Running Their Own Race

Have you ever watched a horse race of thoroughbreds?  The horses charge forward with boundless grace and speed, intent on the stretch ahead and, ultimately, the finish line.  The horses wear blinders, devices that channel their view to their own course and block their vision of how rivals are progressing.  They move ahead, running their personal best, urged on by the jockey who has become one with their movements. 

It’s easy to make a connection between the horse race and the classroom.  When the objective is clear, learning is enhanced (Marzano et. al, 2001).  Students know where the finish line is.  Unpacking that objective helps students see the learning progression they will follow in pursuit of their goal.  A differentiated progression makes the path their own and increases determination.  Differentiation also channels students’ views toward their own course, and they become less concerned with how their efforts compare with the efforts of other students and more concerned with how they will navigate the path toward their objective.  The teacher provides direction as the race progresses. 

In a similar way, teachers’ own learning is enhanced when a clear objective has been set and when the learning path is differentiated.  Teachers can then channel their energy toward following the learning path that leads to the instructional improvement they’ve targeted.   As a partner in the process, the instructional coach guides progress down that unique learning path, perhaps even providing blinders to focus the work.  Using the GIR model, coaching follows a path unique to the objective that is determined by the needs of the teacher.  The coach occasionally reins in when an approach is clearly not working, but more frequently the coach provides gentle guidance, urges the teacher along, and affirms and praises as the finish line comes into view.      

This week, you might want to take a look at:

A blog about setting goals with students: 

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/back-to-school-goal-setting-students-teacher-maurice-elias

Education Week’s “Spotlight on Deeper Learning,” a free download that contains 6 articles on skills and knowledge for our changing world:

http://edweek.org/media/downloads/index.html?f=spotlight-deeper-learning-v2.pdf

An article about modeling rigorous thinking during peer conferences:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1420

A video about reasoning with division:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/common-core-teaching-division?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

An article about deepening literacy thinking through close reading:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec12/vol70/num04/Closing-in-on-Close-Reading.aspx

That’s it for this week – Happy Coaching!

Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Learning to Ride

When I’m talking with young students about improving their writing, I like the analogy of riding a bike.  They remember when training wheels were removed and they took their first teetering ride, usually with a parent or older sibling running alongside.  We think together about how trying new things in their writing may feel wobbly at first, but soon they’ll be writing with style – doing the fancy stuff with a flourish (Look, Mom – no hands!). 

The same process happens when teachers are trying new instructional practices.  They may make their first wobbly attempt with you as a coach running along beside – co-teaching or providing support in planning and refining lessons. 

The bike-riding analogy is a good fit for the Gradual Increase of Responsibility Model for coaching.  Modeling provides the most support – like training wheels.  The lesson is not going to fall flat.  Making recommendations is running along beside; you’re right there holding onto the bike, pointing out what to do.  When you ask questions that promote reflection and examination of practice, you are still nearby, just not taking such an active role.  And affirming and praising are cheering from the sidewalk while the bike whizzes by!

As you consider the coaching cycles you are working through now with teachers, imagine yourself as the bike-riding assistant.  How much support do they need?  What coaching move will you use most?  With your support, before long your teachers will be navigating new instructional territory with finesse!

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Education Week’s “Spotlight on Coaching” is a free download that contains 8 articles on coaching:

https://fs24.formsite.com/edweek/images/spotlight-on-instructional-coaching-sponsored.pdf

A blog post about student-centered professional development (including students during the training):

http://novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators/teaching-and-learning-articles/drill-the-teachers-educate-the-kids/

A short video about celebrating writers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xE1Ygjj6Yc

An article about the importance of working within a child’s ZPD when conferring about writing:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=108

That’s it for this week.  Happy coaching!

Avoiding the Fire Hose!

Recently, I had a discussion with a now-expert teacher about her past experience as a student teaching intern.  She told me about a time when her university supervisor had arrived unannounced.  She said, “The feeling I had when she walked into the room……My heart stopped.  Not that she caught me doing something I shouldn’t be doing.  It wasn’t like I was showing a movie or something and thought, ‘Oh, no, she’ll think I show movies all the time.’  It wasn’t like I was slacking off.  I was doing what I should be doing - teaching.”

This heart-sinking feeling is not uncommon for a teacher when a supervisor walks in.  Charlotte Danielson points out that even tenured teachers may feel, “a tightening of the stomach, a visceral fear, that the supervisor will observe something not to her liking” (Danielson, 2009, p. 2).  How much more troubling, then, is this situation for a student teacher who is a novice and vulnerable in so many ways? 

Probing my now-teacher friend for why she had this strong negative reaction when her university supervisor walked in, it came down to two things: lack of trust and knowing what was coming.  From past experience, she knew that these unplanned pop-ins would mean a lunch-time debrief – during the time she had planned to make needed copies for the afternoon, get materials laid out for small-group activities, and take a much-needed brain break. 

She also tensed up at the thought of the feedback the debrief session would include.  She said the supervisor was, “general with praise and specific with criticism.”  And that is what her recommendations always felt like – criticism, not suggestions.  She said the feedback came like a spraying fire hose, not giving her an opportunity to say much.  And when she did get to talk, she felt there were expected responses – something she was supposed to say, a scripted answer that she didn’t quite know.

Even though this situation involved a university supervisor, there is much that coaches can take from it regarding making recommendations.  Previous posts have described the importance of establishing a trusting relationship and how that might be done; the situation described above underscores its importance.  Another insight from this scenario is that it’s helpful to consider the timing of your recommendations.  When you have important recommendations to make, offer them at a time and in a context where they can be received with thoughtfulness.  The teaching day is packed with need-to-dos; there is no empty time.  Making sure that lengthier conversations are planned for can provide a context more conducive to learning. 

Being specific with both praise and recommendations is another important consideration.  I like to use the “sandwich” technique, making sure recommendations are preceded with and followed by specific praise. 

Another important aspect of making recommendations that this situation points out is the need to limit the number of recommendations given at once.  Avoid the “spraying fire hose” approach!  Although you may see many things that should be changed, the reality is that a teacher can only bring focus to a few things at a time.  Giving multiple recommendations could put her in information overload mode!

Finally, make sure that recommendations are given as part of a two-way conversation.  Danielson points out that “the experience of listening to suggestions….is a completely passive one” (2009, p. 4).  A monologue of recommendations is unlikely to engender change.  Instead, create a dialogue about the pedagogy you’re suggesting.  Recommending as part of a conversation about practice allows important learning to emerge.  Because learning occurs as part of an active intellectual process, inviting your student teacher to weigh in about the recommendations increases the chance that there will be transfer.  Open the conversation to questions about the nuances of what you are suggesting.  Ask her questions to help her think about possibilities. 

By planning the context and timing of your recommendations, serving up praise along with suggestions, limiting the number of recommendations, and opening opportunities for dialogue, your recommendations will be more welcome and effective, and hopefully you can abate heart-stopping, stomach-tightening experiences for the teachers you are working with!

This week, you might want to take a look at:

This link about the language of recommendations.  It’s written for the world of business, but you can think about how the suggestions might apply to coaching:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1212_how_to_instruct/page5.shtml

This story about supporting student teachers:

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2013/10/22/fp_chaffee.html

Game templates for content review:

http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/ppt-games/

A video about using advertisements to teach analysis:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teach-students-to-think?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

And finally, a three-minute video on the benefits of instructional coaching: (you could ask your principal to show this!)

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/instructional-coaching

Pressure and Release

This week I read an article on the internet that got me thinking about the gradual increase of responsibility in coaching.  The article was about – once again, horse training.  I could practically take the article and paste it right here, I was making connections to coaching all over the place!  (The link to the article is at the end of this post, so you can take a look at it for yourself if you’d like.)

Horses are extremely fine and intelligent animals, but I still don’t know that teachers would like the comparison.  Nonetheless, I’d like to share some of the insights I gained with you.  Here’s a direct quote to get us started:

Training horses really is quite simple, because it involves not much more than the appropriate application of pressure and the exquisite timing of the release. But those adjectives, “appropriate” and “exquisite,” are where the real challenges lie, because these are the very things that make the difference between a horse having trouble, responding obediently, or responding with enthusiasm.

Let’s paraphrase that to apply to coaching and teachers.  Coaching, like horse training, involves the appropriate application of pressure – if we take the definition of pressure as “an influence that pushes or urges.”  I’d like it better if the definition said, “nudges or urges,” because as a coach I do feel like I am sometimes nudging and often urging the teachers I am working with.  Nudging them to think differently, urging them to try something new. 

According to the article, pressure is appropriate when it is “applied with focus, care and intention for a specific outcome.”  Translation:  Identify a focus for your coaching, a specific outcome.  Since you are working with a teacher and not a horse, this can be a joint enterprise!  Determining together the intention of your coaching work will ensure that your urging feels like encouragement, not coercion. 

When working with horses, pressure should be applied “very slowly and smoothly, progressing to the point at which it becomes effective and motivates the horse to try something.”  In other words, just the amount of nudging needed to encourage – and no more.   In horse training, how can you tell if the pressure was applied appropriately?  “The horse responds calmly and becomes more responsive and more willing.”  If urging from coaches is appropriate, teachers are willing and ready to take on more responsibility. 

How Do You Know If Your Timing is Exquisite?

Knowing when to release – give the teacher more responsibility – is all about timing.  In horse training, “If you release too early or too late, your horse won’t do what you expected.”  Letting go too soon means lost opportunities for learning.  Hanging on too long means lost opportunities for interdependence and true collaboration, learning together.  If your timing is exquisite, “the quality of response increases, and learning occurs “quickly with a minimum of difficulty.”  Conversely, you’ll know your timing was ineffective if “the quality of the response decreases” and “it takes longer to teach something.”  More support would have been beneficial.  The horseman uses the words “dull” and “heavy” to describe the sluggish response when release comes too early.  You’ve seen this happen as a coach when something you’ve worked on with a teacher slips away when you are no longer urging.  Let the Gradual Increase of Responsibility Model for Coaching guide you as you tune in to how to release exquisitely.

As you learn when to nudge and when to stop nudging, with appropriateness and exquisiteness, you’ll notice “how confidently and calmly (the teacher) begins to respond.”  Urging appropriately and releasing exquisitely leads to learners who respond “with enthusiasm”!

I must end this post with a note of caution that has little to do with coaching but everything to do with schools and change.  The horse trainer notes that inappropriate application of pressure is pressure that “comes on too fast and too strong, with no time for mental processing.  It is applied with an expectation that the horse must react instantly.  There is no teaching principle behind it: Do it or else!”  Sometimes mandates from government agencies or district or school administration have these unfortunate characteristics.  If our teachers are put in this situation, we as coaches have the responsibility to mediate that pressure.  I have seen coaches do just that with powerful, positive results.  I hope that few of you are in that uncomfortable position, but if you are, I am at least relieved to know that teachers have you as their ally for a more appropriate improvement process.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

The whole article about pressure and release in horse training:

parelli.com/pressure-motivates-release-teaches.html

Plus a little something for everyone from different academic areas:

A video showing the engage-explore-explain-elaborate-evaluate learning cycle as students learn about chemical vs. physical changes:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-physical-and-chemical-changes

This “BOOKMATCH” poster helps kids choose a just-right book:

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1172/poster.pdf

A Pinterest board for Social Studies Teaching Resources:

http://www.pinterest.com/lauracandler/social-studies-teaching-resources/

A video where students turn-and-talk about patterns they see during choral skip counting:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-number-patterns

Free Word Work Activities (from Teachers pay Teachers):

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Freebie-Word-Work-Activities-241610

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ap-Word-Family-Word-Work-FREE-869401

The Horse Trainer

A book I was reading this week has a description of an extraordinary horse trainer.  Rather than “teaching them who was boss” and tying the horses up to learn to respect a rope and halter, this trainer’s method was markedly different.  Here’s the author’s description:

Ben looked at the horses for a while and then climbed into the small corral where the colts were. The young horses moved over near the fence, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and Ben….He did nothing while the horses wandered around the perimeter of the corral, looking for a way out. Occasionally they’d look back at Ben. He stood there quietly. He moved to the middle of the corral and stretched out his arms like a big human scarecrow. He started to talk to the colts, quietly and calmly…Finally, one horse moved closer to him, perhaps losing its fear or becoming curious about what Ben was doing….

After a while, Ben actually lay down on the ground, right on his back, looking up at the sky. He remained in that position a long time, his patience seemingly endless.  Gradually the horses all moved closer, perhaps because he appeared less threatening stretched out on the ground like that…. He was coaxing the horses to trust him. He was allowing them to take their time and become comfortable with him in a way that bonded them as partners.*

The author concludes the description by saying that the horses this trainer worked with “ended up being some of the best horses we ever had.”

I couldn’t help but think about coaching while reading this account.  As we’ve discussed previously, so much of coaching depends on first establishing a relationship of trust.  I’ve also noticed that as we make ourselves more approachable, our effectiveness increases.  The horse trainer made himself vulnerable by standing with arms outstretched in the middle of the corral and later by laying down on the ground in the midst of the horses.  When coaching, modeling is a way that we make ourselves approachable and vulnerable.  We say, “Here I am, for better or for worse.  Let’s examine my practice together.” Teachers may respond with curiosity at first, but such interactions establish connections that open avenues for other types of coaching moves.  When we make recommendations while coaching, we’re more approachable if our recommendations occasionally include examples of lessons gone awry.  

The next time I run up against a resistant teacher – one who is pulling at the halter, so to speak – I’ll remember the methods of this gentle horse trainer and move forward with patience.  Being humble and approachable usually pays off.

* From I Knew Their Hearts, by Jeff Olsen.  pp. 7&8

This week, you might want to take a look at some resources for independent reading:

Scholastic Book Wizard provides leveling information for most titles (lexiles, DRA, Guided Reading, or Grade Level Equivalent):

http://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/

An article about buddy reading with older peers:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1420

A podcast about reading workshop with high school students:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=946

Positive Peer Pressure to Read in Middle School:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1449

A 1 min. video that shows how to involve families in classroom reading time (D.E.A.R. Reading – Family Style!):

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/dear-reading

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

Structured Modeling

Even though it happened nearly a decade ago, I still remember clearly the frustration I felt during one of my early coaching experiences.   I had finally gotten an invitation to model for a teacher who I’d had my eye on for a while.  She was an extremely organized teacher whose instruction generally followed traditional patterns that included lots of worksheets and keep-the-kids-busy activities.  I was excited to model a very different kind of lesson – something interactive that included extended writing, lots of student talk, and use of a rubric to guide students’ thinking.  I felt it would provide this teacher with a view of something new – an engaging way to do business in the classroom.  But my bubble was quickly burst.

Mrs. N. welcomed me into the class with a smile and announced to her students that I was a special guest here to teach them.  She then went to her desk in the back of the room, turned on the computer, and started checking e-mail.  As the lesson progressed, she shifted her attention to the pile of worksheets that needed grading.  Then she stepped out of the room, presumably to take care of some other pressing business. 

This disappointment was an important lesson for me about the value of taking a few minutes before modeling in a classroom to set up the scenario I’d like to see unfold.  When I talk in advance with a teacher, we can determine together a focus for the observation:  What is she wondering about for her own instruction?  What seems important in this lesson for her to attend to?  Is there something I’m wondering about that I’d like her to notice?  By setting a focus, the effectiveness of a modeling session increases exponentially. 

Once the focus has been selected, it’s helpful to have a method in mind for keeping track of insights during the observation.  Whether it’s a blank sheet of paper where she’ll jot higher-level questions, two column notes for students’ behaviors and teachers’ responses, or a list of students’ names so that she can check off participation, having a note-taking method you’ve decided on in advance makes observations more effective. 

These days, I set the stage for a modeling session by making sure we’ll have some notes by the teacher to refer to when we meet again later.  Although I still occasionally get a teacher who can’t help but check her e-mail at least once while I’m in the room, debrief discussions are richer when we have evidence from the modeled lesson around which to focus our conversation.  Providing structure for the observation pays off!

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Protocol for a PLC – Looking at Student Thinking:

http://www.ronritchhart.com/COT_Resources_files/LAST%20Protocol2.pdf

Student perspectives:  What is inquiry-based learning?

http://vimeo.com/14250807

More about Inquiry-Based Learning:

http://teachinquiry.com/index/Introduction.html

Ten Things Every Writer Needs to Know: A Podcast with Jeff Anderson:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1389

A Teachers Write Community – posts discuss quick writes, mini-lesson, feedback, and more:

http://www.katemessner.com/teachers-write/

That’s all for this week.  Happy Coaching!

The Logic of Respect

If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them become better than they are.

                                                                                                         John W. Gardner

Trust and respect are intertwined.  Where there is mutual trust, colleagues develop an understanding of each other’s views, strengths, and needs.  This understanding leads to respect.  We can usually understand another’s actions better when we take the time to find out about what that person values and has experienced and when we respect their individual attributes.  Inquiring about teachers’ past experiences gives you a window into their instructional actions.  If you respect the individual, things will eventually make sense. 

One of the teachers I’m working with provides a good example.  Erica is a quiet beauty.  Somehow, I’ve come to associate beautiful young women with outgoing personalities, but this is not the case for Erica.  She is serene and thoughtful.  Her lesson plans are detailed and well-envisioned.  I’ve watched her in the classroom, moving from student to student with quiet comments that elevate students’ thinking.  She will never be the sage on the stage, the entertainer-type of teacher.  I wouldn’t want her to be. 

When coaching Erica, I started by acknowledging the powerful conversations she was having with individual students, labeling them for her as “conferences.”  We initially talked about structuring those conferences for increased impact.  I tried to build from where she was and the unique assets she brought as a teacher before making suggestions that might have been a bit more outside of her comfort zone.  We were well into our coaching work before we talked about bringing more exuberance to her read alouds.  A buoyant read-aloud, with lilt in her voice, dynamic volume, and pregnant pauses did not come naturally to her.  But she recognized the need and was willing to work on it because of the mutual respect we had developed.  Unprompted, she even began adding different voices for each character, and admitted to practicing in front of her mirror (after shutting the door to keep her roommates on the other side!). 

Instruction is most likely to improve when we respect the teachers we are working with and have earned their respect.  Don’t be in a rush to recommend; work on building respect and understanding first.  The simple equation for those in a rush is:  no respect = no change.* 

*Powers, B. (2011).  Choice Literacy Newsletter, September 27, 2011.  Downloaded from choiceliteracy.com. 

This week, you might want to take a look at these ideas for using technology in coaching and in the classroom:

A video about using technology to coach:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-coaching-models

A site with reviews of educational websites and apps that is searchable by subject area, grade, and cost (including plenty that are free!):

http://www.graphite.org/

This Pinterest Board on using technology in the classroom:

http://pinterest.com/nctedotorg/integrating-technology-in-the-classroom/

An NPR podcast about how social media boosts literacy:

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=213500923&m=213500920

Online reading & writing tools:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1566

That’s all for this week.  Happy Coaching!

Models, Demonstrations, and Explanations

“If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.”

W.B. Bateman

When teachers want their students to try something new, they often demonstrate the method that they are expecting; they engage in the processes they want their students to use.  Students observe and then it’s their turn to try.  Reading aloud to students, for example, provides a model of what fluent reading sounds like.  Demonstrating how to mix chemicals safely is another example of the important role modeling can play in the classroom.

Coaches can also provide models, and these models don’t have to occur in the classroom.  For example, during a coaching conversation, a coach can model a questioning technique like providing sufficient wait time.  If the objective is to model this questioning strategy and encourage the teacher to apply it in her own classroom, the coach should be explicit about the purpose at the onset, draw attention to the wait time during the conversation, support reflection about the impact of this strategy, and then guide the teacher in planning for sufficient wait time during her own instruction.  Modeling during a coaching conversation has the benefit of allowing you to hit the “pause” button in your demonstration and provide an explanation.    

In addition to providing models of instructional processes, coaches can also provide models of completed products:  a graphic organizer that might be useful in the classroom, a lesson or unit plan, or an analysis of student assessments.  The purpose here is not for the coach to do the work for the teacher, but for the coach to provide a model that will guide the teacher in future work.  It’s important to talk about the process used in creating the product.  For example, if you share a graphic organizer that can be used in a science notebook, what guided you in creating the organizer?  How did you determine the information that should be included?  What did you think about in terms of format?  Demonstrating such thinking and how thinking shifts based on context builds a teacher’s repertoire of strategies and fosters cognitive flexibility.   

All teachers benefit from coaching.  Some teachers need significant modeling, including clear and repeated demonstrations of effective processes and products.  Left without adequate demonstrations, these teachers may continue using less-effective teaching techniques.  Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  You can’t do it the same way and expect a different outcome.  If our job as coaches is to improve the effectiveness of instruction, then models, explanations, and demonstrations will be essential elements of our coaching. 

This week, you might want to take a look at resources about teachers modeling for their students:

A Teaching Channel video about modeling use of digital resources: 

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/classroom-modeling

Richard Allington & Patricia Cunningham talk about how children benefit from modeling, demonstration, and explanation during literacy instruction in this article:

http://www.education.com/reference/article/children-benefit-modeling-demonstration/

Modeling for great classroom management:

http://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2012/02/18/how-to-be-a-great-teacher/

Video of a teacher modeling the addition process:

http://fcit.usf.edu/mathvids/videos/strategies/em/concrete/etmc_clip3_med.mov

Or this video where a teacher models the division process:

http://fcit.usf.edu/mathvids/videos/strategies/em/representational/etmr_clip5_med.mov

Read more about modeling during instruction at:

http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/StateArt/Read/idea4.html

Who's in the Center

A few years ago, I was working as a district literacy coordinator when the time came to buy new materials.  Before we could begin to know what we wanted, it was important for us to define our instructional philosophy.  That way, materials would match the way we wanted to teach.  I love all of the philosophy statements we created together; they speak to who I am as a teacher.  The one at the top of the list that we all easily agreed upon was, “The learner must be at the center of literacy instruction.”  Like the hub of a wheel, the center point determines the action.  If the child is at the center (rather than the test, the teacher, the Unit Plan, etc.), then instruction will look different.  Similarly, if the child is at the center of our coaching, our coaching will look different.

This important idea was brought home to me yesterday as I worked with a group of wonderful coaches. We had watched a video clip of a coach who was making recommendations to a middle-school math teacher.  Here’s a snippet of their conversation:

           

Coach:  Something else I want you to think about, too, is your questions.  Try purposely not to make them convergent.  When I come next time, I want to see evidence of them thinking in alternate ways.  I want you to, between now and then, start to ask questions that are divergent questions.  They follow more of Bloom’s higher-order thinking questions.  I want to see the atmosphere shift of, okay, I’m asking a question.  Can you get the answer?  The answer’s black. Now are you going to say black? to: Oh, good, you’re thinking.  You’ve thought of something I didn’t think of.  I’d like you to feel comfortable with them telling you something you’re not prepared to hear.  I also want to see some sort of engagement, whether it’s, whatever you can feel comfortable with.  Whether it’s groups, games, competition, group think.  I want to see something where they feel more responsible as a group, not as an individual, to apply their time to that task.  And care about the task.  And then the last thing I want to see is I want to make sure they have a feeling, and if you choose the questions carefully, that they understand there’s a reason to do this.  Why do I care?  You don’t want to be the sage on the stage.

           Teacher:  Right.

Coach:  You want to be that guide on the side.  So you want to be in there asking questions.  You want to be a magician that’s not going to tell them the answer, but you’re going to ask questions.  And I say to teachers: When you’re about to tell, because time is clicking, you’re frustrated, change your telling into a question. 

Teacher:  Yah, I’m going to sit back and reflect on these and start building these into my lessons.  You know, piece by piece.*

When I showed this clip to the coaches during our professional development, they were aghast.  That coach must have been an outside consultant, they said.  We would never talk to our teachers like that, they said.  One coach hit the nail on the head:  If she had just phrased her recommendations in terms of what students needed, rather than what she wanted to see, the coach could have made the same recommendations, but it would have worked much better.

How much more palatable do these recommendations seem (and how much more likely to be implemented)?

·       Get your students thinking in alternate way by asking those higher-order thinking questions from Bloom’s taxonomy.   Get them to tell you something you’re not prepared to hear!
 

·         Give your students responsibility as a group.  Whatever you’re comfortable with - whether it’s groups, games, competition, group think.  Something where they feel responsible as a group, not as an individual, to apply their time to that task.

Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to give the teacher time to say more than a word or two in response!  Putting students in the center of our coaching makes our efforts more effective, because our attention is where it should be:  On the students who are (directly or indirectly) in our charge.

 

This week, you might want to take a look at:

The video clip from which the excerpt above was taken:

*https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/professional-development-teacher-evaluation

Lesson plans using one of my favorite instructional tools:  sticky notes!

http://teachers.post-it.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Post-it-Teachers/Home/All-Activities/?utm_campaign=bazaarvoice&utm_medium=Default&utm_source=Stories&utm_content=Default

 

Lesson plan for sparking rich online discussions:

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/thoughtful-threads-sparking-rich-1165.html

A podcast suggestion tech tools for young learners:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=1039

Recommendations about user-friendly, free apps for classroom use:

http://litlifeblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/our-favorite-free-apps-for-classroom-use/

 

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

Power of the Pause

In last week’s post, we talked about the value of having the teacher choose the focus of the coaching work you’ll do together.  Once a focus for coaching has been selected, the GIR coaching model (see below) can provide a guide for the work you do together, reminding you to gradually increase the teacher’s responsibility and ownership for the things she’d like to improve. 

Not all teachers will need the first (and most supportive) coaching practice – modeling.  With some teachers or focuses, Making Recommendations is the coaching move to lead with as you begin a coaching cycle.  As with choosing a focus, the recommendations you make will be most effective if they grow from the teacher’s specific concerns or comments.  This is why WAIT time is so important during a conversation.  We’ve all heard of wait time, but I like the reminder I read recently: WAIT stands for Why Am I Talking?  This little acronym encourages me to pause, hold my tongue, and really consider what the teacher has been saying before jumping in with a recommendation.  Waiting allows me to listen better, because while the teacher talks, my mind is not rushing ahead thinking about what I’m going to say in response – I know I’ll have time for that once she pauses.  My response is better because I’ve really listened, and because I’ve allowed myself a few seconds to think about what I’ve heard.  The pause pushes my own thinking to a higher level.  That thoughtful pause also sends the message that I value what the teacher has said. 

A children’s book, I Have a Little Problem, illustrates this concept well.  The book begins with a bear looking for a solution to a problem that we (as the reader) don’t know about.  After having unsatisfactory solutions posed by the shopkeeper, the shoemaker, the doctor, and various other townsmen, the bear dejectedly walks out of town and sits on a hill.  There he meets a friendly fly, who takes the time to listen and finds out the bear’s real problem:  he is alone and afraid.  As the fly and bear go off together, we recognize that listening provided a way for the bear’s problem to be solved. 

As with the bear, so with the teacher!  We have probably all been a victim, at one time or another, of a solution that was provided by someone who didn’t really understand the problem.  My goal is to avoid that situation by talking less and listening more during coaching conversations.   The pregnant pause – silence – sometimes makes us feel like no one is thinking.  But in actuality, that pause is usually when the highest-level thinking occurs, for both you and the teacher.  The pause works on both sides of a recommendation.  When we pause after making a recommendation, the pause becomes an opportunity for the teacher we’re coaching to thoughtfully consider how that suggestion might apply in her teaching, with her students.  It demonstrates our faith in the teacher’s own judgment and the insights she has about learning in her classroom.

As you make more space for silence during a coaching conversation, I think you’ll like the outcome.  Sandwiching a recommendation between thoughtful pauses is likely to increase the effectiveness of that recommendation and of your ongoing work as a coach.    

This week, you might want to take a look at a plethora of math resources and a bit about reading:

Here’s a free online game for developing number sense with fractions:

http://play.centerforgamescience.org/refraction/site/

Here’s a video of a kindergarten math lesson using a game to develop number sense:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/mingle-count-a-game-of-number-sense?fd=1

An interesting series of articles about the importance of math in the classroom:

http://nrich.maths.org/2489

(Explore the colored buttons on the top menu to find wonderful low- and high-tech math games for any grade.)

Ideas for helping students document their reading (and other great comprehension suggestions):

http://chartchums.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/so-your-students-are-starting-to-read-chapter-books/

An article about the power of rereading:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view-print.php?id=41

That’s all for this week.  Happy Coaching!