Trust-Based Observations: Maximizing Teaching and Learning Growth

The results are in: observations are not improving teaching and learning. Pertinently, the Gates Foundation’s recently completed effort to improve student outcomes through enhancing the teacher evaluation process failed to achieve substantive improvement. The way observations are currently designed serve as an obstacle to teacher risk-taking. Teachers fear negative evaluations when their pedagogy is rated, and they lack faith in being supported by supervisors because a trusting relationship between them and their observer has not been built. Trust-Based Observations: Maximizing Teaching and Learning Growth is a schema changing evaluation model that understands people perform at their best when they feel safe and supported. It begins with twelve, 20 minute observations per week followed by collegial conversations driven by reflective questions, sharing observed teaching strengths, and the building of safe and trusting relationships with teachers. Add the elimination of rating pedagogical skills and replace it with rating mindset, and teachers trust. When teachers fully embrace risk-taking and innovation, it leads to remarkable teaching transformations and improved student learning.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part One: Observation Problems and Solutions Chapter 1.So What’s the Problem? What Can Be Done Chapter 2.The Solution: Trust Based Observations Build Safe, Trusting Relationships Tweak Evaluation Additional Solutions Part Two: The TBO System and Making it Work Chapter 3.The System Basics: Continuous, Frequent, Unannounced, and Short Observations Why Unannounced? Why a Continuous Cycle? Why 20 Minutes? Why Observe All Teachers Equally? Troubleshooting Chapter 4.Building System Success: Creating Time and Getting Organized Creating and Prioritizing Time Organization Tools Part Three: The Observation Chapter 5.Trust Based Observations Form: Origins and Development Chapter 6.Starting an Observation Chapter 7. Evidence of… Early Thoughts to Guide Successful Observations Evidence of Learning Target (LT) Risk Taking/Innovative Practice Teacher/Student Rapport and Relationship Classroom and Student Behavior Management Cooperative Learning Working Memory: 10-2 Reflection and Processing Time Questioning/Higher Order Thinking Formative Assessment/Knowing What Each Student Has Learned to Guide Next Steps Descriptive Progress Feedback Specific Differentiation Learning Principles Used Student Interview: (Is Learning Clear to All?) Teaching Intangibles Scripting Additional Pedagogy Questions Suggestions Chapter 8. Questions Chapter 9.Web Links: Trust Based Observations as a Resource Tool Part 4: The Reflective Conversation Chapter 10.Reflective Conversation System Basics Prioritize Reflective Conversations Organization Respect The Conversation Chapter 11.Building Trusting Relationships Vulnerability Empathy and Emotional Intelligence Actions that Build Trust Mindsets or Actions that Inhibit Trust Chapter 12.Listening and Asking the Questions Listening The Questions Chapter 13.Sharing Evidence of Troubleshooting Additional Observer Questions on Sharing Evidence Chapter 14.Offering Suggestions When to Offer Suggestions Preparation What and How Much to Suggest Words Matter: How to Offer Suggestions Explaining What Continuing Support Looks Like and Entails Troubleshooting Challenges to Offers of Suggestions Chapter 15.Specials: Course Connections Accountability Part Five: The Teacher Evaluation Process and Professional Development Chapter 16.Self-Assessment: Trust Based Observation Form Rubric TBO Pedagogy Rubric Action Research Big Goal Chapter 17.Evaluation in Trust Based Observations TBO Evaluation Preparing for the Summative Evaluation Meeting The Meeting Chapter 18.Action Improvement Plans and Difficult Conversations Action Improvement Plans Difficult Conversations Chapter 19.TBO and Professional Development Question of the Year PD PDC and Action Research Big Goals More on PDC’s Further PD Tips, Suggestions, Guidelines Part Six: Bringing It All Together Chapter 20.Building TBO Success Implementation Blending Change Sustaining Success Bibliography About the Author

About the Author :
Craig Randall’s experience as a school counselor, coach, teacher, and principal, at schools in the US and overseas, set him up perfectly to develop a model of teacher observation focused on building trusting relationships that spark teaching and learning growth. As the founder of Trust Based Enterprises, www.trustbased.com, Craig is driven to guide school leaders to successfully adopt and use Trust-Based Observations, on a path towards leading an unprecedented transformation to the way observations are done.

Review :
Classroom observation can lead to telling teachers to do what I did, to advocating different ways of teaching, and to complying with accountability edicts. Trust-Based Observations starts where it matters, establishing trust, building on strengths, focusing on the impact of teachers on the learning lives of students, showing how to have open conversations about learning, and demonstrating collective teacher efficacy in action. TBO represents one of the biggest gains to improving teaching and learning that exists. Craig Randall’s Trust-Based Observations shows us what a culture of trust is and provides many ideas for putting TBO into practice. If you want improvement, read TBO and use its ideas. Craig Randall’s book has many deeply insightful and compelling ideas. And indeed research shows that when students trust that educators believe in them and their development, their learning can be significantly enhanced. Craig Randall’s much needed book is a must read for every school leader involved directly or indirectly in performing teacher observations. Trust-Based Observations succeeds because it stresses heart before head. It shows that by putting relationships and people first, trust is built. With trust present, observations are now used to bring out the best in teachers because they feel safe to take risks and know they will be supported as they strive to improve. In any field, practitioners need honest, well-intentioned, and trustworthy feedback in order to succeed and improve. If the feedback process is compromised by suspicion and anxiety, it quickly becomes useless, even counterproductive. In this thoughtful and empathetic book, Craig Randall details how teacher observation has gone awry and how to put it back on track. Heoffers a sensible, empirically grounded technique, as well as indispensable advice on how to build trusting relationships among educators. Trust-Based Observations is an overdue rethink of how to support the most important asset in schools and in the lives of students: their teachers. This book honors the art and science of teaching and the complexity of creating learning environments where all students can find success and challenge. Most teachers view administrator observations as inauthentic for capturing what happens in classroom instruction. Most administrators want the observation process to be supportive and not an obligatory hoop to jump through. Craig Randall’s book is a game changer. Honed by deep experiences, Trust-Based Observations, combines empathy and growth mindset to create a powerful system for professional collaboration that enables teacher growth and an empowered professional community. This book opens a new and liberating world for positive and productive classroom visits. Trust-Based Observations should be on the shelf of every administrator. It offers brisk, engaging writing and makes a compelling case for why we should radically rethink teacher observations. The book is never preachy and is full of practical resources that principals and school leaders can use immediately. I have experienced Craig Randall's trust-based method personally when he was my principal and can honestly say that the observation process was empowering, greatly impacting my subsequent work as a coach. This is a must-have for leaders that want to improve morale, feedback, and trust. Written from the perspective of an educator who has a wealth of experience working in educational institutions internationally, this book provides an interesting contribution to the thinking and practice surrounding the use of observation in educational contexts. In Trust-Based Observations, Craig Randall puts forward a compelling case for engaging with observation as a supportive tool for teacher learning and provides a framework for educators to apply this.