Four Minute Walk Throughs

One of the things that I am focussing on with my TT at the moment is how to gain insight from observing others that can help both them and myself to grow as teachers - as opposed to just taking away a 'cool' game or something similar.  In order to give me some background understanding of how this could occur before our meeting, he gave me a book to have a read of: Four minute walk throughs - seeing through new eyes.

There were some things in this book that I truly agreed with and some that I questioned - I will detail these briefly below.  

The first idea is that Educational change is technically simple and socially complex - all I have to say for this one is  that I am glad I am not the only one who finds it so.

The second is the benefit of using other teacher's practices to critique your own practice.  As a BT, I am lucky enough to spend a day a fortnight outside of my own classroom doing whatever it is that I need to do for school.  One of the things that I am looking forward to is observing other teachers - both those who I perceive as expert and those who I perceive more on being on the same level as myself.  I think there are huge benefits from both when you consider, as this book suggests, that you can critically examine aspects of teaching practice in other teachers without feeling threatened or becoming defensive and that this critical analysis can then be applied to your own practice - both through reflection and physically changing the atmosphere of the classroom and what is occurring within each lesson. 

A statement within the book is that "truth is the one non negotiable element in building a powerful learning culture" - both seeing the truth and talking about the truth.  I think as a BT being observed often this is a really powerful lesson that I need to remember.  If I am to learn all I possibly can from those who have more experience and who have learnt lessons then I need to be open to the truth - recognising what others are saying as something that is helping me and not making excuses for reasons not to talk about the truth.  In saying this, I also need to be confident to speak what I believe to be the truth about certain matters also. 

When others have walked through my classroom previously, especially with walkthroughs done by a colleague last year I have felt threatened - as though I was being judged and would be negatively critiqued at a later date. Through seeing how the 4MWT aligns with the key competencies I am beginning to understand that that is not the purpose of it at all. These are done to: help one manage themselves - ensure that they are offering the best to their students that they possibly can, help with the sharing of ideas, recognising different perspectives and interact effectively with others, create opportunities to connect with others and to allow opportunities to be creative, critical and reflective of our own practice with the guidance and support of others.  In line with this is the statement in the book "A classroom walkthrough is not about judging a teacher; it is about observing and supporting reflective dialogue on student learning." 

The process of conducting a four minute walk through and the reasons behind it are much clearer after having read this book - I am looking forward to learning how to follow the below structure effectively so that I can get the most out of observations, both for myself and for the teachers who I am observing.

Reading through this book also provided some insight into how I am running my own programmes and what I can do to make them look how I want them to look.  One of my goals for this first term is to develop student ownership in their learning and to move myself more to a role of facilitator.  I had discussed with my TT how I thought this could happen and what I could do - and had left it as a pondering.  When reading this book Blooms taxonomy was brought to my attention and I realised that the majority of the tasks that I am setting my students are at the knowledge and comprehension phases. I am effectively asking them to recall and understand information without applying it at a deeper/further level.  This is not a great realisation to have obviously but one that is good to have had at the start rather than at the end of the year.  When students are completing knowledge and comprehension tasks they are not creating, applying, critically analysing or synthesising new information - and without doing this it is difficult for them to feel that they have control over what they are doing and how they are learning. An interesting point for discussion with my tutor teacher would be how I can develop this within the structures and team plans that are already at place within the school.