prerequisite to learning.
2- Curricular Decision Points
Determine the content of the student learning
3 Cs- Content, Context, and Cognitive Type
3- Instructional Decision Points
Questioning skill, grouping strategies, informal assessment
4- “Walk-the-Walls”
What has been taught/Will be taught in future
“Wall of Humiliation”
5- Safety and Health Issues
Model for Framing a Reflective Question
The Three-Minute Classroom Walk-Through by C.Downey (2004)
PRINCIPAL’S
REFLECTIVE
QUESTION
EXPANDS
TEACHER’S
FRAME OF
REFERENCE
COMFORT ZONE
From EducationWorld.com
A three-minute classroom visit does not sound
like a lot of time to assess curriculum, a
teacher’s pacing, and students’ impressions of
their lessons. But string those three-minute
snapshots together over a whole year, some
administrators maintain, and you get a bigger,
clearer picture of what is going on in
classrooms.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin480.shtml
Review…
 … Take the time to interact with staff about their
practices….
 …Collaborative, reflective dialogue…
 …. Not until we are impacting what is happening
in the classroom that we will see HIGHER
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT…
The Three-Minute Classroom Walk-Through by C.Downey (2004)
Works Cited:
 The Three –Minute Classroom Walk-Through; Changing
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School Supervisory Practice One Teacher at a Time by
Carolyn J. Downey (2004)
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin480.
shtml
http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/readit/readit019.s
html
http://www.lease-sped.org/resources/walk%20throughs.pdf
http://www.naesp.org/resources/2/Principal/2009/MA_p30.pdf
http://www.principalspartnership.com/walkthroughs.pdf
http://www.centerforcsri.org/index.php?option=com_conten
t&task=view&id=424&Itemid=5
Classroom Walk-Throughs
Tony McCoy- Elmwood HS
EDL 560
Spring 2010