My school is encouraging staff to take learning walks whenever they have some available time. Staff are encouraged to visit other classes in different areas of the school and to reflect on what they see happening. It's part of a drive from good to outstanding teaching.
One of the key elements of making this work is in establishing conversations about (outstanding) learning and teaching. I'm trying to encourage staff to blog about their learning walks as a way of encouraging reflective practice and enabling those learning and teaching conversations. Here's my advice:
Why would I want to publish a blog about my learning walks?
One of the main functions of the learning walks is to get us all thinking about what outstanding learning and teaching looks like. Reflecting on, and engaging in a dialogue about what we see are key parts of that process. Blogging enables both of those parts of the process to take place easily.
How do I go about blogging?
Step 1: Set up a blog. There are loads of options.
If you have a Google account you can create a blog on www.blogger.com for free (and if you don’t have a Google account yet, it’s free and easy to set one up!) www.edublogs.org is also free and is focused on education. www.posterous.com is free and is also popular with educators.
Step 2a: start to post to your blog.
There is no blueprint for blog posts. Whatever works for you is fine. If a blank piece of (virtual) paper scares you, just start describing what you saw and edit your words after you’ve got something down. If the very act of writing turns you off, you could do an audio or video recording of your thoughts and post that. There is no right or wrong way!
Step 2b: but think about what you are saying....
Having said there is no right or wrong, there are a couple of things to bear in mind:
Remember your blog is public. That’s a good thing because it means your potential audience is global. It’s also good in that remembering that fact makes you think really carefully about what you say. This very act in itself is a valuable part of reflective practice.
Don’t mention any teachers (or students!) you see by name. Apart from the fact that other people may be uncomfortable about having their name up in lights on your blog the learning walks process is about what practice you see happening, not about personalities. Try phrasing sentences like “I was in a Math lesson and I saw the teacher inspiring a student by doing a magic trick related to a Maths problem. It was a great way of developing a positive relationship with the student.”
You don’t need to write an essay. Sometimes a couple of lines (or even one) is enough.
Step 3: tell everyone about your blog!
When you’ve set up your blog, let people know about it. Send emails with the URL of your blog (the bit that goes “www.blogger.com/myblog” etc) to other staff. This is important because of step 4...
Step 4: have a dialogue
One of the greatest things about blogs is that they allow other people to comment. A comments section on a blog can be a great way of opening up a dialogue with someone who you might find it difficult to have a conversation with during the day (maybe your free times don’t overlap, or you do clubs at lunchtime or you have to pick up your own kids after school or you’re too shy...). It also gives you the opportunity to open your personal learning network (PLN) out beyond the physical boundaries of the school building (and the school hours).
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