“Inspiring” was the common word heard as many staff left the Main Hall after such a wonderful and informative day led by Tom Sherrington.  It was an opportunity to provide teaching staff with time to further engage with strategic methods to “engineer professional learning processes” so that they are “effective and sustained” using Tom’s Walkthrus

The first session was about the core concepts of how students learn and why they might struggle. This, therefore, can provide Implications for responsive teaching. Tom was able to link all of this to our new Teaching and Learning Principles.

The session provided staff the chance to see how Walkthrus work to support professional learning.  Specific Walkthrus such as ‘Cold Calling’ and ‘Signal Pause Insist’ were clarified. These are great methods to deeper the thinking of students. Tom also linked particular Walkthrus to our second school priority. We looked at how to consistently set high expectations, build positive relationships and use positive framing. This is how we use positive praise only to achieve potential outcomes. Finally in the session we discussed the power modelling has on students if used precisely by staff. 

The second session was all about how we ‘check for understanding’ and Tom highlighted a number of Walkthrus related to questioning, retrieval and developing student agency. This was done through highlighting how we can develop vocabulary through strategies such as practice and quizzing.

Finally, Tom supported staff with actions to take into our team pedagogical briefings we have fortnightly.  A lot of current research supports the impact of the ‘Team Coaching Approach’ and how we can use that to full effect at Simon Balle to self assess with the strategies and Walkthrus we are using to ensure maximum impact on students’ learning.

Overall, a truly inspiring day, allowing staff the time to professional develop and reinforce our drive to always want to be better in all we do.