Marcy is a veteran educator who has spent most of her career as a coach of teachers and school leaders. Her experiences at the classroom, school, district, and state levels provide a unique perspective for educators looking to transform schools and drive student achievement. Dr. Roan is an accomplished school leader with proven results at the elementary and middle school levels in both Title 1 and non-Title 1 schools. Author of “Learning Rounds with Teachers”.
Trench story: does a lot of current work developing principal- it’s using instructional rounds to grow teachers. Her trench was being principal of a chronically underperforming school. Driving improvement, intentional, targeted focus. Learning needs to be front & center. There’s so much that can such your atention-easy to get sidetracked. Quality teaching & learning needs to be provided. Give kids what they need academically. This can pull a school out of low-performing pieces. She can be specific and talk about a board member, teacher, etc. This was pivotal for her as a leader. This is why she did for a while in her state dept. Is currently Chief Academic Officer. Not same district she used to work for. In one of the smaller districts. Current challenge is multiplicity of roles- how does she grows an academic dept. that includes K-12, state testing, CTE, etc. Biggest challenge for new principals is learning how to focus on what really matters thru having a quality education. It’s around the management of time. Creating systems & structures to not have a time suck.
Talk about your book “Learning Rounds with Teachers”, published in ‘22. It gives you a framework for starting. Budget is always a concern. Started when she was a principal. Started rounds during teacher’s planning periods with “early adopters” ½ to ¾ of the year. Gave other t’s info on how it was helping it was word of mouth. Didn’t get to see the breadth of the building. Continual learning during their rounds. Relative was sick. She observed how dr’s, nurses, etc. worked together. Based mostly as work she did as a principal, still does some consulting. There’s a benefit being the in AP role to sit back & watch how things happen. It helped her look at how different leaders lead. She used the process she saw in hospitals with her staff. Much of the research is doing it at district level. Used teacher’s expertise. You see who you should emulate. School leaders opened up their practices. In book there are links to get samples of how to use forms to observe. Debrief- talked about what they noticed. Reflective practice- what is the impact of the instructional decisions being made? This was 3 years in the making-then went to a MS. It was at a place that could be sustainable. If the t’s want to make sure it continues, principal Isn’t sure if this is still occuring in the building. Master schedule, etc. need to be set up to facilitate the practice. She was an AP for 3 yrs.
How would an AP start out with rounds? Often they get assigned with smaller groups of teachers they support. How can I build the instructional capacity of the teachers you’re assigned to? She’s on hiring teams for principals- APs don’t often get the opportunity to be instructional leader.
Cross-curricular rounds? You get the chance to see kids in other settings. It’s often about the instruction happening with the kid. Seeing them in different content areas have powers. It’s more powerful seeing it with your own eyes not just talking about it in t’s lounge.
Not scheduled for conferences next year at the time. Does offer PD-reach out to her.
Out of everything: Not just in the learning rounds process, but in spaces you want to make change- there’s power in small improvements & slow gains. Click To TweetIt’s easy to forget about the goals. go slow to go fast. Start right to get a good foundation going.
Where can ppl find you? FB @LeadLearners.net IG @lead.learners bit.ly/leadlearnersroan roanmarcy@gmail.com )
View this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1zwt6jISJ_I
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