4 Quotes & 20 Questions re: Walkthroughs

Reading Betty Garner's Getting to Got It! got me thinking about the classroom walkthroughs I do and where my attention ought to be during the 5-12 minutes I'm in each classroom. I picked out four quotes that especially stood out to me along with some thoughts and questions I ought to ask students related to the quote.

"Sometimes we are tempted to tell students what to recognize or notice, and then we assume that because we told them, they have learned it." -p. 32

I need a walkthrough form that records what the students are doing and saying rather than simply what the teacher is doing and saying. Instead of measuring learning by what the adult is doing I need to focus on what the students are doing. Just because the teacher is telling the students about it in an effective manner doesn't mean anybody is learning it. I've been writing a lot recently on focusing more on what the output is and that ought to transfer to what I'm observing when I'm visiting classrooms and supervising teachers. What they're doing is secondary to what the learners are doing (if my prime focus is learning.)

Questions to ask students during a walkthrough

1. what is the most important thing for me to know about what you're learning?
2. how is what you're learning connected to everything you're doing in class?
3. how would you explain or teach this to a little kid?
4. what questions do you have for the teacher or about the topic based on what you're learning?
5. what have / will you produce or make?

"Students confuse imitation with learning. In the classroom, they may correctly  complete assignments by simply imitating what the teacher models, without making the information their own." -p. 36

I'm a big proponent of modeling; I've written about it a lot in previous posts. For skills like organizing, classifying, communicating, etc. modeling is an awesome teaching tool. But for the learner to fully learn what you're teaching they have to make it theirs. It has to be a little original for it to stick. I need to engage more with the students when I'm walking through classes; I need to hear from them how they interpret what they're learning and how they've adopted what they're learning into practice.

Questions to ask students during a walkthrough

1. what do you make of what the teacher is telling or showing you?
2. how can / will you build on what the teacher is doing?
3. how can / will you adopt this into your own practices?
4. how could you teach this to a little kid?
5. what would this look like outside the classroom?

"Some even maintain good grades by memorizing information; however, they can't connect , apply, or transfer the information  to other situations." -p. 49

Maybe I ought to take a random student's schedule and walk through each of his/her classes in one day, and then meet with them to discuss how or if they take what they're doing in class A and use it in class D. We know the true measure of learning if how well we use it elsewhere; engaging students in those kinds of conversations after experiencing their entire schedule would be a powerful measure of how much they're learning in relation to what they're being taught.

Questions to ask students during a walkthrough

1. how can / will you apply this outside of this class?
2. how does this remind you of something else you've learned?
3. how do this connect with what you're doing in other classes?
4. why is what you're learning important or relevant?
5. what would this look like outside the classroom?

"The students follow directions with little or no personal investment or processing of information." -p. 64

Neat and tidy and orderly is great, but it's not reflective of the process of learning. I need to be more observant than that.

Questions to ask students during a walkthrough

1. what impact does this information have?
2. how will you use this outside the classroom?
3. how does this fit in with everything you already know?
4. what is the most important parts of the lesson you need to retain?
5. what is the significance of what you're learning? Why here? Why now?