Now We're Talking: 21 Days to High-Performance Instructional Leadership

by Justin Baeder

Daily observation of classroom teaching can significantly impact the quality of teaching and learning. Organized into 21 chapters designed to be read over a period of 21 school days, Now We're Talking! presents a results-driven approach that far surpasses traditional walkthrough models of feedback for teachers. School leaders will complete two cycles of classroom visits while reading the book and establish the necessary foundation for subsequent visits.

This plan will help you incorporate daily classroom walkthroughs to improve teaching and

Understand how daily classroom observation can help you make informed decisions that foster rich relationships with teachers, improve professional practices, reduce stress, and increase student learning.Discover how to conduct teacher evaluations and classroom walkthroughs to improve teaching and learning, fostering high-performance results and high-quality instructional leadership.Take part in 21 days of action challenges toward making teacher observations and giving feedback to teachers after observation a daily practice.Learn supervision and instructional leadership skills that establish effective communication in schools.Gain time-management tips for streamlining your inboxes, staying organized, and prioritizing work so you have time for daily classroom visits and lesson observation feedback.

Week 1: High-Performance Instructional Leadership FundamentalsChapter 1: Understanding Why Instructional Leaders Belong in ClassroomsChapter 2: Following the High-Performance Instructional Leadership ModelChapter 3: Acknowledging Related Instructional Leadership, Supervision, and Walkthrough ModelsChapter 4: Conducting Your First Two Cycles of VisitsChapter 5: Thinking Ahead to Your Third Cycle of Visits

Week 2: High-Performance HabitsChapter 6: Making Time to Visit ClassroomsChapter 7: Keeping Your Communication Channels Under ControlChapter 8: Managing the Work You're Not Doing YetChapter 9: Organizing Your To-Do ListChapter 10: Maximizing Your Mental Energy With Habits

Week 3: High-Impact Instructional ConversationsChapter 11: Going Beyond Data Collection and the Feedback SandwichChapter 12: Facilitating Evidence-Based ConversationsChapter 13: Bringing a Shared Instructional Framework Into the ConversationChapter 14: Developing Skills for High-Impact ConversationsChapter 15: Handling the Toughest Conversations

Week 4: High-Performance Instructional Leadership EnhancementChapter 16: Building Your Feedback RepertoireChapter 17: Balancing Your Formal Evaluation ResponsibilitiesChapter 18: Identifying Improvements From Classroom VisitsChapter 19: Opening the Door to New Models of Professional LearningChapter 20: Choosing an Instructional Focus for an Observation CycleChapter 21: Scaling Classroom Visits Across Your School and District

Genres: Education, Leadership, Nonfiction

210 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 29, 2017

Reviews

[Alex Valencic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now We’re Talking” is a perfect how-to manual for adopting a high-performance instructional leadership model that shares research-based strategies without being overly heavy on the research references. Dr. Baeder’s primary thesis is this: The only way an instructional leader can lead instruction in his/her building is to get into classrooms every day to see what is actually going on.

That’s it! It seems so simple and obvious: You can’t be an instructional leader when you don’t know what kind of instruction is happening. And yet I know that there are many administrators who may go days without leaving their offices during the instructional day. (I once knew of a principal who shared, as a point of pride, that things in their building ran so smoothly that they hardly ever had to leave their office!) Being a school leader often requires handling a multitude of administrative tasks that can take away from time in classrooms. Meetings, conference calls, mandatory paperwork, student discipline, strategic planning, scheduling, emails, phone calls, child services visits, law enforcement visits, and a host of other duties that are all essential can and do get in the way of getting into classrooms.

That is why the entirety of “Now We’re Talking” is a guide for how instructional leaders can, over the course of just 21 days, develop the structure, systems, and habits needed to make daily classroom visits not just a part of their work, but the number one priority. From suggestions on how many classroom visits to make a day to how to communicate with staff what you are doing and why you are doing it to resources for how to deal with those reluctant to welcome you into their classrooms, this a book that is worth reading by anyone who serves in a leadership role, whether they are an administrator, a coach, a counselor, or even a classroom teacher who wants to work more closely with their peers to improve teaching and learning.

Whatever your role, if you make getting into classrooms to see what is actually happening a priority, you will see a change in your building. Teachers will not feel the need to put on a “dog and pony show” whenever the principal’s shadow crosses the doorway. Students will not be surprised when you walk in, wanting to know who you are and what you are doing there. As the results of these visits become known, the building will transform from being “a group of independent contractors who share a parking lot” to being an professional learning community that believes that all teachers are responsible for all students at all times. (They will also recognise that “teachers” in a school are not just the certified staff but also the aides, custodians, secretaries, food service workers, and playground supervisors.)

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A practical and helpful resource for engaging in instructional leadership that actually leads to improvement in the classroom. It is all about taking a learning approach to classroom visits, that eventually lead to professional conversations about practice. This is how I would have wanted to be supported as a teacher, and this is the approach I use now as a principal.

[Stephane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't tell me to bring my cellphone to bed so I can check my work email before going to sleep, or to save easy tasks for the evening at home so I can do them while watching TV.

Don't normalize working around the clock, especially if you are salary, this could be damaging for young teachers and administrators.

[Millie | The Book Wrym · Rating 5 out of 5]

A number of interesting and beneficial strategies for leadership staff to learn more about the teaching and learning taking place in classrooms. Unsure about how successful I would be at using broken...

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic, hands on, guided approach to reinventing your instructional practice on campus. I found it meaningful, practical, and thoughtful.

[Luke Fitzpatrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Penny Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent educational leadership book.