Thursday, November 29, 2007

5X5's

For a coach having a snapshot of instruction across the school is important. The information I gather is valuable in fully understanding where the school is as a whole and where our next steps should be. I assist the Leadership Team in planning professional development activities and gleam information that may help all coaches school-wide plan next steps.

To get my snapshot, I simply do a 5x5 (five by five). 5x5's consist of me taking five steps into a classroom and observing for five minutes. You can't imagine how quick and easy this snapshot is to take and how valuable the information is in keeping your thumb on the pulse of the school's instruction. The walk also lets teachers know that you value their work and are excited to see them in action.

Yesterday, I did 5x5's on the top floor of our building including stops in all third, fourth, and fifth grade classrooms, as well as two second grade classrooms. The "snapshots" below highlight some of the instruction I caught in action.
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2 comments:

  1. dayle timmonsDecember 1, 2007 at 11:38 PM

    Wow - I love this visual snapshot because it really is how it is every day. Great work to visually show what a 5X5 looks like! dayle

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  2. Jenny NashDecember 4, 2007 at 8:38 PM

    Suzanne -- I'm just sitting here, catching up on my Reader time...thanks for this post. I'm glad to hear that all looks good from the outside looking in! I also appreciate the opportunity to be a fly on the wall of my peers' classrooms. I think it's great to see you and Moena out and about in the classrooms. It is very important to our training as teachers as well as our kids as the dreamers in a large kingdom!
    Jenny

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