Feedback on Virtual Classes

With the shift to virtual learning, a large K12 public school district is using their LMS to provide coursework to their students. Students are required to attend office hours and live classes with their teachers. Teachers conduct and record these classroom sessions using Microsoft Teams. Once a month, they upload a virtual lesson to TORSH Talent and share it with mentors for feedback using our time-stamped video commenting tool. Based on the feedback, coaches create goals for their teachers in TORSH Talent so the teachers can easily see what needs work and their progress as they achieve goals.

Self Reflection & Evaluation 

A state department of education uses TORSH Talent to encourage teachers to upload videos of their classes once a month. Using our time-stamped video commenting feature, the teacher self-reflects and contextualizes the video to request feedback from their coaches in growth areas. Every other month, teachers attach a lesson plan and corresponding student work to their video so facilitators can perform a comprehensive evaluation using their customized evaluation rubric on TORSH Talent. 

Rubric Adaption for Remote Instruction

One charter school network adapted their in-person observation rubric to meet the needs of remote instruction. Teachers record their virtual classes and upload them to TORSH Talent. Teachers then share the videos with their coaches, who conduct a rubric-based observation. 

Using these adaptations, teachers can receive the same high-quality coaching, in a remote world. Being virtual does not mean anyone has to give up valuable mentorship, and those examples highlight only a few of the amazing TORSH Talent features that facilitate remote workflows. 

More features our users love:

In-Person (Virtual) Observations

Coaches can join a live virtual classroom session to conduct an observation using our in-person observation tool.

Exemplar Library

Share virtual classroom resources and examples of best practices for teachers to view and grow their virtual teaching skills.

Forums

Since it is not as easy for teachers to collaborate in-person, create virtual learning communities using our forums feature as a way to share resources, and facilitate discussion.

Zoom Integration & Chat

Integrate with Zoom to host coaching sessions on TORSH Talent. The recordings will automatically upload and share with the meeting participants. Use our chat feature to stay connected and collaborate via an easy to use direct messaging tool. 

Want to learn more about the benefits of TORSH Talent?
Let us give you a personalized walk-through of the platform.

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The role that video can play in bringing about this awareness is incredible. When combined with self-reflective tools, coaches can harness the power that comes from watching ourselves through a different lens. So, here are some tips for helping teachers become focused, objective viewers of themselves and their practice as a part of reflective teaching:

1. Have a clear purpose for the viewing. Just as establishing a purpose for reading helps to direct our mind to find the details that most support that purpose, the same is true for viewing. It is helpful to present a question for the teachers to have in their minds as they watch their videos. For example, giving guidance such as “Watch your video and notice what lesson components you see reflected in your lesson.” or “As you watch your video, note what types of questions you ask the most?” helps the teachers focus on one aspect of their practice to observe. This can help clear the critical lens for the teachers that tend to notice all the things they do “wrong”. 
2. Create a checklist of objective behaviors to notice. Since instructional coaching is focused on building teacher capacity in applying best practices, having a checklist of clear behaviors to notice can be helpful in shifting from a critical or unaware lens to a more objective one. Create a checklist that outlines specifically what the teachers listen for or look for in the video? Teachers can use this to comment on their videos when they see an element reflected or upload the checklist as a separate document. Their video reflection can give a coach valuable insight into the lens through which the teacher is viewing their own practice. Click here for an example checklist on conducting reading and writing conferences with students. 
3. Ask them to rate themselves and use evidence from their video to support their rating. Rubrics are a great way to help teachers gauge their progress toward a goal. Prior to introducing a practice, have teachers rate their knowledge and comfort with each aspect that will be explored in the coaching. As they upload a video and use a checklist to reflect, have them review the rubric and note places in the videos that reflect growth. They can use rubric tags to timestamp exact places that they feel show progress.
4. Include “next step” thinking as a part of the reflection. In every coaching engagement, the goal is forward movement. Asking teachers to set a goal or a next step action based on their reflection allows them to lead their own learning. I have found that teachers often set far more insightful goals for themselves after having a chance to do some purposeful and strategic self-reflection.

Coaching a teacher toward reflective practice takes time, but when teachers become comfortable viewing videos of themselves through a reflective lens, it has a massive impact.

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Robyn Hartzell has served in education since 1998 and has experience in a variety of roles: teacher, instructional coach, interventionist, trainer, consultant, and program coordinator at the campus and regional levels. Currently, she works as an independent consultant and coach promoting effective instructional and leadership practices and championing the need for quality professional learning. Robyn takes privilege in coaching professionals in their craft and is passionate about helping organizations develop leaders who make a lasting, positive impact on the programs and people they serve.

Be sure to follow Robyn on Twitter @robynhartzellpd and check out her website at www.hartzellpd.com

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But why?

Professional athletes are elite performers, yet they all have coaches. In fact, it is imperative that they work closely with expert coaches to maintain and strengthen their skills. Coaching high-performers takes a different approach, but when an excellent teacher collaborates with a coach who understands the unique needs of those that excel, the impact can far exceed expectations.

In their book Building Teachers’ Capacity for Success (2008), Pete Hall and Alisa Simeral discuss a continuum of self-reflection which describes four levels of awareness and ways of thinking that reflect where a teacher may be in their professional growth process. Each stage of the continuum requires a different kind of coaching, so it is beneficial for coaches to be able to recognize where on the continuum a teacher may be. Many high-performing teachers exist in the “Refinement Stage”. In this stage, teachers tend to be reflective about all aspects of their practice; they can identify student needs and adjust instruction mid-teaching using a variety of tools they have gathered through experience, research, and professional learning. These teachers seek new ideas and seek opportunities to learn. They understand the impact of their teaching beyond the classroom walls and do not confine themselves or their students to doing things in one “right’ way. Just like professional athletes, these teachers know their game and have the skills that allow them to play it well. So what can a coach do?

With teachers in the refinement stage, a coach’s role is to support their continued growth, expand their impact, and challenge their thinking. One way a coach can support high-performers is to tap into their tendency for self-reflection by using rubrics and self-reflection forms as a part of video-based coaching.

When teachers record a lesson ask them to do some of the following as self-reflective exercises:

1. Add at least 3 comments to their video that reflect what they were thinking or how they were making decisions at different points of the lesson.
   
2. Tell what went as planned, what went well (in their opinion), what they would revise.
   
3. Before recording, create a list of behaviors they want to see in their teaching. Watch the video and note how many of the behaviors they see. Create a goal based on the behaviors they want to see more of.

Coaches can also facilitate learning opportunities by connecting the teacher with others and offering professional learning beyond the traditional.

• Are there Twitter chats that the teacher might be interested in and could add value to?
• Are there blogs or teacher mastermind groups?
• Could the teacher and/or coach start one?

When questioning high-performers, coaches can challenge them by asking about the thinking that went into an instructional choice:

• How did you decide to _?
• What would you have done if ?

Coaches help professional athletes stay at the top of their game by challenging their expertly honed skills in new situations and adding new dimensions to the lens through which the athlete views the game. In the same way, instructional coaches help teachers not by giving advice or suggestions, but by offering them a lens to view their own teaching, draw their own conclusions, and develop new ideas and solutions.

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Robyn Hartzell has served in education since 1998 and has experience in a variety of roles: teacher, instructional coach, interventionist, trainer, consultant, and program coordinator at the campus and regional levels. Currently, she works as an independent consultant and coach promoting effective instructional and leadership practices and championing the need for quality professional learning. Robyn takes privilege in coaching professionals in their craft and is passionate about helping organizations develop leaders who make a lasting, positive impact on the programs and people they serve.

Be sure to follow Robyn on Twitter @robynhartzellpd and check out her website at www.hartzellpd.com

Reference: Hall, P. A., & Simeral, A. (2008). Building teachers’ capacity for success: A collaborative approach for coaches and school leaders. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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1. Designate a TALENT champion 

The Champion, as the title suggests, champions the project and sets the overall vision. The Champion ensures clear goals are set and an implementation plan for teacher professional development is created. The Champion also appoints other leads to help. This person helps keep people motivated and held accountable throughout the school year. 

2. Decide on a recording plan

It can be helpful to plan ahead when using video in the classroom. If you have a really important lesson that you want to capture, make sure to test out the app beforehand. Record a short ten-second video and practice connecting to wifi and uploading to the platform. Think about where you will place the camera in the room. Do you need a stand or a tripod to prop it up? Test out the audio. If you set the phone in the back of the classroom, can you hear the teacher in the front? Considering these factors ahead of time will alleviate stress in the moment when you are trying to capture that important lesson. 

3. Set specific goals

It’s also important to know what you want to do in TALENT this year and have a plan with specific goals. For a teacher, a goal might be uploading three videos a month for a coach to review. What’s great about this goal is that there is a specific timeframe (within a month) and frequency (three videos). Set goals that are realistic and that you can measure. You will be surprised what you can accomplish!

4. Take advantage of training and resources

We have prepared a ton of great resources to help you get the most out of TALENT. There are video tutorials, getting started documents and FAQs. Additionally, there may be onboarding sessions and training coordinated through your school or organization. Take advantage of these resources. Putting the time in to learn about the platform will save you time in the long run.

5. Contact support when you need help

Don’t be afraid to ask for help! It can be frustrating if your video is not uploading or you are wondering why it uploaded upside down. Reach out to us by clicking ‘Contact Support’ in TALENT. We are TALENT experts who are happy to help. We are available 9-5pm CDT Monday-Friday. We promise to respond within two hours during our business hours, but often respond within minutes!

Think we missed one? We would love to hear from you! Send us your plans for getting the most of TALENT in 2017. This year is going to be the best year yet!

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Additionally, the researchers found that simply having diversity in the classroom wasn’t enough and that teachers may play a role in whether students not only form cross-racial friendships, but also whether these friendships last throughout the school year and beyond. Teachers who were perceived by students as being warm and trustworthy and responsive to the needs of the students, predicted a smaller increase in same-race relationships from the beginning of the school year to the end. In other words, students who started the year with cross-race friendships were more likely to keep them throughout the year with the help of a friendly teacher.

This caused me to reflect of the power of Torsh TALENT, a video-based classroom observation tool. While TALENT is often used as a way to train teachers to better teach the curriculum, it can also be a tool for reviewing and self-reflecting on group dynamics and classroom culture. Teachers can review and critique the decisions they are making that might influence interactions among classmates. Jose Luis Vilson, a middle school teacher in New York City, shared how he didn’t give students the opportunity to self-select groups until later in the year, when everyone was comfortable working with anyone in the room. He hopes that this will help students learn from each other. TALENT can help teachers make changes like this one that will foster more lasting cross-racial relationships and in turn, create students who are more tolerant and more aware of people who are different from them. 

For more information about the study, you can read the NPRed article here and the press release from NYU here. 

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The author, Susan Dynarski, states that, “The numbers are startling. Black third graders are half as likely as whites to be included in programs for the gifted, and the deficit is nearly as large for Hispanics.”

I’m going to assume that Ms. Dynarski’s assertions are accurate, since they passed muster with the editors of the New York Times. If so, this begs the question: what is going on?? Are black and Hispanic kids just not as “gifted”? Seems unlikely.

The answer lies in the way students are selected for these opportunities. Many of the programs for students considered “gifted and talented” rely on teachers (and parents) to identify kids who might qualify. The article asserts that schools “have contributed to this problem by underestimating the potential of black and Hispanic children.” (Also, according to the author, the same can be said of students learning English as a second language.)

To substantiate this claim, the author refers to the Broward County School District in South Florida. This school district is one of the most diverse in the nation. More than half of the students are black or Hispanic, and about the same percentage are low income. Back in 2005, Broward County began a universal screening program to identify gifted kids. All second graders took a nonverbal test, with high scorers referred for I.Q. testing.

The outcomes were then studied by the economist David Card of the University of California, Berkeley, and Laura Giuliano of the University of Miami. The numbers tell a story: the share of Hispanic children identified as “gifted” tripled, from 2% to 6%. The share of black children rose from 1% to 3%. Among whites, the gain was less pronounced — from 6% to 8%.

Unfortunately this story does not have a happy ending. In 2010, budget cuts caused Broward County to suspend universal screening. Racial and ethnic disparities reemerged.

Reading this article caused me to really think: Can TORSH Talent, our video classroom observation tool, in any way help rectify the “gifted” disparity issue?

Of course TORSH Talent can’t eradicate all bias in the education system. There’s not one single teacher professional development tool that can accomplish that. But any tool that fosters self-reflection by teachers can only help. Teachers aren’t purposefully overlooking black or Hispanic kids. They just simply aren’t aware they are doing it. And that is where a tool like TORSH Talent can help.

To read the complete New York Times article, click here.

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Video Classroom Observation Provides Concrete Evidence of Instruction

A video produces clear and inarguable evidence of an event. Both the teacher and the coach can replay videos to see exactly what occurred during the lesson. This evidence supports productive feedback conversations and eliminates counterproductive debates about what actually happened in the classroom. With clear evidence, the coaching conversations are fairer and thus less likely to become adversarial.

Video Increases Efficiency and Reduces the Costs by Facilitating 

High Quality Virtual Coaching Video technology allows more efficient and cost effective virtual coaching. The traditional coaching process is transformed from a geographic, time sensitive and expensive process into something that can be done anytime, anywhere, on a budget. The logistical challenges involved with in-person coaching are either removed or made more manageable through the option of remote coaching. In addition, virtual coaching offers options to expand. Thus, individuals are no longer limited to coaches based on location, budget or time restrictions. Now they can seek out higher quality coaching outside their immediate school, state or region.

Video Enables Better Self-Reflection

With video, educators are given the opportunity to see themselves through others’ eyes and not only rely on a peer or coach’s observations. Using current video technology, individuals are given the tools to capture that self-reflection directly on the video and share that self-reflection with others. Video classroom observation tools also gives educators the space and time to reflect on their behaviors and practices—taking note of both their strengths and areas of possible improvement. With their actual classroom footage in front of them, individuals have the opportunity to be more self-critical and better personal evaluators.

Video Enables Self-Efficacy and Agency in the Classroom Observation Process

Educators have increased control over the classroom observation process when using video. During in-person observations, teachers do not have control over what happens during the observation. However, with video observations, educators are given the opportunity to decide which videos are shared and can thus decide what lessons they want their principals, coaches or peers to view. This control helps create the conditions for safety and trust in the teacher professional development and feedback processes.

Classroom Observation Video Facilitates the Sharing of Best Practices and Lessons Learned

With video observation technology, sharing and collaboration among educators becomes a less time-intensive process. Educators can share their classroom instruction with others without needing to leave their classroom. In addition, self-selection of videos increases educators’ comfort and thus likelihood that they will share with others. This promotes openness and sharing of lessons learned.

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