Pedagogical Systems, Inquiry, Leadership and Understanding

What is Known - The Pedagogical System

Describe the Pattern

How many blocks are in image 10?

How many blocks are in image 81?

How many?

How does this task support each component of the Pedagogical System?

The Pedagogical System - Connections

Instructions:

1. Form a home group of 5 and number off from 1 to 5
2. Read your section of the “Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics” document
3. Annotate the provided placemat with brief notes aligning the reading to the Pedagogical Systems

Digging Deeper: Jigsaw

Making Connections:

Effective Mathematics Learning & Teaching

1. Ethic of Care & Arranging for Learning, p. 7-10
2. Building on Students’ Thinking & Worthwhile Mathematical Tasks p. 11-14
3. Making Connections & Assessment for Learning, p. 15-18
4. Mathematical Communication & Mathematical Language p. 19-22
5. Tools and Representations & Teacher Knowledge p. 23-26

Digging Deeper: Jigsaw

Instructions:

• Form an expert group of 3 or 4 people with the same reading passage
• Discuss your section of the “Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics” document
• You may use the Effective Pedagogy chart to keep your notes

Digging Deeper: Jigsaw

Instructions:

• Move back to your home group
• Allow each member 2 minutes to share their learning about their sections of the Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics article

Jigsaw - Home Groups

Instructions:

Take individual time to transfer key learnings from Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics to the various sections of the Pedagogical System

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Jigsaw - Home Groups

15 minute break

Use exactly eight 8s to get to the number 1000. You can use + - x /

Two fathers and two sons sat down to eat eggs for breakfast. They ate exactly three eggs. Each person had an egg. The riddle is for you to explain how.

Hattie: What works!

The BAROMETER of INFLUENCE

The BAROMETER of INFLUENCE

The Evidence Base - Effect Sizes

• Teacher subject matter knowledge
• Attitude to mathematics
• Self-reported grades/student expectations

The Evidence Base - Effect Sizes

Self-reported grades/student expectations

Attitude to mathematics

Teacher subject matter knowledge

Rate that Strategy/Influence

Effect Sizes - What Do I Know?

Instructions

In pairs, write each influence/strategy on one colour of post-it note and rank them on the Barometer of Influence based on where you think it should land.

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Prior Knowledge - Effect Sizes

Classroom discussion

Worked examples

Ability Grouping

Problem-based learning

Problem solving teaching

Spaced vs. mass practice

Direct instruction

Feedback

Micro-teaching

Matching Learning Styles

The Evidence Base - Effect Sizes

Connecting the Dots

We use the ideas we already have (blue dots) to construct a new idea (red dot), developing in the process a network of connections between ideas. The more ideas used and the more connections made, the better we understand.

~Elementary and Middle School Mathematics, Teaching Developmentally, Van De Walle, J

Creating Red Dots - Effect Sizes

Instructions

1. As team, compare your Barometers of Influence and agree upon a final rank order.
2. Use Hattie’s book to look up the actual effect sizes of these influences. What surprised you?
3. Now, work as a team to investigate these influences further (connecting prior knowledge to new learning) because after all, “What’s in a name?”
4. Has your new learning changed your thinking about effective practices? Why? Why not?

Like-Role Groupings

Critical Reflection:

1. With your like-role partner or triad, think about your “class”...
2. Recalling the idea of “small wins” and focus, what small action(s) might you take to influence either the leadership or classroom practice of your “class”?

Digging Deeper

Developing Your

Leadership Inquiry

Moses Velasco

Why inquiry as an approach to professional learning?

What constitutes a leadership inquiry?

How might a leadership inquiry be monitored?

How can we begin developing a leadership inquiry?

Centrally Assigned Staff?

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Vice Principal or Principal?

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Superintendent?

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Why inquiry as an approach to professional learning?

What constitutes a leadership inquiry?

How might a leadership inquiry be monitored?

How can we begin developing a leadership inquiry?

Discuss:

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When I really want to learn something, I need…

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I know I’ve really learned something when...

Nobody would disagree . . . that schools are primarily for the education of children. [But the] assumption that teachers can create and maintain conditions . . . stimulating for children, without those same conditions existing for teachers, has no warrant.

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• Seymour Sarason

The Creation of Settings and the Future Societies, 1972, pp. 123-124

Professional

Development

Professional Learning

Hopes and strives for instructional change.

Ensures and plans for change.

http://bit.ly/pdvspl

Effective professional learning ensures that educators better understand the impact of their actions and know how and what to adjust.

Student learning, and success

What do we have to do to support professional learning in math?

Changes in what teachers know and how they ‘teach’ it

Professional development and professional learning

Improved Student Achievement in Math

Educator Practices

Educator Professional Development and Learning

Educator

Practices

System Leader Practices

School Leader

Practices

learning and influence

learning and influence

Learning Leader

One who models learning, but also shapes the conditions for all to learn on a continuous basis.

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• Michael Fullan

The Principal, 2014, p. 9

How can you as a leader influence teachers to engage in the kind of professional learning that encourages teachers to assess the impact of their instructional decisions and actions?

Why inquiry as an approach to professional learning?

What constitutes a leadership inquiry?

How might a leadership inquiry be monitored?

How can we begin developing a leadership inquiry?

What are the

leadership

actions that encourage others to think about their impact?

Principle #1

Increases in student learning occur only as a consequence of improvements in the level of content, teachers’ knowledge and skill and student engagement.

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Student

Curriculum

Teacher

The work of improvement happens in the improvement of relationships within the instructional core.

Student

Curriculum

Teacher

Relationships

Relationships

Relationships

By focusing on these relationships, certain aspects of teaching and learning come into focus...

How to better...

• Plan and construct

• Assess

• Respond

Improving the ‘relationships’ within instructional core of math requires unique considerations of the

core’s components.

Student

Curriculum

Teacher

Relationships

Relationships

Relationships

Reframe

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Refocus

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Rethink

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Describes what effective school leadership looks like, based on researched evidence of what makes the most difference to student achievement and well-being

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5 Domains

21 Leadership Practices

OLF Organization

Improving the

Instructional Program

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• Staffing the instructional program
• Providing instructional support
• Monitoring progress in student learning and school improvement
• Buffering staff from distractions to their work

• observe classroom instruction and provide constructive feedback to teachers
• provide advice to teachers about how to solve classroom problems
• provide teachers with the opportunity to observe effective instructional practices among colleagues in their own school as well as in other schools
• participate with staff in their instructional improvement work
• assist staff in understanding the importance of student assessment for, of, and as learning
• use multiple sources of evidence when analysing student progress
• give priority to identifying those students most in need of additional support
• incorporate the explicit use of data when making decisions that relate to student learning and school improvement

Which ones would I say that I have proficiency with and which ones would I say I’m learning the nuances of?

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To what degree do I exercise those verbs?

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What gets in the way of being able to fully realize those actions?

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Educator

Practices

System Leader Practices

School Leader

Practices

learning and influence

learning and influence

Tri-Level Inquiry

Classroom Teachers

How can we support students?

Board & System Leaders

How can we support school & instructional leaders?

School & Instructional Leaders

How can we support teachers?

3 Year Learning Journey

One person’s if is another person’s then

IF teachers intentionally and routinely have students discuss, evaluate and reflect on the communication of problem solving strategies,

THEN students will better communicate their mathematical thinking while solving problems.

THEN teachers will intentionally and routinely have students discuss, evaluate and reflect on the communication of problem solving strategies.

IF principals are routinely in classrooms and they provide evidence-informed feedback to teachers about the quality of student discourse,

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THEN principals will routinely be in classrooms and they will provide evidence-informed feedback to teachers about the quality of student discourse.

IF superintendents co-learn strategies for giving and receiving effective feedback with principals and together they engage in deep practice,

Why inquiry as an approach to professional learning?

What constitutes a leadership inquiry?

How might a leadership inquiry be monitored?

How can we begin developing a leadership inquiry?

Reflection on Action

Did we do what we said we’d do at all levels?

Reflection as Monitoring

How can these reflections help us monitor our progress?

Reflection on Learning

What learning actually took place at all levels?

Is this evidence:

• of the if…
• of the then…
• of the both…
• of neither...

Why inquiry as an approach to professional learning?

What constitutes a leadership inquiry?

How might a leadership inquiry be monitored?

How can we begin developing a leadership inquiry?

Leadership inquiries are about identifying places where you know you need to get better in relation to influence (because it’s crucial to teachers getting better and students being successful) but you don’t know how to do it and there isn’t an algorithm.

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• Steven Katz

What are the areas that I might want to inquire about?

Consider what ‘stones in your shoes’ relate to influencing and supporting the instructional shifts in math.

Collaborative Leadership Inquiry

Why a Leadership Inquiry?

To intentionally interrupt “naive” practice & to create the space and time for “purposeful” practice

Inquiry allows you to engage in Purposeful Practice

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Specific Goals

Focus

Feedback

Discomfort

Based on John Hattie’s Research

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Leaders who believe their major role is to evaluate their impact (ES=.91)

Leaders who get everyone in the school working together to know and evaluate their impact. (ES=.91)

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Leaders who learn in an environment that privileges high impact teaching and learning. (ES=.84)

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Leaders who are explicit with teachers and students about what success looks like. (ES=.77)

What is my focus?

Who is in my class?

What would I look for to know if I am getting better (evidence of impact)?

How...Leadership Inquiry

Where do I need to get better?

Leadership Through Line

Decide as a team what your inquiry will look like:

1. Shared inquiry - a single inquiry that is shaped and enacted on by all network members
2. Parallel inquiry - network members each have their own inquiry but support one another in shaping and enacting their respective inquiries
3. Intersecting inquiry - network members each have their own inquiry that explore different questions or aspects of the same topic

Your Collaborative Leadership Inquiry...

Adaptive Challenges

R. Hefeitz, Harvard University

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Requires people to examine their deeply held beliefs

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Status quo is challenged

We don’t already know the answer, requires people to learn something new

Adaptive challenges can be distressing

Usually requires people to work together to solve problem

Leaders cannot solve the problem for their people

bit.ly/technicalvsadaptive

What...Your Theory of Action

Key Considerations from Steven Katz

Frequency (20 min Rule)

Keep it small

Who’s in your class?

Moving from Theory of Action to Inquiry Question

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So, if this is my theory of action, then what am I most curious about for my role?

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My wondering would be, what do I need to get better at?

Tri Level T of A

IF I (teacher) intentionally and routinely have students discuss, evaluate and reflect on the communication of problem solving strategies,

THEN they (students) will better communicate their mathematical thinking while solving problems.

IF I (principal) am routinely in classrooms and they provide evidence-informed feedback to teachers about the quality of student discourse,

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THEN they (principals) will provide evidence-informed feedback to teachers about the quality of student discourse,

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THEN they (teachers) will intentionally and routinely have students discuss, evaluate and reflect on the communication of problem solving strategies,

IF I (facilitator/system principal) provide professional learning & in-school support for giving & receiving effective feedback,

If I (superintendent) learn strategies for giving & receiving effective feedback with principals

Monitoring your Theory of Action

You need to collect two types of evidence:

Evidence of implementation is connected to the “If I...”

Evidence of impact is connected to the “ Then they...”

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“Leadership is the exercise of influence on organizational members and diverse stakeholders toward the identification and achievement of the organization’s vision and goals.”

Narrowing the Focus

• Describe an adaptive challenge you are facing that is hindering your school improvement efforts?
• What is your “next best learning move” to address this challenge, and what evidence will point to your learning?
• How will you assess the impact of your “next best learning move” and then reflect on what you need to learn next?

Using multiple measures of data, what are the student learning needs in your school? Based on what data?

What are the educator learning needs in your school? Based on what data?

What are your leadership learning needs in order to bring about the shift in practice needed for improvement in student learning?

Determining Learning Needs

The Inquiry Template for School Leaders

Adapted from The Intelligent Responsive Leader, Steven Katz, Lisa Ain Dack, John Malloy, p 126

You inquire not to solve problems, but rather to understand the problem better and more deeply.

- Steven Katz

Team Time

For Next Time...An Inquiry Brief

• The purpose of your inquiry
• How might you collect data
• How might you analyze data
• A proposed timeline for your inquiry

The Inquiry Brief is a working document that allows you to develop a plan for your inquiry. Your brief may cover aspects such as:

Next Steps Timeline

pp 95-104

Personal Reflection

Who is Our Networking Winner?

Next ML²N Session:

• Date: February 28 & March 1
• Location: Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 100 Pony Drive, Newmarket
• Start Time: Breakfast begins at 8:00 and the network begins at 9:00