Lesson Observation Training Deira International School, Dubai Senior & Middle Leaders Tim Tatham Training January 2014

Classroom observation; self-audit What are you confident about in your classroom observations? What more do you need to know about observing in the classroom? What (if anything) are you apprehensive or uneasy about in your classroom observation skills and knowledge? What were the key features of the best lesson you have observed in the last year? What did the teacher learn from the process? Tim Tatham Training

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE  Know what you want  Be clear to others (and to yourself) about your expectations  Support and develop (to gain ownership)  Check, monitor, evaluate (and encourage self-evaluation in others)  Share feedback  Agree new expectations, behaviours, targets, measures

What do effective leaders do? What attributes do they have? Why is it important for them to observe and feed back to colleagues?

What does a highly effective teacher have in her toolkit in your school? What would you expect to see in the best lessons in your school?

When I go into a classroom where the quality of learning is high, what will I see, hear...?

Where would you take me in your School to see the best learning? Why? Where wouldn’t you take me? Why?

How do we know when learning is happening?

At the heart of effective teaching is the inextricable link between CAUSE and EFFECT. The best teachers understand this link, and manage it skilfully. (John Hattie)

To observe effectively in the classroom, you will need to…  know what you want in children’s learning  know what it looks like  have a passion for improving the quality of everyone’s learning (adults included)  possess professional credibility  prefer celebrating success and achievement to criticising colleagues  ensure your colleagues can learn from you

Feedback is the breakfast of champions. (Blanchard)

Help them reach their full potential. Catch them doing something right. (Blanchard)

Feedback; what’s it for?  Celebration  Reinforcing expectations and quality performance  Self-review  Personal learning and development  Improving practice  Accountability  Collaboration and ownership of performance  Motivating others

Giving feedback; key considerations  Your negotiables and non-negotiables  Your colleague’s readiness to listen, to learn, and to accept feedback  The best approach to engage your colleague (the same approach will not always work)  The context (eg. previous feedback, targets, performance)  Who else is involved in the process? (eg. is your colleague part of a team effort, what role will you play in the follow-up support?)  The timing of the feedback discussion  Genuine dialogues work best  The balance between good and bad news  Practical suggestions and outcomes  Simplicity and clarity

Giving feedback; DO This is a professional dialogue, and should be treated as such Plan, prepare, anticipate Agree a time and location which your colleague is comfortable with, and stick to them Ensure there will be no interruptions Be clear about the outcomes that you would like, but be prepared to compromise on your negotiables Encourage self-reflection through your questions Ensure you communicate your non-negotiables, but also ensure your colleague owns the process and the outcomes Clarify follow-up expectations and actions, and how you will monitor progress together Wherever possible, accentuate the positives This must be a positive experience for your colleague (and you) – and that’s your responsibility

Giving feedback; DON’T  Talk too much  Begin with a negative  Stray off the main issues  Allow yourself to be sidetracked  Personalise the feedback  Fudge, or be vague  Begin with ‘How do you think it went?’  Lose control

What is the purpose(s) of feedback? How do you evaluate the quality of your feedback?