By Tracey
A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from one of the instructional coaches saying that the 5th grade team has been invited to participate in a "data snap" on math instruction at our school. I tried to remember if I had heard this term before, data snap. I guess I knew what she was talking about: My morning would begin with a meeting around a large table with my principal, assistant principal, instructional coaches, and the other 5th grade teachers on my team. We would all be issued clipboards and a checklist. We would plan which classrooms we would barge into for five, maybe eight minutes each. And while I was there, I would be checking items off the checklist, or worse, not checking off items, while thinking about strategic questions I should be asking. Then, after the debrief, I would look forward to a giant email filled with graphs and charts of data detailing what instructional strategies were highly evident, somewhat evident, and not evident in our short intrusive visits, tripping the automatic "your inbox is too full" message.