ROUNDS IN ACTION LEARNING LEADERSHIP AND MAKING EVERY

ROUNDS IN ACTION: LEARNING, LEADERSHIP, AND MAKING EVERY MINUTE MATTER SUPERINTENDENTS’ NETWORK ANNUAL STATEWIDE MEETING April 23, 2014 Liz City (elizabeth_city@gse. harvard. edu)

Why are YOU here today?

Objectives • Understand WHY rounds matters • Learn how to leverage the NLOW for improvement • Understand the importance of innovation and adaptation to making the rounds practice powerful • Be able to improve the quality of meetings • Generate ideas for a learning agenda for the next year

Agenda • Welcome, review agenda, warm up • Why Rounds? • Rounds in Action: Dr. Rod Earleywine, Superintendent, Sergeant Bluffs-Luton • NLOW, part 1: Innovations in the Next Level of Work practice Lunch (12: 00) • NLOW, part 2: What happens after the NLOW? Following up • Meetings as a high-potential area of improvement • So what for your district? Network? Building a learning agenda for the next year • Closing

What questions do you have?

Warm up: Strip Talks Four Characteristics of Improved Districts: • Effective Leadership • Quality Teaching and Learning • Support for System-wide Improvement • Clear and Collaborative Relationships Read characteristic and share with a partner: 1. Why is this an important characteristic in improved districts? 2. How are you implementing this characteristic in your leadership practice?

WHY ROUNDS?

Why rounds? Understanding the why of Rounds is key in leveraging system-wide improvement. 1. Why do you think Rounds matters? (write on sticky noteindividually) 2. Choose one at your table group that represents a consensus answer. 3. Process Five Whys to that statement. 4. Each table group reads their last Why Rounds process statement. 5. Analyze/reflect on responses: How are they alike? Different?

Rounds in action • Dr. Rod Earleywine

Being strategic. . . • Simon Sinek Ted Talk

Innovations and adaptations to rounds • Fill in this sentence about rounds: “I used to think. . . and now I think. . . ” • Be prepared to share an example of an innovation or modification you/your network has made in the rounds practice

Maitre-d • Table for 3: Share your “I used to think. . . ” sentence • Table for 4: Share your example of an innovation or modification, starting with the why—why did this innovation come about? • Table for 2: Share an area in which you’d like to innovate/modify rounds and why

EVOLVING NLOW PRACTICES

Instructional Rounds Process • Theory of Learning (_____ learn best when …) • Theory of Action (If/Then) • Problem of Practice • Observe Classrooms • Observation Debrief: v Describe v Analyze v Predict • NEXT LEVEL OF WORK

Productive follow up starts before the visit with the Problem of Practice • The more the problem of practice is integrated and owned by the school the more useful it will be • The more teachers understand the rounds process AND • The more teachers and the school community know about the problem of practice… • how and why it was developed, • how it ties in to the on-going improvement efforts of the school and district • how the data from the visit will be used to help them… • … the more likely they will be interested in results of the visit and the more likely results can be shared in ways that help the school. 16

Next level of work: Purposes (Why? ) • Respond to the problem of practice • Bring “fresh eyes” to the school’s practice • Move instructional practice across classrooms in ways that align with the school’s improvement strategy • Provide suggestions consistent with this school’s/system’s structures, systems, and capacity • Develop network members’ capacity to diagnose and move to action with focused, developmental approach

Next level of work: How? 4 ideas we will attend to as we make suggestions: • Tie suggestions to school’s/system’s organizational structures / capacity • Explore root causes for high leverage patterns • Make explicit plans for adult learning • Bring a developmental approach to learning plans

Creating tighter connections between patterns and suggestions • Which patterns stand out to us as visitors and to the hosts as particularly high leverage places to invest for improvement? • In other words, if we could shift this pattern of practice, we believe it would be consequential for student learning.

Consider organizational structures/capacity to support instructional improvement • What systems and structures are in place? • Instructional Leadership • Teaming • Use of Data • Professional Learning Think-Talk: How are these used?

Brainstorm ideas for NLOW in whole group • Suggestions are made as a whole group • Participants select a topic group based on their experience and expertise • Move into topic groups

How can we best support learning? • Individuals, teams and organizations have implicit learning theories • Rounds exposes theories to inquiry and learning • Rounds helps us develop explicit, shared learning theories • Learning • Students learn best when. . . • Teachers learn best when. . . • Leaders learn best when. . .

Developmental view of improvement

Status vs. Developmental View of Improvement Questions that promote higher order thinking Developmental View: In what ways are questions promoting higher order thinking? Teachers primarily ask recall and understanding level questions Status View: Teachers are Teachers and Teachers are students are asking higher Arehigher there questions that order questions developing and promote higher order periodically and students areasking higher thinking? order questions. student selecting Students are responses highly learning independently scaffolded supports as developing ways needed to to respond What learning needs to happen at the classroom and organizational level to support these changes in the instructional core?

Status vs. Developmental View of Improvement Developmental View: Status. In. View: what ways Are students are students completing their work independently able to complete and in what theirways workare teachers supporting independence independently duringand theare “you do together” and “you do” phases of teachers the work? able to release students for the “you do A developmental together” andrange “you of do”practices part of the work ?

Root Cause Analysis (5 Whys is one root cause analysis protocol) • Try to identify the root explanations for a problem or symptom • Identify various perspectives on a problem/symptom • Determine how various causes relate to each other • Determine which causes are within our locus of control for improvement

5 Why’s Protocol Pattern Why? Why Why Why

5 Whys Protocol Easier way to handle a big group All students doing same activity Teachers have more control over student learning Teachers believe this is the expectation in school Teachers want to make sure they accomplish certain learning goals Parents reinforce this belief Not enough time to plan lessons- easier to plan for one group activity To stay true to the teams plan There a lot of other responsibilities - documentation Teachers worry that they might not be able to answer if go too wide Not sharing the work, every teacher do everything, not work in teams Might lack confidence in selves as teachers Not used to working in teams Don’t know how to share work across teams - Have good results so why change Example from a school visit at school with a problem of practice related to the challenges of differentiating learning for students.

In topic groups • Make a Learning Plan with the goal of shifting this pattern of practice • Begin with what is your Hypothesis of why this pattern exists (Five Whys) • Therefore, what ADULT learning should you focus on at the school level? System level?

Ask • What do we (students) need to know and be able to do for this NLOW? • What do we (teachers) need to know and be able to do for this NLOW? • What do we (administrators) need to know and be able to do for this NLOW? • How will we support this learning…next week, next month, next year? • How will we follow up with this work?

To what degree will our NLOW suggestions be helpful to the host school/system and to the network? • Focuses on shifting or building on a pattern of practice • Responds to the problem of practice • Identifies who the learners are • Identifies specifically what learning needs to happen • Names an explicit ways to support that learning • Builds from the structures and resources that exist

Presentation of NLOW plans to host team • Topic Teams present learning plans • Q/A session to clarify understanding • Reflections of host team

Practice example (thank you, East Union and Green Hills superintendents!) • Problem of practice: Our students are not seeing the connection between academic work and the “real world. ” As a result, much of the work is of poor quality and our students are often unmotivated and unfocused. Lessons are not consistently meeting the motivational and learning needs of students. • Theory of action: If students understand the learning target and make connections between what the classroom work and the real world, students will be more motivated and focused and learning will increase.

Focusing questions • What is the instructional task that the teacher is asking of students? • What evidence do you see that students understand the learning target(s) of the lesson and how it connects to the real world?

Next level of work 1. Establish a common language for teachers and students (as well as parents) with accompanying instructional strategies to improve student achievement. 2. Consider what possible additional ways to integrate rigor and relevance through alignment to the Iowa core. 3. Use student learning data to personalize individual and small group learning.

Topic groups • Aim for 3 -5 people/topic (if you have more than 5 people, make multiple groups for the same topic) 1. Establish a common language for teachers and students (as well as parents) with accompanying instructional strategies to improve student achievement. 2. Consider what possible additional ways to integrate rigor and relevance through alignment to the Iowa core. 3. Use student learning data to personalize individual and small group learning.

In topic groups • Make a Learning Plan with the goal of shifting this pattern of practice • Begin with what is your Hypothesis of why this pattern exists (Five Whys) • Therefore, what ADULT learning should you focus on at the school level? System level?

Ask • What do we (teachers) need to know and be able to do for this NLOW? • What do we (administrators) need to know and be able to do for this NLOW? • How will we support this learning…next week, next month, next year? • How will we follow up with this work?

To what degree will our NLOW suggestions be helpful to the host school/system and to the network? • Focuses on shifting or building on a pattern of practice • Responds to the problem of practice • Identifies who the learners are • Identifies specifically what learning needs to happen • Names an explicit ways to support that learning • Builds from the structures and resources that exist

Presentation of NLOW plans to host team • Topic Teams present learning plans • Q/A session to clarify understanding • Reflections of host team

NLOW, part 2 • What happens after the NLOW? • If you were the superintendent in this system, what would you do next? Why? • Think, pair, share

NLOW, part 2 • What would you be doing a month later to follow up? • What would your conversation with the host principal sound like? Role play. . . • In groups of 3 -4, have one of you be the superintendent, one be the principal, and one or two be an observer • *Observer is timekeeper • Role play for 5 minutes • Debrief for 6 -7 minutes • Warm feedback (2 -3 min. ; superintendent listens) • Cool feedback (2 -3 min. ; superintendent listens) • Superintendent reflects/responds (2 -3 min. ; feedbackers listen) • Rotate roles

MEETINGS

How can you support adult learning? How can you drive the strategic work of your system? • Use your time well and purposively • Help others do the same • Quick math problem: • Think about a group/team that you’re part of that meets regularly. How much money does your system invest in meetings of this group/team in a year?

Meeting Wise Checklist • Why use a checklist?

Meeting Wise Checklist

Apply to your own practice • Take out the agenda for the meeting you recently ran/attended. • Evaluate it against the checklist. • Don’t improve your agenda yet! Observe it. Stay low on the ladder of inference. • In triads, compare checklists. What do you see? • If you were going to choose 1 thing to improve at your next meeting, what would you improve and why? • Would you use a standard template and/or this checklist in your system? Why/why not? What adaptations, if any, do you want to make to the checklist? Why?

Apply to your rounds network • Think about the network meeting you most recently attended. • Evaluate it against the checklist. • In triads, compare checklists. What do you see? • If you were going to choose 1 thing to improve at your next network meeting, what would you improve and why?

NETWORK LEARNING AGENDA

So what. . . ? • Reflect in writing: • So what for your district? • So what for your network? • Learning for next year in your network: • Why? • What?

Building a learning agenda • Share your whys and whats • Choose a common why and what • Design the how Example Why What How • Want to deepen my own and my leadership team’s understanding of powerful learning that aligns with Common Core • Focus on teams? • Develop shared understanding of what powerful learning looks like? • Book study (3 months) • Artifacts of our teams’ practice (agendas, videos) • Shared event with leadership teams

Share out

Wrap up • Commitment to action—so what for you: What’s one thing you will do as a result of our day together? Why? • Write it down • Share it with a network colleague • How will you support each other and hold each other accountable?