LODDON MALLEE REGION

LEARNING
WALKS
A Professional Learning Tool
IMPLEMENTATION
SETTING UP
A set focus for the Learning Walk must firstly be established. The focus should be clearly articulated and linked to professional learn-
ing and school priorities. Evidence of the focus must be observable in classrooms.
A Walking Team should then be set-up. The Walking Team consists of 3-4 walkers with one designated Lead Walker. Any staff mem-
ber can take part in Learning Walks but it is recommended that a leadership representative is involved.
Next you need to select classrooms to visit. Remember that the Learning Walk obtains a snapshot of the learning at the school, so
consider how many classrooms you can visit in the allocated time to gather enough evidence to reflect on.
All staff are briefed on the process, purpose and protocols of a Learning Walk. Each staff member will be given a Learning Walk bro-
chure and encouraged to ask and discuss any questions and concerns.

A Learning Walk will take approximately 1hr 45min

PRE WALK DISCUSSION- 15 minutes

This should take place just prior to the classroom visits. All walkers involved should have a clear understanding of:
Protocols and purpose
Timetable
Focus of the walk- brainstorming possible observations to link to focus
Names of the walkers
Classrooms to be visited
Date and time of whole school reflection
All walkers should be given a Learning Walk Handbook with appropriate templates for gathering evidence during the walk.

CLASSROOM VISITS- 1 hour

TIME PROCESS

10 minutes in each The walkers visit each classroom for 10 minutes. They look & listen to the learning and take notes
classroom on any evidence that links to the focus. Walkers may speak to students and teachers only if the
(4 classrooms) learning allows for such interactions. Any discussion should be brief and unobtrusive.

5 minutes corridor talk When walkers leave each classroom, they meet for 5 minutes outside of the classroom to share
in between each observations. The evidence that is cited must be specific to the focus. This is not a time for open
classroom discussion or judgements.

POST WALK DISCUSSION- 30 minutes

At the end of the classroom visits, all walkers convene for a debriefing session. They share the observations collected and identify any
patterns which may have emerged. Wonderings may then be formulated based on the evidence. Conclusions are not formed. All
evidence and wonderings are collated by the Lead Walker.

VISITED TEACHERS REFLECTION- Optional

Feedback may be shared with classroom teachers visited prior to whole staff reflection. These teachers are asked to read and discuss
feedback as a team, identify trends to direct future development.

WHOLE STAFF REFLECTION

Within one week of the Learning Walk, the collated evidence and wonderings are shared with whole staff to identify trends and direct
future development.
LEAD WALKER
The Lead Walkers role is extremely important!

THE LEAD WALKER SHOULD BE SKILLED IN:

Distinguishing between cited evidence observed in the classroom and
making unwarranted judgements or assumptions

Crafting questions based on observations

Managing time

THE LEAD WALKER WILL ENSURE:

All staff participate in the Pre-Walk Discussion

All walkers are familiar with the focus of the walk and evidence to be
collected

All walkers have a copy of the handbook and observation templates

All walkers are reminded of the protocols

All walkers are on time and follow the correct process of a Learning
Walk

All discussions are based on evidence collected and are free of

judgement and evaluation

Collated feedback is shared with staff within one week of the walk

WALKING TEAM
THE WALKING TEAM WILL:
Participate in Pre Walk Discussion

Be familiar with the focus of the walk

Have a copy of the handbook with observation templates

Be mindful of the protocols

Be mindful of time and process of Learning Walk

Base discussions on evidence, free of judgement and evaluation

May assist Lead Walker to share feedback with staff within one week
of walk
GATHERING EVIDENCE
The purpose of the classroom visit is to obtain a brief snapshot of the
classroom in order to collect evidence based on the specific focus. Any
observations that are documented should be free of any judgement.
Learning Walks are a powerful tool to observe and develop common
trends in classrooms. Evidence collected is determined by the focus and
may include:

The physical environment Provision and use of resources

Student work examples Learning Tools

Student discussions Use of technology

The classroom instruction Assessment practices

and explicit focus
Student support displays
Classroom organisation e.g.
e5 domain/s
Management Boards

PROTOCOLS
A Lead Walker must be appointed to ensure all protocols are
understood and time allocation is adhered to.
Participating staff are involved in the Pre -Walk Discussion.

Prior to the walk, teachers should explain to students that visitors

will be entering the classroom.

Walkers should wear nametags.

Walkers must adhere to the focus of the walk.

Walkers must refrain from making any judgemental comments.

Walkers should not disrupt learning in the classroom.

Walkers should not speak to one another whilst in the classroom.

Individual observation templates must be shredded on completion

of the Post Walk Discussion.
 engage e5 Learning WalkWalk
E5 Learning Template
Template

The Teacher Do/Say/Make/Write

Fosters positive relations with and between students

Develops shared expectations for learning and interacting

Stimulates interest and curiosity

Promotes questioning

Connects learning to real world experiences

Structures tasks, elicits students prior knowledge and supports

students to make connections to past learning experiences

Presents a purpose for learning

Determines challenging learning goals

Makes assessment and performance requirements clear

Assists students to consider and identify processes that will

support the achievement of the learning goals

STUDENT QUESTIONS Student 1 Student 2 Student 3

Are you interested in this task? Why/why not?

How do you think this may help you in life?

What is your goal for this task?

What do you need to do to achieve this goal?

 explore e5E5
Learning Walk
Learning Template
Walk Template

The Teacher Do/Say/Make/Write

Presents challenging tasks to support students to generate

and investigate questions

Gathers relevant information and develops ideas

Provides tools and procedures for students to organise

information and ideas

Identifies students conceptions and challenges

misconceptions

Assists students to expand their perspectives and reflect on

their learning

STUDENT QUESTIONS Student 1 Student 2 Student 3

What are you learning today?

How are you recording information?

How are you going to reflect on this learning today?

 explain e5E5
Learning Walk
Learning Template
Walk Template

The Teacher Do/Say/Make/Write

Provides opportunities for students to demonstrate their

current level of understanding through verbal and non-verbal
means

Explicitly teaches relevant knowledge, concepts and skills

Teaches the content in multiple ways

Provides strategies to enable students to connect and organise

new and existing knowledge

Assist students to represent their ideas, using language and

images to engage students in reading, writing, speaking,
listening and viewing

Explicitly teaches the language of the discipline

STUDENT QUESTIONS Student 1 Student 2 Student 3

What do you currently know and understand about what you
are learning today?

How are you going to explain your learning?

How does this topic/goal connect to other things you have

learnt?

When do you think you will be able to practice this new learning
again?
 elaborate e5E5
Learning Walk
Learning Template
Walk Template

The Teacher See/Do/Say/Make/Write

Engages students in dialogue, continuously extending and

refining students understanding

Supports students to identify and define relationships

between concepts and to generate principles or rules

Selects contexts from familiar to unfamiliar, which

progressively build the students ability to transfer and
generalize their learning

Supports students to create and test hypotheses and to make

and justify decisions

Monitor student understanding, providing feedback, and

adjusting instruction accordingly

STUDENT QUESTIONS Student 1 Student 2 Student 3

What are you learning today?

How have you learnt this?

What can you do to improve your learning?

How will you know the learning is accurate?

 evaluate e5E5
Learning Walk
Learning Template
Walk Template

The Teacher Do/Say/Make/Write

Supports students to continuously refine and improve their

work using assessment criteria in preparation for a perform-
ance of understanding

Formally records students progress against learning goals

Provides feedback and assists students to evaluate their pro-

gress and achievements

Supports students to reflect on their learning processes and

the impact of effort on achievement

Guides students to identify future learning goals

STUDENT QUESTIONS Student 1 Student 2 Student 3

What have you learnt from this task?

How do you know you have/or will be successful?

What will you now do with this learning?

Acknowledgement to the many educators whose work we have drawn on.

Loddon Mallee Region

Literacy Improvement Team