NYSED Principal Evaluation Training Program February 9 2012

NYSED Principal Evaluation Training Program February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons

Pacing guide time activity slide 8. 30 Agenda / Aims and Objectives / Aims of sessions 1 -6 8: 40 Multiple ways of observing lessons 7 -8 8: 50 Activity 1: Self- review continuum 9 -10 9: 00 Lesson Observation and Evaluation 11 9: 05 Activity 2: Why shadow Principal lesson observations 12 -13 9: 20 What is the lesson observation process 14 -16 9: 28 Teaching and Learning Pact 17 9. 30 End 18 February 8, 2012 Session 1: Highly Effective Leaders

Agenda: Day 2 1. Whole Group Introduction Session 1: Observing Lessons – 8. 30 am • Aims of today’s session • Learning and Teaching Break 9. 30 am to 9. 45 am 2. Breakout session 2: Recording Evidence - 10. 00 am Lunch – 12. 00 pm to 1. 00 pm 3. Breakout session 3: Effective feedback 1. 00 pm Break 2. 45 pm to 3. 00 pm 4. Breakout session 4: Dynamic Process – 3. 00 pm 5. Breakout session 5: Gathering Feedback for Teaching - 4. 00 pm Review and reflection 4. 45 pm to 5. 00 pm Close - 5. 00 p. m. February 9 , 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 2

Session 1: Observing Lessons February 9 , 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 3

Aims of The Day To further enhance your understanding as principal evaluators of what a principal needs to know and do in order to establish and maintain an effective performance management system. Including the importance of: • preparation • collecting and recording objective evidence • providing clear and concise feedback which leads to actionable change • implementing effective systems to track agreed actionable action February 9 , 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 4

Leader of Learning Wallace’s work since 2000 suggests this entails five key responsibilities: 1. Shaping a vision of academic success for all students, based on high standards 2. Creating a climate hospitable to education in order that safety, a cooperative spirit and other foundations of fruitful interaction prevail 3. Cultivating leadership in others, so that teachers and other adults assume their part in realizing the school vision 4. Improving instruction to enable teachers to teach at their best and students to learn at their utmost 5. Managing people, data and processes to foster school improvement THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AS LEADER: GUIDING SCHOOLS TO BETTER TEACHING AND LEARNING - The Wallace Foundation, January 2012. February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 5

Aims of The Session To increase participants’ cognition of: • Different ways to observe lessons • Common features of effective lesson observation • Self confidence to observe lessons and provide reflective feedback • Role of lesson observation in principal evaluation • Overview of best practice in observing lessons • Impact of observing lessons on improving teaching and learning February 9 , 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 6

Multiple Ways of Observing Lessons There a number of ways to observe lessons. These include: • walkthroughs • focused observation • whole lesson observation • peer observation • video February 9 , 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 7

Common features of Effective Lesson Observation • Preparation by the principal, this may or may not include preconferencing with the teacher • Collecting evidence - the lesson observation, part or whole of lesson • Post observation feedback, which focuses on actionable change - ideally this should be done face to face • Summative year evaluation to align evidence against the agreed upon rubric February 9 , 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 8

Activity 1 • Consider your experience and confidence in observing lessons and providing feedback to principals on their work as instructional leaders • Now, complete the ‘Continuum for self-review’ chart individually, as a personal self-reflection • Place crosses to indicate your current position February 9 , 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 9

Continuum for Self-Review NO EXPERIENCE EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE Lesson observation: Using data to inform feedback Looking at students’ work Gathering evidence from talking with students LOW CONFIDENCE VERY CONFIDENT Lesson observation: Using data to inform feedback Looking at students’ work Gathering evidence from talking with students Complete this individually as a personal self-reflection. Place crosses to indicate your current position. ‘No experience’ may indicate lack of opportunity. It will be useful to review this at the end of each stage of the training. February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 10

Lesson Observation and Teacher Effectiveness The main reasons for principals to observe lessons and provide evidence based feedback are to: • drive changes in teacher practice • drive changes in teacher effectiveness February 9 , 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 11

Activity 2: Why should evaluators shadow the principal observing lessons and giving feedback? In pairs or threes identify the: • positives and benefits • issues and concerns about evaluators shadowing the principal classroom observations through the lens of the principal and separately through the lens of the evaluator February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 12

In summary Principal evaluators shadow principals observing lessons and providing feedback so that the evaluator can: obtain objective first hand evidence of the principal’s ability to lead learning in the school February 9 , 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 13

What is the lesson observation process? Observing in the context of evaluation includes: • documenting objective evidence • matching the recorded evidence against agreed upon criteria • using the outcomes from the lesson observation notes in a positive way to provide feedback which promotes student learning by driving actionable changes in teacher and principal practices February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 14

Improving Teaching and Learning Recorded observations provide the basis for informative feedback to teachers leading to improvement in teaching and learning leading to HIGH LEVELS OF ACHIEVEMENT FOR ALL STUDENTS February 9 , 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 15

Student Achievement and Student Progress Over Time • Note from the previous slide that our target is high achievement for all students. • The rate of individual student learning varies over time. • Imagine a class of students learning long division…. Example: students have 20 questions to complete during the first 30 minutes of the lesson. You observe that: one student only completes five questions and gets two wrong, another completes 12 and gets them all right. • How can this evidence be used as part of a post observation discussion with the principal about differentiation of learning? February 9 , 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 16

The Teaching and Learning Pact The LEARNER brings • their background • their capacity for, and experience of, learning • their prior and current knowledge, interests, skills and understanding • their preferred learning style • their current profile of intelligence To the PACT they bring • Self esteem and motivation • Mutual respect and high expectations • Shared commitment to learning goals • Active participation in the learning and teaching process • Learning from each other • Reflection and performance feedback • Willingness to take risks The TEACHER brings • Knowledge, enthusiasm and understanding about the matter to be taught • Understanding of the learning process • A design of teaching and learning that is fit for purpose • And emphasis on instruction • An ability to create a learning environment with appropriate learning conditions February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 17

Break 15 minutes Transition to breakout room February 9, 2012 Session 1: Observing Lessons 18