Characteristics of Effective Classroom Practice

• The instructional strategies are consistent with the stated purpose of the unit.
  • Katie Nash, Carver-Lyon Elementary School
  • The Power of Being Empowered
  • As a new coach, I had a great deal to learn.  A new coach, a new school, and twenty-one new teachers to coach.  After developing a strong line of communication, working relationships, and a schedule for planning, observing, and reflecting with my teachers, I immediately began my job as a coach along with the assistance of my State Department support personnel.  At first, there were many questions and concerns regarding instructional strategies and stated purposes for the lessons I observed.  Over the next eight months, the educating of Katie Nash as a coach occurred.

    I did have concerns about the strategies I observed, the stated purposes, and the expected outcomes of many lessons I observed in the early stages.  When I reflected with my teachers, I was able to use coaching strategies to enable them to identify whether their instructional strategies were consistent or aligned with the stated purposes.  Eventually, during the reflection cycle, my teachers realized or identified what they should have done differently and planned and took the corrective action.  It was amazing to see the spark in a teacher’s eyes when they were empowered to see that the expected goals were or were not met by the instructional strategies that were used.  Ultimately, I began to ask the right questions, paraphrase, and become comfortable in my new role as a coach.  There is still plenty of learning that will occur for me as a coach.  This year we are focusing on what needs to occur in order for our school to be a school of effective teachers.  We are utilizing data form PACT and District Benchmark Assessment to determine what the instructional purposes or goals should be.  We are also encouraging and assisting grade level teams to work together laterally and vertically.  Most of all, as a second year coach, I believe that I am better equipped to empower my teachers through embedded professional development to identify instructional strategies that are best to used with the stated purposes.  Yes, I learned a great deal last year and I know I will continue to be empowered as a coach and in return my goal is to empower my teachers and they will empower their students.  What an awesome cycle!

• The instructional strategies were consistent with investigative mathematics conceptual development.
  • Joy Tommie, H.E. Corley Elementary
  • As I observe in H.E. Corley classrooms, I am thrilled at all the math detectives I am finding.  Students are investigating and exploring math concepts with excitement, as teachers set up investigative math activities, while implementing the Everyday Math Program.  During a fifth grade observation, I saw many excited students, as they learned about the use of statistical landmarks to describe data.  Students were conducting an experiment to estimate how fast their hands reacted to stimuli.  This investigation, along with math conversation, led students to an understanding of various landmarks.  After completing the experiment and collecting data, they displayed and analyzed their findings with the use of a line plot.  This investigative activity definitely led to conceptual understanding.
    
    Teachers are also becoming masters of good questioning techniques, as they set up investigative activities and design questions to lead students to become problem solvers.  As I observed in a third grade classroom, I listened as a teacher masterfully guided students to investigate various strategies through the art of good questioning and the use of manipulatives.
    
    I am also seeing evidence of how investigative math helps students to build a better mathematical vocabulary.  As I observed kindergarten students working on the first step of an activity by developing a way to create a pattern for a goldfish bowl, I heard one student exclaim, “Fold it here and cut because it’s symmetrical!”  What wonderful use of math vocabulary for a kindergartener!
    
    As students participate in investigative math activities, teachers are developing good questioning techniques, using manipulatives, and seeing a means to differentiate instruction. Therefore, the implementation of investigative math activities encourages us all to become a community of learners. It is evident through increased student achievement that investigative math is leading H.E. Corley Elementary to conceptual understanding with enthusiasm!
• The pace of the lesson is appropriate for the developmental levels/needs of the students and the purposes of the lesson.
  • Yolanda Moore, Harleyville-Ridgeville Elementary
  • The pace of the lesson is effected by several factors. The first factor is students on or off task. If the teacher is moving at a pace appropriate to the students' needs, the students will be engaged in responding to the questions being asked by the teacher. Their focus will be on the student or teacher speaking at the time. Hands and minds will be in tune with the teacher. The second factor is wait time. Teachers must give students wait time before calling on them to answer questions. Giving a student approximately 5-7 seconds to think about the question tells the student that you, as the teacher, are confident the student knows the answer, but just needs time to think about the information and process it before giving the answer. The teacher must know his/her students to monitor this effectively. In addition, wait time keeps the tension level up a little as students have to stay on task longer than calling on a student prior to asking the questions. This is difficult to do because teachers feel lots of pressure to complete x amount of standards in a small amount of time. The third factor involved in the pace of the lesson is being cognizant as to when to spend extra time explaining an answer to a student or when to tell the student you will get with them later to discuss their question/issue. Third, teachers must be careful not to spend large amounts of time on issues that might be procedural by treating them as discipline issues. If a student is misbehaving, the teacher should try NOT to interrupt her lesson by addressing each issue that is happening.  Having the student repeat the correct procedure, if it is a procedure, is best. If it is a discipline issue, put the child's name on the board or pull a card without stopping the lesson. Finally, it is important for the teacher to know their students' ability level to complete the task she is going to ask them to complete. If they are not capable of working out the problem, the lesson will drag on and other students will be off task.
• The instructional strategies and activities used in this lesson reflect attention to students’ experience, preparedness, prior knowledge, and/or learning styles.
• The teacher is able to “read” the students’ level of understanding and adjusted instruction accordingly.
  • Cindy Riley, Forest Hills Elementary
  • As a science coach for the last three years at Forest Hills Elementary, my staff and I discovered that we had to feel competent and comfortable with our content knowledge before we could meet the needs of our students. We have used science kits because they are research based and meet the needs of all of our students. We have planned and reflected on our units of study and tried many varied activities to help our students.
    
    As I enter year four, and wear the "hat" of math coach, my teachers and I are looking at what areas we need to focus on to meet the needs of our students. Do we need to look at the students' prior experiences and their learning styles?  Should we focus on what makes the teachers better prepared to help our students? All of these questions will be answered over time as we begin to plan, observe, and reflect.

Adapted from Horizon Research, Inc. Inside the Classroom: Observation and Analytic Protocol