Learning walks are powerful tools for instructional leaders and educators to propel school improvement. When used with intention, these non-evaluative visits to classrooms have the power to:
- calibrate instructional practices and curricular implementation,
- promote adult learning,
- identify high-impact strategies, and
- ultimately improve student learning outcomes.
They are also opportunities to find, celebrate, and strategize how to replicate successful classroom practices across your schools and districts.
At Focused Schools, we encourage our partner schools and districts to leverage learning walks as part of their continuous improvement efforts. However, learning walks must be planned and purposeful to ensure they are impactful.
There are many kinds of learning walks, and choosing the right one(s) depends on your role.
Are you an instructional leader hoping to identify effective ideas related to classroom set-up, anchor charts, and other methods that educators employ to foster successful learning environments? Try a ghost walk – teams of staff members walk through classrooms when students and teachers are not present. Have teams document their observations and then create structured opportunities for sharing and reflecting. |
Are you a district department chair looking to inform the development of a professional development series around new curricular material? Determine your look-for: what would deep implementation of these materials look and sound like? Then, partner with building leaders and/or instructional coaches to go on walk-withs and visit classrooms using these materials across the district to collect quantitative data about the frequency you see these designated look-fors. Debrief to note and discuss patterns and trends. |
Are you part of an instructional leadership team that recently launched a targeted learning focus in your school and you want a pulse check on its implementation? Create teams of staff members who can be released from their traditional assignments (teaching or otherwise) for a short period of time. Send these teams on learning walks with a list of concrete look-fors. Then, provide time for all team members to come together to share their findings. |
Are you part of a PLC collaborating on using agreed-upon best practices during core instruction? Use some PLC time to go on learning walks to look for the ways colleagues are utilizing these practices in their classrooms. Then, share your findings with your peers and have each person commit to try one new strategy they learned about during learning walks and report back on how it went at a future PLC meeting. |
Are you a principal who needs to boost morale? Go on a treasure hunt. Visit classrooms with the mindset of finding good news. Take notes on the good, and then shout out what you saw at a staff meeting or in a newsletter. |
Resources for you:
To learn more about implementing schoolwide learning walks, check out this Vlog, which contains an interview with a high school principal who worked with her team to make learning walks part of their practice. For more information about districtwide walk-withs, listen to this podcast featuring a superintendent who launched this work in her district.
Are you ready to uncover the magic happening in your schools? Reach out to us at hello@focusedschools.com. Together, we can #IgniteTransformativeChange.
