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Teacher Rounds
A Guide to Collaborative Learning in and From Practice



May 2013 | 184 pages | Corwin

Teacher Rounds: Powerful peer-to-peer teacher professional development!

Teachers can be leaders of their own ongoing learning—and their best professional development resources may be their own classrooms and colleagues. Applying the Teacher Rounds methodology, teachers learn with and from each other through classroom observations and inquiry and develop a trusted community of practice.

Scholar-teacher Thomas Del Prete outlines every aspect of this practice-based approach to professional learning, including:

  • Step-by-step guidance and tools for implementing Teacher Rounds
  • Insights on creating a positive environment for honest feedback
  • A wealth of examples from a high-performing school and across all grade levels and disciplines

Based on a whole-hearted commitment to the art and science of teaching, this book helps teachers take classroom instruction to new levels of excellence.

“Thoughtful and packed with insights, Teacher Rounds is a valuable addition to the growing literature on important initiatives to improve teaching and learning.”
—Vivian Troen, Katherine C. Boles, authors of The Power of Teacher Teams

Teacher Rounds is one of the best ways to get teachers out of their classrooms and into each other’s classrooms for their own learning and for school improvement. This book provides the theory and background of rounds as well as concrete examples of how a school can implement them.”
—Lois Easton, Educational Consultant and Author
LBE Learning, Tucson, AZ

“The protocol of Teacher Rounds has the potential to be a powerful tool for professional learning. The focused conversations that follow observation augment the learning for all involved.”
—Sue Elliott, Education Consultant
Suechelt Consulting, Sechelt, BC


 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
1. The Practice of Teaching and Teacher Rounds: Aiming for the Sweet Spot
What Do We Teach For and How Do Students Learn Deeply and Well?

 
How Do Our Ideas About What We Teach for and About Learning Shape Teaching Practice?

 
How Do Teachers Develop Expertise?

 
Questions to Consider

 
 
2. The Teacher Round Protocol
Preparing for Teacher Rounds

 
The Teacher Round Protocol

 
The Teacher Round Protocol in Action: Kate’s 7th Grade Mathematics Teacher Round

 
 
3. Teacher Round Learning in High School
Leann’s Teacher Round: Understanding Theme in English Literature

 
Tara’s Teacher Round: Investigating Free Fall in One Dimension

 
Phoebe’s Teacher Round: Introduction to Constructive Critique in Art Class

 
Jeremy S.’s Teacher Round: A Visual Introduction to the Great Depression

 
Jeremy’s Preround Orientation: Immersion in the Odyssey

 
 
4. Sharing and Developing Expertise in Elementary School
Margaret’s Teacher Round: Early Guided Reading (Grade 2)

 
Teacher Rounds at Jacob Hiatt Elementary School

 
 
5. Rounds Day at University Park Campus School
Rounds Day

 
For Consideration and Reflection

 
 
6. Deepening Inquiry, Observation, and Reflection
The Challenge of Inquiry

 
The Challenge of Round Observation

 
The Challenge of Postround Reflection

 
 
7. The Courage to Learn in and From Practice
Developing Expertise in a Complex Practice

 
Trust, Openness, and the Courage to Learn

 
Establishing a Zone of Authentic Teacher Learning

 
Integrity of Teachers, Integrity of the Profession

 
An Inherently Hopeful, Reflective, and Democratic Act

 
 
Appendix A. Introducing Teacher Rounds: Several Examples
Chandler Elementary Community School

 
Claremont Academy

 
North Shore Technical High School Teacher Induction Program

 
 
Appendix B. Starting at the Beginning: Preservice Teacher Rounds
Rethinking Teacher Preparation and Practice

 
Integrating Teacher Rounds into Preservice Programs

 
Clark University Model

 
University of South Carolina Model

 
Teachers College at Columbia University

 
The “Rounds Project” at the University of Michigan

 
Towards an Integrated Practice-Based Approach: The Example of Clark University

 
 
Appendix C. The Teacher Round Protocol (Sample Short Version)
 
References
 
Index

Teacher Rounds is one of the best ways to get teachers out of their classrooms and into each other’s classrooms for their own learning and for school improvement. This book provides the theory and background of rounds as well as concrete examples of how a school can implement them.”

Lois Easton, Educational Consultant and Author
LBE Learning, Tucson, AZ

“In the PLC driven world of education, the author gives a real world model, Teacher Rounds, in which collaborative work is the focus for learning in and from practice. The model is both practical and humane while achieving results.”

Terry Morganti-Fisher, Educational Consultant
Learning Forward and QLD Learning, Austin, TX

“The protocol of Teacher Rounds has the potential to be a powerful tool for professional learning. The focused conversations that follow observation augment the learning for all involved.”

Sue Elliott, Education Consultant
Suechelt Consulting, Sechelt, BC

Teacher Rounds is a terrific example of job-embedded learning.”

Andrew Szczepaniak, Director of Professional Development
Gilbert Public Schools, AZ

"Thoughtful and packed with insights, Teacher Rounds is a valuable addition to the growing literature on important initiatives to improve teaching and learning."

Vivian Troen and Katherine C. Boles, authors of The Power of Teacher Teams

"This clearly written and highly accessible book offers a form of professional practice that begins with a deep respect for teachers. I urge school leaders, teacher educators, classroom teachers, and others concerned with improving the educational opportunities of our children to read this book and immediately put the ideas into action."

Kathy Schultz, Dean and Professor
Mills College School of Education, CA
Key features
(1) A conceptual and practical guide to Teacher Rounds -- a powerful form of job-embedded professional development with proven potential to support collaborative learning centered on student learning.

(2) Author has developed and refined the Teacher Rounds model over a 25 year period in his work with both pre- and in-service teachers.

(3) Provides practical guidelines for implementing and practicing Teacher Rounds and offers numerous examples drawn from actual school settings.

(4) Provides detailed examples of teacher rounds in action including a full chapter on a high-performing urban school (University Park Campus School) in which all teachers practice Teacher Rounds in order to foster shared knowledge about teaching and learning, and to develop the kind of learning community for themselves that the teachers value for their students as well.

(5) Includes an array of figures to illustrate the Teacher Round protocol and Teacher Round note-taking and inquiry as well as examples of actual (sample) "Rounds Sheets."

For instructors

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