Learning Walks

October 6, 2013

Dear Staff,

This week we will be starting a new professional development practice.  It is called Collaborative Learning Walks.  During a learning walk, a small group of teachers goes from classroom to classroom to watch other teachers in action.  The purpose is to observe, not evaluate, and to steal practices and methods that are affective. 

All teachers will get to participate during the first few minutes of their data meeting time.  At Columbia, the expectation is an open door policy.  An open door policy promotes the idea that the students are not “your” students, but “our” students.  The ground rule before the walks begin is that we are only focusing on positive teacher actions.  Ideas we can “borrow” to improve our own practice. 

We will be using our observations to think together about our own individual teaching practices, what we are seeing, and what we may need to do differently.  The goal is to learn from one another.   

We look forward to our school growing tremendously from the communication and discussion we obtain from our learning walks!

Respectfully,

Tiffany, Michael & Suzette