Transcript

Matt Renwick: Alright, welcome! This is a free webinar called "A Simple Process for Principals to Get Into Every Classroom in September." My name is Matt Renwick. I'm the author of Leading Like a Coach, a former principal, and a former classroom teacher.

This is a very simplified version of work that... it won't change everything in an hour, but it will at least give you a couple of tools you can get started with in terms of getting into classrooms a little more — without increasing your stress, and maybe even decreasing the stress you might be feeling, because you feel more on top of things, more present with kids, with teachers. That was my experience.

But I certainly understand the feeling of leaving stuff — like there's a fire happening over here and you feel really bad walking away from it. So we're going to talk about that, and how you might employ other firefighters, as well as maybe hire a meteorologist to anticipate some of those fires.

Just real quick, let me see here — I heard this, has anyone listened to Good Hang with Amy Poehler? It's a podcast. She was... oh, I forget her name, Leslie Knope, on Community — that show. Anyway, she had a "would you rather" question on her podcast: would you rather only reread books you've already read, or only read new books, if you had to choose?

Lisa Lawrence: What could it be?

Matt Renwick: B, for Lisa. That was me too — I was more of a D. Don, where do you fall here?

Don Marlett: I think B.

Agenda

Matt Renwick: So this is the agenda for our time today: why it's difficult to get into classrooms, the empowerment process, and then the paradox of leadership.

This is a playbook I created, related to my book. It's free — I'll send it out to you afterward. It's a 50-page download that walks you through the first four weeks you can use to get into classrooms. It has all the tools I'll mention here — we're just going to explore a few — but this is a free resource I'll send out to you.

What Are Instructional Walks?

Matt Renwick: So, real quick before we get into that — instructional walks, what are they? This comes from Regie Routman's book, Read, Write, Lead. They are an intentional, informal visit — not an evaluation — by the principal to a teacher's classroom, to notice, record, and affirm strengths; build trust; and offer possible suggestions or coaching, all for the purpose of increasing student literacy and learning across the curriculum.

That's a mouthful — I'm going to add more to it. But her book is excellent, especially if you're focused on literacy. It was kind of my bible when I was an elementary principal. It's one of those timeless books that really lays out how to do this work.

What Walks Look Like

Matt Renwick: So here's what walks really look like — there's nothing magical about them. On one side, you can see me observing a teacher. I didn't even do anything; I didn't have any notes with me. I just walked in, she was reading with the kids, doing a shared reading. I just said, "Hey, can I pause everyone here for a minute? This shared reading ensures all kids have access to an expert reader's thinking — yours. Well done, Danielle." (I think I got her last name right — I hope I did.)

That was the walk. I sat in there for maybe five minutes and just commented on something she was doing well. So, no forms required — once you get into more data collection, you might want to use those — but the other example is just a note I left with one of my teachers: "Hey, you embedded letter study with an engaging read-aloud. It provided kids with an authentic literacy experience. Nice."

Matt Renwick: Okay — so, yeah, I like to share these because it's like, "Oh, I can do that." And what we're suggesting is two to three times a day, getting into classrooms and just noting and naming what's going well. That is a wonderful way to start the school year.

How Walks Differ From Observations

Matt Renwick: How are these different from more formal teacher observations? Instructional walks, again, are formative — they're non-evaluative. I would tell my teachers, "When I come into your classroom with a piece of paper, or nothing, I am not evaluating you. I am just coming in to hang around and learn with the kids." I would often position myself with the kids, as one of the students, and learn with them.

I always focused on their strengths first, and on the future. One teacher had a wonderful writing center, but her classroom library was a little stale — cobwebs starting to creep in — so I said something like, "You have such a wonderful writing center — how might you connect that to your classroom library?" The next time I came in, there was a book from the classroom library sitting on the writing center. She'd moved one book from the library to the writing center, which to me was a win. It doesn't always happen like that, but I find teachers are much more receptive to suggestions when we focus on what they're doing well first.

So this is different from observations, which I'm not against — but those are summative, evaluative, usually guided by a rubric, and they judge current instruction. There isn't a lot of coaching conversation happening around that; there's no growth, necessarily. It's more of a summative, end-of-unit assessment, if you will, whereas instructional walks are more like real-time formative assessment.

Where Walks Fit on the Supervisory Spectrum

Matt Renwick: Where do walks exist along a supervisory spectrum? They're not as slight as informal professional conversations — just chatting with a teacher about practice, which is great — they're a little more structured than that; there are some notes involved. But we're thinking about how we might challenge this person to take the next step toward better practice, starting with strengths but meeting them where they're at.

Then you have things like mini-observations, which are more like 15-minute visits where you're still recording, for part of an evaluation. And then hour-long observations too, which are more for measuring and sorting — again, not against that, but definitely not what instructional walks are.

Building Support for the Process

Matt Renwick: This is the process, and it's in the book, Lisa — this graphic is in the book you have. First, you share with your leadership team what you're going to do. It's not so much that you're getting permission, but you're getting some political weight behind it — because if you start just popping into classrooms and teachers aren't expecting it, or don't feel like they've had input, you can meet more resistance. So you talk to your leaders first.

Then you share with your staff. In the playbook I'll send, there's an email sequence you can use to get staff ready. And then you really clarify the why. I always said, "I am here to learn." I never taught kindergarten, nor do I want to — not that I'm against kindergarten, but I just wouldn't be a good kindergarten teacher, and I know this. So, "Please tell me what I can learn about kindergarten." There are a lot of areas where you wouldn't consider yourself an expert, and you can come in more as a beginner, almost, and let the teacher lead you — which is a great way to do it.

Start your visits unannounced and random. I tend to start with people who I feel won't be too put off by me being in the classroom — your champions, your rock stars. If you want, you can start taking notes, though I'd be cautious doing that right away; I'd just come in and visit, and really be curious and open. Even if you see poor instruction, try to avert your eyes for a bit and turn off the "fix it" mindset, if you can.

Then you're engaging in conversations. When you do take notes, or note whatever you observe, that's the next step — instead of saying "I like this" or "I don't like this," say, "Hey, I noticed this. What do you think?" And again, start with strengths.

Why Is It Difficult to Get Into Classrooms?

Matt Renwick: So why is it difficult to get into classrooms? There's a Facebook group called Principals, Principals, Principals — like the principles of being a principal — and I posted a poll there. Todd Whitaker, you've probably heard of Todd, replied, and said the number one reason principals don't get into classrooms is fear.

I posted that in the Facebook group, and it was an interesting discussion. A lot of people didn't even like the premise — they didn't want to say they were afraid to go into classrooms. And I can remember many times I was afraid to go into a particular classroom — I knew if you used orange gel pens on the kids' papers, that teacher would get upset. Some teachers are kind of scary, and I didn't want to get on their wrong side.

It's okay to admit that we have some fear, but it did make me think: why else might principals avoid getting into classrooms? An exercise I do invite you to try — though we won't do it here today — is looking back and looking forward: what went well last year, what didn't, what would you like to see improved just a little this fall, and how might instructional walks help? I'll send out these slides so you don't have to take notes, but this is a good way to think about what barriers you might have.

Three Levels of Barriers

Matt Renwick: I think about barriers at three levels. First, structural barriers — board policies, master schedules, especially if you share scheduling and staff with other schools. I did some of this work in Texas, and in Texas schools you have to lock your doors when class is in session. Principals were saying, "I literally can't get into those rooms without a key — I'm going to disrupt learning." So that was a barrier.

Don Marlett: I was just commenting that I see that a lot — locking doors — in a lot of the schools I work in. Every principal has to knock on the door or unlock it, and if they forget their keys, it's a very big disruption and a barrier.

Matt Renwick: Yes, thank you. It's not just in Texas — a lot of schools deal with that.

So those are the structural issues. The cultural ones — I know in some schools in our area, and Lisa might see this too, the principal is the disciplinarian; you send a "naughty" kid to the office when they act out. That takes some time to shift, but you have influence to change it — it's not something you can control, you can only influence people's perceptions.

Then the internal barriers are more within our control — how do I see myself as a school leader? For a while I had kind of a command-and-control mindset when I came into the principalship: I have really good ideas, and I think people should do them. Then I found out not everyone agrees with my ideas, and I had to get feedback to learn how to live more in that cultural-influence zone. I had to rethink my identity — to not see myself as an evaluator when going into classrooms, but truly as a learner and an instructional leader focused on growth. Those are the things we can control.

Group Discussion: Barriers

Matt Renwick: Here are some other examples. I'll give you a moment to think about different types of barriers, and if you want to unmute and share one that resonates with you, or that you're experiencing right now, or a good example, I'd welcome that — or maybe one that's not here but could be.

Lisa Lawrence: I just feel like my barrier is time. And I don't mean that as an excuse — it truly is. I'm one person, responsible for evaluating everyone in the building, and it's a time issue.

Matt Renwick: Yeah, I'd put that in your resources — time is a really important example. [To the group:] Lisa's in a K-12 district; she's principal for everything, in a rural school. A common theme is lack of resources — so how do we find that time?

Don Marlett: I'll add that when I first started doing this work, it was a lack of knowledge and skills. I remember going into an elementary school and not knowing exactly what I was supposed to know, or not supposed to know — being very aware of my lack of knowledge around early literacy and some of those components, and really hoping nobody asked about or brought up those topics during those initial walkthroughs, even as a first-time administrator. I don't think I had those early conversations, or was inquisitive the way you mentioned. When I first started, it was more the idea that I needed to be the person who has the answers, instead of the person who can just ask questions. I like that you said that earlier.

Matt Renwick: Yeah — and I think, we were talking before, Don, that's actually where I got that example. You'd ask teachers, "Can you school me up on your standards?" I really like that approach.

Don Marlett: Yeah, that happened one time when I was looking at an elementary kindergarten classroom focused on play-based learning, and I hadn't actually experienced that before, so I just asked the teacher: "Tell me what I should be looking for." Looking at it through that lens — what type of structural or cultural systems issues should I look for inside your classroom?

Matt Renwick: Yeah, I love that. And then they get more ownership — they're going to own the feedback too, because it's their standards, not you coming down from on high to say how to teach kindergarten. That's a recipe for disaster.

Reframing Barriers Within Your Control

Matt Renwick: So, one thing I invite you to do is reframe your barriers to focus on what's within your control. "Zone of control" is a bit of a misnomer — what do we really control? — but look for what's possible within a structural or cultural barrier.

For example: some teachers are resistant to a school leader's classroom presence — you might start with the teachers who are open to your visits, and word will spread. That's been my experience. Or, kids are frequently sent to the office, which can be a time and energy drain — so how do you empower staff to manage specific student behaviors? I'll show you an example of that.

Or, teacher contract language might limit how teachers interact with administrators around performance and practice. In my first building, I had a scheduled conversation with the head of our teachers' union to explain instructional walks and how they're different from evaluation.

So think about your example, Lisa — you've got other supervisory tasks. What would be within your control?

Lisa Lawrence: So, I feel like I am very present in the building. I know my teachers, I know my students. What I'm not good at is the documentation afterward — I feel like I'm in the classroom, but not on as formal a level as I should be. The paperwork part is a huge barrier for me.

Matt Renwick: Oh, mine too — I was kind of a lazy principal; I didn't want to create too much paperwork for anyone, including myself. Can I pause the presentation and go into a resource to show you?

The Instructional Walk Tracker

Matt Renwick: (switching to a shared document) Okay, can you see that, Lisa? This is the instructional walk tracker. This was really all I ever did — I'd have a list of all my teachers, and I'd just note whether I'd been in their classroom or not.

Let's say I visited a teacher, but hadn't said anything to them yet. Then I'd get into another teacher's room, visit their classroom, observe, and follow up. My takeaway was six words or less — what's the headline? Like a newspaper article: what's the headline? Don, what was the strategy you always liked using — the "heads" one?

Don Marlett: Numbered heads.

Matt Renwick: Numbered heads — "used numbered heads to promote discussion." That's all I might write; it's just a mental placeholder.

Once I've gone to everyone and followed up, I have a whole list of takeaways, and I can start to see trends and patterns across classrooms. That's really helpful for me as an instructional leader, to inform my leadership team: "Here are the trends and patterns we're seeing — we're not seeing a lot of discussion in classrooms, but Don is using an interesting tool called numbered heads. I wonder if we could get Don to share it at the next staff meeting, since we're not seeing it in other classrooms."

That's the simplest way I've found to document, and it's very minimal. My notes, like I showed before, are pretty simple — they can be longer, but it's not required. Would this be helpful, Lisa, for documentation?

Lisa Lawrence: I think that would be very helpful. Sorry, I thought I was muted.

Matt Renwick: Okay. And what's nice is you might set a goal — "I'm going to visit every teacher once a quarter" — and just make it really hard not to succeed. Or even once a semester, and have an informal conversation with them. Whatever feels like just a little bit of a stretch for your context — you know your context best.

What I also like about this is it forces me to talk to every teacher before I go back to, say, Don's room again — because I want to hang out where I'm comfortable; Don's a great teacher, and that's what principals tend to do. "I'm going to go hang out in the tech-ed room because I'm good friends with that teacher and I like the way he teaches, but I'm not going to go into the English room, because A, I don't know a lot about English, and B, that teacher kind of scares me." This forces you to go into every classroom before you go into the next one.

Welcoming Bonnie

Matt Renwick: I'm going to stop sharing there — we were just going off plan. And welcome, Bonnie! If you'd like to share where you're calling from and what you do... maybe she's having trouble with her audio — no problem.

So, those are just some ways to think about it. Like Lisa said, time is a real struggle — how do I get more into classrooms? It can just be making it really small.

(Reading the chat) Calling from Illinois, assistant principal in a middle school — welcome, Bonnie! I'm glad you're here, thank you. (Noting Bonnie has kids in the background) Feel free to bring them on — we like kids here.

The Empowerment Process

Matt Renwick: So, the empowerment process — how do you free up time? How can you clear up a little space to get into classrooms? This process actually comes from computer programmers, this is how they set up their projects. They ask: What is the task? They name it very clearly. What is the process — how do I accomplish the task, in clear steps? How often is it completed — daily, weekly, as needed? And what does "done" look like — agreeing on the outcomes.

This is the process I used. What kept me in the office more than I liked was kids coming in because of behavior, and I started to resent it. Probably because I really liked being in classrooms and would get pulled away — my office would call, and I'd go back.

So I set up with my assistant: unless a student is bleeding, has a broken bone, or there's some true emergency, do not call me. If they're getting into a fistfight, yeah, get on the PA — but otherwise, they sit in the office lobby; they don't go straight into my office. I wouldn't just walk into my doctor's office and say, "Hey, I need to talk to you about something" — there are barriers to get through, because the doctor's time is important. Same with other professionals, so I treated it the same way.

The office assistant, my secretary, would hand them a "think sheet" — a set of reflection questions. They'd fill it out; if they were too young, they could draw pictures, and that was fine. The assistant would read the directions, and the student would complete it while waiting, then sit calmly until I was ready to come back — unless it was a defined emergency.

What was cool — what I didn't anticipate — was that my secretary took full ownership of this process. She got really good at it, and really connected with some of the kids who came down. To the point where she became the check-in/check-out person for a student with behavior issues, because she saw him all the time and was doing this work with him. She said, "I'll take him on" — it was really cool.

But what it allowed me to do was stay in classrooms. It also allowed the kids to really think about why they were there. By the time I'd get back to my office, sometimes they'd already figured it out, or at least gotten their story straight — if two of them were down there, they weren't throwing each other under the bus, because they were accountable, right there together, and had to get their story straight.

We had to build this — it wasn't a first-time thing. We made a T-chart: these are emergencies, these are not. If it was more of a medical emergency, call the nurse. If I wasn't around, who's the backup? That was one way I created time.

What's On Your Plate

Matt Renwick: So think about what's on your plate that could be on someone else's. Behavior documentation and data reports — think about an office assistant, a counselor, a paraprofessional. If it's attendance reports or family letters, think about your software automating this — I know with Skyward, we could automate letters, so my assistant just had to generate the report and I signed it. I think we even went to a stamp. Then there's purchase requests and budget reconciliation — I didn't do this right away, but I eventually let go of controlling the money too tightly, and let my assistant manage some of the budget once she was clear on my priorities and what I tended to say yes and no to.

Other thoughts here? Especially for you, Bonnie, in a middle school as an assistant principal, or Lisa — what's a task you could outsource? Even a small one could free up 15 minutes of your day.

Lisa Lawrence: I could possibly... I do 90 minutes of lunch duty every day. However, that's not a time when most kids are in class, but I may be able to swing 15 minutes one way or the other, at the beginning or end.

Matt Renwick: That's great — that gives you a 15-minute slice in classrooms without giving up anything else. I think starting as small as you want is great. Maybe your goal is to visit one classroom and have one conversation a day in that 15 minutes — whatever it is, I think that's actually smart, to start small and make it success-oriented.

Bonnie, anything come up for you? I know you're muted, but feel free to put it in the chat. (Reading chat) "I know, as an assistant principal, I was the disciplinarian — when I wasn't in my office, people would look at me like, 'Where were you?'" You can talk to kids too — I don't have a magic wand.

Group Exercise: Your Own Empowerment Process

Matt Renwick: All right, so again, I'm going to give you maybe 10 minutes to think about this. Just write out: What is the task? What is the process? How often is it completed? And what does done look like?

(Reading chat) Bonnie's saying they have a dean of discipline, but it's a building of 1,000 students — which means lots of teachers, a big district. Which means many hands, but also more work to go around.

Lisa would like a dean of discipline too, I think. I'll give you nine minutes or so to write — I'll be here. And if you want to share your steps afterward, I'd be happy to listen, and maybe offer some thoughts. Go ahead and take some time to write out your process.

First, think about the task — what is it, in just one sentence? Like lunch duty — great. Then think about the steps — every single one. Because the step you don't think of is the bump in the road you'll encounter later.

(Pause for the exercise)

Matt Renwick: I don't think that was quite 10 minutes, but let's give a little time here — if anyone would like to unmute and share what your steps are and what you're trying to do, we'd be happy to listen, and offer feedback if you'd like.

Lisa, just curious — any other barriers that could come up? I'm thinking, if you're not at lunch duty, is someone going to take your place, or do you feel the kids would be fine without you there?

Lisa Lawrence: Yes, a lot of thoughts there. That's usually when our littles come in, right at the beginning. But I think if I structure it right — we're also implementing all-day 4K; we've always had half-day before, so their lunch schedule could be tweaked a little too. I wrote down a couple of different schedules to look at and evaluate that would leave me open for a little bit — or at least until 11:13 instead of 11:00.

Matt Renwick: Yeah. I think we forget — I know I would forget sometimes — that as the principal, I can use my authority to make change; I don't have to ask anyone.

Lisa Lawrence: I just need people. I like to make the change, but I need people.

Matt Renwick: Yes, you do need people, because the kids still need guidance and support.

Lisa Lawrence: Right, right.

Matt Renwick: And sometimes it's just asking them — "Hey, I really want to get into classrooms, but..." — sending an email to staff: here are the areas where I find myself spending a lot of time, and I know I could be in classrooms more if you have any ideas. I think you'll get some interesting, creative responses, because good teachers want you in their classrooms — they want to be seen and recognized by their leader.

Lisa Lawrence: When I do get into a classroom, that rejuvenates me — that's what sparks me, that motivates me. I love it.

Matt Renwick: Yeah. Share that — maybe not everyone knows that.

Like I said, I just love being in classrooms, but I'm struggling to find that time. So, recruit help — maybe your office assistant says, "I can go down and cover lunch duty for 30 minutes." I think you'd be surprised.

The Paradox of Leadership

Matt Renwick: But, cool — alright, well, good. We're going to need to be creative on this. Let's move into the third part — it's more about bringing things home: the paradox of leadership.

This is a chart from a book called A Brief History of Equality, by an economist named Thomas Piketty. I read this book for a course. What he did was go through tax records for the last 200 years around the world — the United States, France, Great Britain, Germany, and one other country — and got a lot of information from that. One thing he learned was about life expectancy from the 1820s to the present day, but also about literacy rates.

I'll give you a moment to look at the chart and tell me if you notice anything, and how this might have come about.

(Pause)

You'll notice that in the early-to-mid 1800s, things started to improve in terms of literacy and life expectancy. What happened around that time, globally, in the 1800s? (pause) The Industrial Revolution — mass production of things. With mass production of medicines, and things that could keep us healthy — agriculture went down a bit at this time because food was being mass-produced, so more food was available to more people, and life expectancy rates went up. As life expectancy went up, literacy rates also went up, because more time was freed up — people weren't having to work the fields all the time, so more time was available for school. You can see it gradually rise, and it continues to go up, in spite of what some of the papers say about a "crisis" in reading.

What's interesting is that people decided to make this happen — a group of people said, "Let's use technology to make life better for ourselves, and free up more time for pleasure, for reading, for other things we want to do." That was a choice people made. And I think that's really important — that as leaders, we can also make those choices. We can decide this is really important. But I can't do it alone — none of this work happens alone. A group of people decided they were going to make it work.

This is a quote from the book: "All creations of health, wealth, and history have issued from a collective process. They depend on the international division of labor, the use of worldwide natural resources, and the accumulation of knowledge since the beginnings of humanity. Human societies constantly invent rules and institutions in order to structure themselves and to divide up wealth and power, but always on the basis of reversible political choices."

So, we have agency here — that's the point I'm taking from this quote. But we don't have individual agency; we have collective agency — what they call collective efficacy in education. And how do we do that? We empower others to lead. We empower others to take on some of the work we've tasked ourselves with, so that we can get into classrooms — to have that spark, as Lisa said, and to make a difference, and be more connected to people and kids.

Three Tools: How, What, and Why

Matt Renwick: I said it was a simple process — I didn't say it was an easy process. But these are the three tools I leaned on as a principal. Instructional walks, which we talked about — that's the how: consistent, informal, strengths-based. The what is the instructional framework, which we'll talk about in the course we're offering — that's the shared language for naming those promising practices.

And the why is the newsletter. I had a weekly newsletter that communicated what I was noticing and why it mattered — I was shaping the school culture through writing and images. I'd use the data — the pictures, my little notes — as content for the newsletter: here's what I saw this week, and here's why it mattered. It was often celebratory; I'd always take a picture of kids learning. I'd share it with every staff member, every assistant, school board members, the superintendent — everyone got my newsletter on a weekly basis.

If weekly sounds like too much, even a monthly newsletter is great, but it was a really powerful tool — it was a way for me to process what I learned each week, and it helped me stay true to that work. It doesn't have to be elaborate; it can just be an email.

Upcoming Course

Matt Renwick: So, if this feels worth trying out and you want some more support, we have a course coming up: the first four weeks. I'm teaching it with Don. We're calling it "Make Instructional Leadership a Habit." It's four weeks of live Zoom sessions, building a weekly rhythm to establish that habit in your own building. There's a community space in there we're calling "In the Hallway," where you can post questions — it's an asynchronous chat room to share what you're noticing, with other principals, between sessions. No polish required — just be real.

Q&A

Matt Renwick: I'll close with any questions — Q&A. Anything that's come up for you, I'm happy to answer, and Don, feel free to chime in too if you have anything.

Bonnie, no questions? Thank you — thanks for being here. I'll send an email with the link and resources later. Appreciate you being here.

Lisa, anything for you?

Lisa Lawrence: No, I'm good, Matt. I have a plan.

Matt Renwick: Okay. And you know how to get a hold of me — I'm happy to partner with you. I know you work with Ellie on leadership coaching, which is great — Ellie's a great coach; I wish I'd had her as a coach when I was a principal. But I can certainly complement whatever she might be doing, through MLSS, for example, which is no cost to you. Think about that. Of course, we'd love to have you in the course too, with other principals — we didn't get a great showing here, Don, so we'll see what happens with enrollment.

Don Marlett: It's all good, Matt.

Matt Renwick: Yeah, alright.

Don Marlett: Lisa, I'm glad you have a plan, because a lot of what Matt shared is what I see too, working with a lot of principals — figuring out those little things to pass over to somebody else in your building.

Lisa Lawrence: Yeah, I'm always looking for a plan that works, so I don't get stuck.

Don Marlett: Exactly.

Matt Renwick: Yeah, Don's got some great tools for creating that plan — we'll share those in the course.

Lisa Lawrence: Alright, sounds good. Thank you both for your help.

Matt Renwick: Alright, thanks, Lisa.

Don Marlett: Nice to meet you, Lisa. Have a great night.

Lisa Lawrence: Thank you, you too. Goodbye.