What are “Look Fors” and “Ask Abouts”?

Kip Altman
Oct 25, 2010

Whether you are in a school new to the Learning-Focused Strategies Model or a school that has been implementing for years, Monitoring for Achievement is, or will become, a part of your school's culture. 5x5s (5 minutes in at least 5 classrooms per day) and other Walkthroughs are integral to the monitoring protocol. The basis for monitoring is coaching and formative feedback. So, when 5x5s occur what are administrators looking for?

  • Essential Questions - Posted? Guiding instruction? Used to assist summarizing at the end of the lesson and gather evidence of learning?

  • Activating Strategy - Engages students and gets them thinking? Previews/teaches key vocabulary?

  • Lesson - Collaborative Pairs used for distributed summarizing/practice? Appropriately paced? Students engaged and thinking? Assessment Prompts used for formative assessment?

  • Graphic Organizers - Guides instruction and student thinking? Guides writing extensions? Guides reading assignments and questions?

  • Summarizing Strategy - Reflects evidence of student learning? All students participating? Guided by the Essential Question?

  • Extending Thinking - Consistently used for important content? Utilizes higher level thinking activities? Direct/indirect instruction used to understand strategy?

  • Vocabulary - Content driven? User friendly graphic representations? Research-based strategies used? Direct/indirect instruction used to learn/build vocabulary? Use of Word Walls?

  • Writing - Writing process posted/used by students? Graphic organizers used for pre-writing? Use of current vocabulary? Rubrics consistently used? Evidence of student writing samples?

  • Reading Comprehension - Reading assignments and comprehension questions guided by reading comprehension strategies?

5x5s and other Walkthroughs provide administrators the opportunity to "take the pulse" of a school's learning environment. The information gathered can be used during coaching sessions, reflection meetings, and team/grade level meetings. Knowing what is expected helps everyone to be more effective in their first priority, making sure students are learning.