FOCUS Walkthroughs

We all know that it is critical that we are training our teachers in the latest research based strategies to give them an opportunity to be great for our students. Pouring into a teacher the knowledge required to be successful helps ignite their passion, purpose, and pursuit of excellence. It is a fact that professional development is an important factor in student achievement. They also help improve a teacher's performance levels. Professional development opportunities should be ongoing and aligned with the district's and school's goals. It is important that we invest in our teachers. The investment have a return called student achievement.

So how would you know when your teachers need training? That's easy...visit classrooms and then provide feedback. Daily walkthroughs should be informal and are essential in being able to identify what teachers need to be their best in the classroom. Spend as much time in the classrooms as possible. Start your week with a list of at least 5 classrooms you will visit each day. Walkthroughs should be no longer than 5 minutes. Pick one or two focus areas and only focus on that during your walkthroughs. Your goal is to FOCUS on specific things that teachers can work on each week to become a better version of them.

In one of my PLN groups, I decided to participate in the 500 walkthrough challenge. That's right, complete 500 walkthroughs this year...in 180 days!  I decided to call these FOCUS Walks -nonjudgmental and non-evaluative opportunities for growth. 

Find a few things to focus your walkthrough on.
Observe your focus area of the walkthrough.
Create a list of strengths and weaknesses.
Utilize the students to share what they are learning.
Send the teacher specific feedback on the walkthrough

You can create a Google Form and use Autocrat to create a feedback form, leave a post-note, or leave feedback using your Rocketbook Everlast. Your feedback should be specific and over ways for teachers to grow professionally.

I decided to take our observations and break them down to use for the FOCUS Walks. Each week I will focus on a standard and integrate our district's CCRP to help grow teachers. Using the Google Form, I am able to use Autocrat to create an automatic feedback form to share with teachers.

#500walkthroughs

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Copyright 2017 Felecia Young
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