Describe: I participated in math workshop walkthroughs with my school’s instructional lead teacher (ILT), principal and and exemplary project coordinator. We observed four classrooms as teachers were engaged in math instruction in grades 4 and 5. The ILT had prepared a schedule in advance. The principal had scheduled the visit from the exemplary project coordinator, and probably did not have a lot of leeway about dates. I asked to be included because it involved math instruction, and my participation would have a minimal impact on my regular classroom schedule. The original walk through schedule included observations in preschool classrooms, which were canceled because although the ILT had taken care to ask in advance when math was taught, when we showed up students were preparing to go to lunch. I felt surprised that something like that could happen; it seemed like a blatant level of non-compliance. The principal seemed less surprised; the teacher who had passed along the incorrect information has a reputation for being non-cooperative. The principal and I briefly discussed preschool math instruction, and I indicated I would follow up with the preschool teachers.

Reflect: Because I have a different perspective from the others, and was especially interested to hear their thoughts on the math instruction we saw. I have a lot of context that I was able to offer as part of the debrief. The principal, ILT and I drafted a letter to the staff as we debriefed the walkthroughs. I wish we could have scheduled the walk throughs for a different time frame. The teachers were all gearing up for the midyear assessment, and 4th and 5th grades are both involved in multiplication and division, which, after days of teaching for meaning, had shifted towards more procedural instruction.