Evidence Based Observation

Lead Evaluator Training Part 2 – Welcome!

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“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.”

Margaret Wheatley

 Explain the difference between current practice and evidence based observation  Identify and define criteria for one area of effective instruction around which evidence collection will be focused  Define the differences between the definitions of “Teaching to an Outcome” in the rubrics approved by SED.

 Explain the impact of confusing and/or ambiguous language on the process of teacher evaluation.

 Describe strategies that a district could employ to increase the quality of evaluations and the agreement of evaluators.

Rewind…

Collection of factual information Free of bias or opinion Based on specific criteria Used to provide feedback for reflection and improvement of teacher practice

All students are visibly participating in activities/learning that is relevant to the objective.

TEACHER ONLY OPTIONAL STUDENT PARTICIPATION OCCASIONAL TEACHER DIRECTED PARTICIPATION SIMULTANEOUS ACTIVE PARTICIPATION

What did you collect? Teacher stated, “The person sitting in the 4 position-at every table except for this one when it is the 3 person-I need you to come to the front and stand in a line.” 7 students came to the front of the room.

Teacher stated to the seven students, “Raise your hands if you can answer yes to the following questions.” 3 questions were posed about having expertise with pens. No students responded yes.

What did you collect? The 7 students were told, “Your job is going to be to construct a pen.” The students were given envelopes with pen parts inside and were timed while they put the pens together.

Teacher stated to the class, “Look around the room for things with interchangeable parts.” Teacher asked, “What kind of revolution is this?” One student replied, “A good revolution to a better future.” Another student replied, “Industrial revolution”

 Pink: Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (ASCD)  Orange: Danielson (2011 Revised Edition)  Tan: Marshall’s Teacher Evaluation Rubric  Green: Marzano’s Causal Teacher Evaluation  Blue: NYSTCE Framework for the Observation of Effective Teaching (Pearson)  White: NYSUT’s Teacher Practice Rubric  Purple: Thoughtful Classroom Teacher Effectiveness (Silver Strong & Associates)

 The objective of the lesson is clear to the students (Shift from “What do I want them to do today?” to “What do I want them to learn today?”)  All classroom activities are aligned with the objective

 Quotations from the teacher  Examples/models  Descriptions of activities in which the students are engaged  Student quotes

Defend WHY you called this evidence of TTO: Teacher stated, “Today I want to talk to you about what writers do to narrow their focus.” The teacher used a visual of a pizza/pizza slices to illustrate “narrowing the focus”. A whole pizza represented the teacher’s family, a slice represented the teacher’s Grandma Succi, a half eaten slice represented Grandma’s Succi’s house, and a small bite represented the teacher’s experience on her grandmother’s swing.

Before the teacher shared a story from her journal, she explained the process she took from deciding to write about her family (a broad topic) down to her decision to write about her experience sitting on her grandmother’s swing (more narrow focus).

Defend WHY you called this evidence TTO: After reading her story, the teacher asked, “Did I stick to my focus? Is it about my grandmother’s swing and being on that swing—that special time with her?” Students read the story aloud with the teacher. Before reading chorally, the teacher asked the students to think about the story they are working on. She asked them to think about whether their story is narrowed enough or needs more narrowing.

The teacher stated, “In a few minutes I’m going to ask you to talk to each other and decide if your story is narrowed or if you need to do some more narrowing.” Students buddy shared.

What did you collect? Defend WHY you called this evidence of TTO: The teacher worked with two boys during the buddy share time. A discussion took place about the confusion the one student had about the other student’s story. It was decided that the writer needed to work on focusing about the pool—his main topic.

The teacher stated to the class, “Narrowing the focus helps us as writers.” She added “narrowing the focus” to the “How Writers Revise” chart posted in the front of the room.

On the blank side of your feedback sheet: 1. Write one question that you think everyone should be able to answer about “Teach to an Outcome.” 2. Write a personal goal that you have around “Active Engagement” and/or “Teach to an Outcome.”

 Practice collecting evidence of “Teaching to an Outcome”  Examine an observation that you have completed, looking for evidence and bias/opinion  Identify the presence or absence of “check for understanding” in your current observation tool