I arrived in Boston (where we saw some snow) excited to participate in the 2012 annual Learning Forward conference!
My first preconference session on Saturday was with Jon Saphier, professional development consultant and author of The Skillful Teacher, a popular textbook used by many teacher educators. He had an interesting classroom career — he began as a high school history teacher, then moved to fifth grade, and spent his last years in the classroom in kindergarten!
Jon Saphier’s morning session was titled: “Skillful Leadership for Improving Teaching and Learning in Every Classroom.” His goal for the workshop: To help develop leaders’ ability to improve classroom teaching and learning.
Here are a few of my take-aways:
Saphier identified eight “Big Rocks” of High-Expertise Teaching that he suggests should be the focus of principals, school coaches, and other instructional leaders as they work to strengthen teaching and learning. I’ve captured the first three in this blog.
1. Content Analysis in Planning: Saphier contends that about 25% of current teachers’ practice can be improved by simply having conversations about the content in ways that students can understand it. Saphier uses this template to guide the conversation. You can watch a useful video of a content analysis planning conversation here: http://bit.ly/SEeb9C (A script of the conference and other resources are linked in the box to the left of the video.)
2. Error Analysis – One of the most effective roles for PLCs is examining student work error analysis to understand common student mistakes in a lesson, the reasons for the mistakes and how to address them.
3. Feedback: Feedback to teachers that allows them to effectively adjust instruction combined with feedback to students to help them deepen their understanding is THE most effective strategy to increase classroom learning.
Time to Lead
Saphier suggested that time is often even more valuable than funding for school leaders. He identified 12 ways a leader could invest this valuable time for the largest return in student learning:
1. Fostering PLCs
2. Student accountability talks about struggling students where the principal asks the teacher: “So what are you doing now to help this student get over this hurdle?”
3. Planning Building PD
4. Facilitating peer observation
5. Supporting teacher study groups
6. Walkthroughs and Learning Walks
7. Formal observation and write-ups
8. Planning Conferences (discussing content)
9. Frequent short (15 mins) visits with conversations — 8-10 times per year, with shorter write-ups. Key: knowing what’s important in quality instruction
10. Faculty meetings focused on teaching and learning
11. Partnership with the instructional coach
12. Building an effective instructional leadership team
Visit Saphier’s website for a treasure trove of resources: http://www.rbteach.com/rbteach2/index.asp
