After reading the 11/1/2011 post, “PowerWalks Hero Schools (October 2011),” a number of you sent in comments. Below is a representative sample. “I’m fired up, I personally visited twenty classrooms today.” “There’s no need to fear, a PowerWalker is here.” “We just missed the Hero mark. You can pencil us in on the November list.” “Now the pressure is really on, we’re not going to lose our spot.” And one from Old School LYS’er, The Marine, SC, I thought walk-thru’s are about quality observation and changing instruction. When did just doing your job become about numbers? You can do 100 walk-thru’s on a teacher but if you do not convey to him or her the importance of change and growth, what have you accomplished? SC Response Written like an Old School LYS’er. I figure the purpose for your comment is for one of two reasons. Either, you want me to clarify that FORMATIVE classroom observation is about quantity and quality. I have to do a lot of walk-thru’s so I have enough valid information to engage in a PURPOSEFUL coaching conversation with a teacher. One walk-thru is a random wisp of time. A collection of twenty walk-thru’s creates a fairly accurate trend line. The more often I collect twenty quality observations, the more often I can coach. The more I coach, the more valuable I am to my staff. Which as you point out, as an instructional leader, is your job. Or second, you are hoping that by distracting me that I won’t mention the fact that I didn’t see your campus on the Hero list this month. Everyone keep up the great work! Think. Work. Achieve. Your turn… Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation Confirmed 2012 Presentations: NASSP Conference; NASB Conference