Wonder Walks: Teachers Learning From Teachers

Oh, the wonderful WONDER WALKS strategy!  Chances are you've heard about something similar to this strategy.  Several schools implement a tool called "Pineapple Charts" as informal PD between and among teachers.  You can find out more about this method HERE!  This method allows teachers to observe colleagues and gain ideas about specific teaching tools and strategies.  "Wonder Walks" are similar in that teachers spend time observing and learning from other teachers.  The difference is that they can go into any classroom, observe any content area, and are expected to walk away with something wonderful they noticed and something they are wondering about for their own instruction.

Here are the logistics to get "Wonder Walks" started:

1. Administrators really should be the ones to promote this excellent strategy.  But if you are an instructional coach or otherwise in education, you can share the idea and partner with your administrators to initiate the process.  To begin, teachers should have plenty of time to learn about this strategy.  Buy in is a MUST!  It is difficult for teachers to be vulnerable and open up their classroom for others to walk in and observe, so it is highly important that this is presented in a positive way.  You could present it in a faculty meeting with sweet treats and a fun game.  You could meet with grade level teams to present it.  You could even create a fun video to send out to teachers introducing this strategy.  
2. After it has been introduced and teachers have time to chew on this concept, you'll need to set up a schedule.  This is where teachers will get to provide a great deal of input.  Because we want teachers to buy in and feel as comfortable as possible with colleagues observing them, they should be able to choose what part(s) of the day they will open their classroom to observers.  Leadership staff can visit with teachers accordingly to help them decide what components of their day would be ideal for observations.  And yes, all teachers are expected to participate.
3. Let the "Wonder Walks" begin!  This part is really quite simple.  The leadership team can either provide a sub for classrooms so that there is no interference with conference times (after all, we know how much teachers have on their "to-do" list) OR teachers can be expected to go during their conference time to observe other teachers.  A "menu" of sorts (as seen here and pictured below) should be provided so that observing teachers know to whose classroom they can go, at what times, and what they might see.  Observing teachers should spend no more than 10-15 minutes in one classroom.  Why?  After about 10 or 15 minutes, our attention begins to wane.  We want teachers focused on the instruction being observed, not what furniture or decorations they'd like for their classrooms, nor do we want them creating to-do lists during observations.  Ideally, teachers should be able to visit three or more classrooms.

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And when the wonder walks are over?
Great question!  You'll want to be sure that teachers hold on to the notes they take!  This is likely the most important part of the whole process.  After the open period of observations, you'll want to have teachers debrief as a whole.  This is so important, not only because it holds teachers accountable for their attention to instruction during the observation time, but also because it can encourage deep, thoughtful discussion about quality teaching.  And HOPEFULLY great practices will be replicated across the campus.  This is the best kind of professional development you could ask for- in-house, student-based, and actionable!   Wondering what the debrief looks like??  Be sure to check out next week's blog post to learn about 3+3 Debriefing AFTER Wonder Walks!