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Walk Through Reflection

Walk Through Summary
EDL278
Andrew P. Wade
2/16/2013












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Walk Through Reflection
As I work as a teacher in a building that believes in the middle school philosophy, we
rarely get the opportunity to observe each others classrooms. When this opportunity presented
itself I was excited to be able to take an opportunity to do some walk throughs of my colleagues
and see what learning strategies they are using to increase student achievement.
From what I have experienced with the walk throughs that have been done in my
classroom, I have never received any feedback from my administrators on the things that they
have seen. I would like some sort of communication back telling me to keep doing a great job
or have you thought about this learning strategy. I want to be different and share the
information that I observed because I believe some type of feedback; big or little, would keep me
working on my craft as a teacher, and when you get nothing, it keeps you feeling isolated on
what you are doing in your classroom. I believe feedback will build a team atmosphere between
staff and administration as well as building trust among administration and staff. With trust,
comes a healthy culture and climate which will build a strong atmosphere for learning.
I see walk throughs being a small task that has a great reward in a school. I believe the
more you can make yourself present in classrooms the easier it will be to understand and
supervise the instruction that is taking place in the building. It will show the teachers that you
value their instruction and the students learning.
As an eighth grade mathematics teacher, I choose to do my walk throughs in seventh
grade Global Studies, Science, and Math classrooms. I also went to an eighth grade Science
class, but did this as an informal walk through without any instruction on what to look for. I
went to each of the 7
th
grade classes on February 12
th
, 2013 for five minutes from 8:30a.m. to
9:00a.m., and went to the 8
th
grade Science class on February 1
st
, at 10:05a.m. to 10:12a.m.
Experiencing each classroom, I have found some great things that are going on in my school.

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Walk Through Reflection

Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
When I did the walk throughs, I focused on student behavior, curriculum, instruction,
environment, and the health and safety of the classroom. At 8:33a.m. I entered the 7
th
grade
mathematics room and saw the students engaged in reviewing for their Unit 4 test that will be
given tomorrow over figuring simple integers using all operations. I could tell the teacher had
very good control of the classroom because the students were actively reviewing problems and
no students were off task. The students were paired at tables and they were formed in a U
shape with the teacher in the middle. He would constantly walk from table to table and stop
when students had questions on problems with students that were confused. He also reminded
the class where they could find the rules in their notes and the textbook. I then talked to a table
of students to see what they knew from their review and tested them on a few problems. They
were able to tell me how all the operation rules for integers worked, and I felt they had great
knowledge of the concepts for the test. I left the room at 8:38a.m. feeling confident that the
students had a good understanding of the concepts for tomorrows benchmark test.
At 8:41a.m., I entered a 7
th
grade World Studies class. This class was very similar but
different to the math class. The students were paired together at tables, but in rows. I learned
very quickly that the students were learning about the political, historical, physical, and cultural
features of South Asia. The teacher had this written as an I can statement on the front board,
which is a building/district wide PD initiative. The class was finishing a discussion on
Monsoons. Then the students were instructed to continue to work in their packet over South
Asia. What I noticed was that every student was working on something different because
students have different tasks they can choose from depending on what they want to do that day.

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Walk Through Reflection
Some students were doing map work, others were doing research on the computers about the
political policies, and others were working out of the book and doing worksheets that followed
the history of South Asia. You could see that the teachers I can statement fit to what he
wanted the students to learn. To some people it would look like mass chaos, but you could see
that the students were working hard and building knowledge of South Asia. I left the room at
8:46a.m. with a good understanding that the teacher was using many different strategies to meet
the needs of his students.
Then at 8:48a.m. I entered the 7
th
grade Science class. They were working on a plate
tectonics puzzle and gluing them into their composition book. I asked a student what this
composition book was, he said that they take everything they do in class and have to put glue it
into their composition book. This was a very neat idea, as you could see all the things the
students have done in the year so far. They also were putting in a flip-book of the vocabulary
that they did at the beginning of class. I then asked another student to explain to me how plate
tectonics shape the earths landscape, as that was the I can statement on the board. She pulled
out her puzzle and began to explain how all the continents fit together and when the plates
moved it eventually formed the landscape of the earth. I found this activity to be enriching for
the students learning, as it was a visual the students had and a hands-on activity. The teacher
showed a lot of energy and passion for the content, and the students followed his lead. In this
room, there was student work hanging all over, it was pretty impressive to see all the work the
students have done so far this year. I left the room at 8:53a.m. and found that this science
teacher used learning strategies that I think would be useful for other members of the staff to use,
and I would want him to share the things that he is using with the rest of the staff, or ask if I
could share it with others.

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Walk Through Reflection

On February 1
st
, I did an informal walk through of an 8
th
grade Science class at 9:30a.m.
and stayed until 9:38a.m. With this being my first walk through and not having much
instruction, I did not really know what I was looking for. What I wrote down was that the
students were working on trying to describe color blindness, because that was what was being
projected onto the screen in the front of the room. When I looked around at what the students
were doing I could not figure out how that question correlated to the task they were doing.
Students were working together on building a poster and researching different rays. I had to ask
a student how the question in the front of the room fit into what they were researching on
Gamma Rays. This student told me that he already finished that portion of the assignment and
he was working on his presentation on Gamma Rays for tomorrow. So, the students working
out of the book were still answering the question about color blindness, and the other students
were working on their presentations of the different rays that dealt with the electromagnetic
spectrum. This classroom was using different levels of Blooms, depending on where the
student was in their assignment(s).
Patterns and Trends
There were a few patterns and trends that I observed in the four classes I stopped at.
Each teacher had their I can statement (objective) written on the board in front of the
classroom. This is one initiative that our building is doing, and is an expectation for every
classroom in hopes that the students will understand what they are to learn if they continue to see
it and teachers keep referencing to it.
Another trend was every teacher spent little time in one spot of the classroom. They did
not just sit behind their desk, they kept moving around the classroom helping students. I believe

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Walk Through Reflection
this helped in the other trend and that is that every teacher had very good control of the students
in their classroom, even when they were doing different tasks because they did move around.
This helps students stay on task, and helps the teacher notice when the student is struggling. It
also takes the factor of the student not wanting to go ask a question in fear of what other students
might think.
The other pattern I liked seeing was that every teacher was very organized and had a
good plan for the students when they would finish different tasks at different times. There was
no down time for the student not to be doing something towards the teachers objective(s). I
liked that the Global Studies and Science teachers used a variety of learning strategies to fit to
different student learning styles. The strategies were not all the same, but each teacher involved
technology, cooperative learning, and some sort of graphic organizer.
The last pattern I observed was the organization of their rooms. Each teacher had
motivational posters and student work hanging from the ceiling and on the walls. This gives the
students a sense of pride in their class, especially when they see their own work. I also viewed
that each teacher had the students sitting in groups of two to four students. This maximizes the
engagement of each student and formed a positive teaching and learning environment.
Reflective Questions
Before doing these walk throughs, I knew I wanted to be able to give the teachers some
sort of feedback because that is what I always want but I never have gotten it. The only way I
have ever gotten feedback is when I went to them and asked for their thoughts. I dont want
them coming to me, I want the teachers to know that they are important to me and I will come to
them with my good or constructive thoughts and questions. I believe this builds great climate for
a building and teamwork from the administrators and teachers.

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Walk Through Reflection
I made it a point by the end of the day to stop by each teachers room and talk to them
about what I observed. They were eager to hear what I had to say because for some this is the
only time they have had feedback this year. I started by having a conversation with the 8
th
grade
Science teacher, and I told her that I saw the question on the front overhead and was confused
about what that had to do with Gamma Rays, and if that was something they were doing before
I entered the room. She let me know that the students were working on describing color
blindness, and when they were completed with that task they need to continue their work on their
presentations. She then informed me that everything they were doing was related to the Electro
Magnetic Spectrum. She was able to take my confusion of what I saw and make it make sense to
me. I then asked her about that class as a whole group and she said that class is her most
challenging class, so she has to have many things planned for the students to do, or they will not
behave themselves. I told her I thought she did a great job managing the many tasks that were
going on. I also let her know that if she needed any help with anything to please feel free to let
me know and I would try to help find any solutions for her.
I then went to talk to the 7
th
grade math teacher. I really only had one question for him
that I wanted to ask. I asked him if that was a typical process for preparing for a test, or do you
do something different to fit the needs for different students? He let me know that was the way
he prepared students for tests. This brought up a whole conversation on different ideas of test
preparation. I felt that his method was good for the students that know how to study, but not all
seventh graders, especially the students we have at our school do not know how to study. I
shared with him that maybe playing jeopardy, having some type of quiz bowl, or even working
in pairs solving each others questions that they have made. I do these types of things in my own
math classroom and I offered to share how I set these different things up. I feel he good do

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Walk Through Reflection
something different and also continue to do his own method. This would help reach all his
students with different learning styles. He found this to be helpful, and we will be meeting at our
next math meeting to share different things we do in preparing for tests. I would have not had
this conversation if I would have never went in and observe this teacher.
I emailed the Global Studies teacher earlier in the day and asked if I could come in after
school and give him feedback from what I saw, and he was happy to hear what I had to say. I
asked him how he plans for the differentiation he is doing in his classroom. He told me that he
plans a packet that has different options for students to pick from, and each option is at a
different level. The students are to pick from the list in the packet that fit to their own level. He
also stated that he helps students pick so they dont try to take something that will not challenge
them, but also not bury them because it is over there head. He said for the most part the students
are very good at choosing their own tasks at their skill level. I then asked how you know if each
student gets what they need in order to meet your objective of learning about South Asia. He
replied that no task is less than the basic objective for each standard, so no matter what students
pick, they will always get at least the basic information to up and beyond proficient. I told him
that I saw that every student was working on something that fit to his objectives and to keep up
the good work. He appreciated your two minute conversation, and I believe that little time will
go a long way for him in continuing to build great tasks for students to do.
The last conversation I had was with the 7
th
grade Science teacher. I wanted to k now
more about the students composition notebooks. When I looked at these books when I was in
the classroom, they had three composition books duct tape together, and I wanted to find out
more about this because I found it to be a great idea. He told me that two years ago he started
having students glue their classwork in their notebooks and then it evolved into putting

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Walk Through Reflection
everything into a composition book. He said this year he has finally gotten it down on how it
works and looks. He said that it takes three composition notebooks duct taped together to get
everything a 7
th
grade student will do in a year. At the end of the school year the student will be
able to see what they have learned and accomplished in science class. What a remarkable sight
for the student, and a great conversation piece for parent/teacher conferences. I asked if I could
share this with other teachers, and now we as a math department are going to put something
together for next year that has the same ideas this teacher is doing. I believe this will be
something that will go widespread throughout our building. I believe it will be done a little
differently in different content area, but there will be similar principles.
Concerns and Thoughts
Overall, I felt that walk throughs were extremely valuable. The best experience was
watching other teachers using different learning styles that fit the teachers comfort levels. With
all the different strategies out there, I believe there are several that will work for any teacher, and
some that will work for all teachers.
A concern that I did have was that I did not have a hard conversation with any of my
peers, and I believe that was because they were my peers and I had a hard time being critical of
their styles of teaching because this was for my class and not part of my job. I have been asking
myself how I would handle a hard conversation with a peer. I have come up with the conclusion
that I would just ask a probing question that would have them talk about their own concerns, and
then give my feedback on what I think might work for them.
This was a great experience because I was able to gain more knowledge that can help my
own teaching, but also give me topics to share with others. I believe this is what happens when
walk throughs are completed and discussed. I feel the feedback conversations were a great tool

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Walk Through Reflection
for me, as I learned even more that just what I thought I saw. I also found how different learning
strategies work in different content areas. This brought a positive conversation that relieved
some stress. This stress release existed because it was a positive experience for the teacher and
me. I believe it would be a helpful tool for other teachers to do walk throughs in order for them
to see how different strategies are being used to help students. As an administrator I will be
promoting peer walk throughs and the benefits of them.