A Principal Asks... Immediate Feedback After a Short Walk-thru

A Principal asks:

SC,

Should I give teachers feedback after every short walk-thru?

SC Response

Good question.  But first I have a question for you.  Can you objectively determine the quality of a teacher or the quality of instruction in just three minutes?

If your answer is, “No,” (which is the correct answer) then what are you basing your feedback on? Your opinion?

So the answer is, “No,” don’t try to give feedback after every short-term walk-thru.  Instead, commit to conducting lots of walk-thrus and meeting with teachers every 3 to 6 weeks to discuss trends, patterns, practices and goals.  The purpose of walk-thrus is to improve the quality of the coaching conversations that we have with our teachers.  Which means I have to see enough to distill random occurrence from typical practice, before I talk. That’s the reflective power of coaching and that is what our teachers really need.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

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