- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 1950335
- First Name Cristina
- Last Name Hernandez
- Institution San Diego State University
- Role/Position Master Teaching Fellow
- Proposal Type Workshop
- Workshop Category Track 3: Master Teaching Fellowships
- Workshop Disciplines Audience STEM Education (general)
- Target Audience Co-PIs, Noyce Master Teachers, Noyce Teaching Fellows, Other Faculty/Staff, Project PIs, Undergraduate and/or Graduate Noyce Scholars
- Topics Developing Teacher Leaders
- Additional Presenter(s)
Angel Prado, aprado7989@sdsu.edu
Goals
Participants will learn what Affirming Learning Walks are and how to conduct them.
Evidence
Ross, D. L., Lamb, L. L., & Johnson, J. F. (2023). Using Affirming Learning Walks to Build Capacity. Journal of School Administration Research and Development, 8(1), 47-54. Our data set includes 148 open-ended survey responses: 68 responses from our Noyce Master Teaching Fellows, 80 responses from teachers who engaged in Affirming Learning Walks after being trained by Noyce Master Teaching Fellows at their school site.
Proposal
Teachers grow from sharing their practice and receiving feedback, yet it can be difficult for teachers to welcome others into their classrooms without feeling judged. Observers need to enter teachers’ classrooms projecting respect and value for the challenging work of teaching. In this presentation, we share an approach to visiting classrooms, called Affirming Learning Walks, that differ in comparison to more typical learning walks, instructional rounds, or classroom observations. Affirming learning walks are hosted by teachers or administrators, conducted with other teachers, designed around eight practices known to support student achievement in urban schools, and focus only on those productive practices that are present rather than on the absence of practices or areas for improvement. This approach provides an opportunity to value many of the teacher’s practices that are effective and encourages teachers to engage in more of the productive practices because they are highlighted and celebrated. Participants will learn how what Affirming Learning Walks are and how to conduct them.
