As
in grouting, so in coaching. For many
teachers, modeling hits the spot, helping teachers feel secure about using new
practices. Modeling is the most supportive scaffold in the GIR model. In this post I’ll focus on the most typical
type of modeling - modeling that occurs during a lesson. Future posts will discuss other ways that
modeling can be provided.
When
teachers are learning new instructional practices, they may request that a
coach model these practices. For
example, a teacher concerned about implementing close reading in her classroom
asked her coach to model. Modeling in
the classroom allowed the teacher to see a close reading activity in action with
her own students. This authentic
situation illustrated the nuances of close reading, allowing the teacher the
freedom to consider both teacher and student responses in a way that would have
been difficult had she been in the driver’s seat.
When
a coach models in the classroom, the teacher sees both the competence of the
coach and her willingness to take a risk and learn and think alongside the
teacher. Don’t feel like your lesson has
to be perfect; we all learn as we go by reflecting on successes and
less-successful aspects of the lesson.
When
I think about my experiences with modeling, my mind returns to the time last
year that I modeled a lesson in my daughter’s classroom. She was a first-year second-grade teacher,
feeling less than confident about her abilities. In September, as the school year was just
getting underway, I got a tearful, frustrated phone call during her recess
break. We decided having me model a
lesson might be helpful, so I put on my super-cape and drove 700 miles to visit
her classroom. Mom to the rescue! I felt pretty good about the vocabulary
lesson I taught, especially considering that it was early in the school year
and she had several special needs students in her classroom.
Recess
was right after my modeled lesson, and my daughter had recess duty, so we
walked together out to the playground.
My daughter broke the silence with a quizzical look and asked, “Mom, you
won awards for your teaching, right?”
From the tenor of her voice, I knew the implications behind her
question: You won awards, but your
teaching’s not perfect; the students weren’t perfect; maybe I don’t have to be perfect!” Modeling gave my daughter new strategies to
try, but more importantly, it let her know that perfection is not required or
possible! She set more realistic
expectations for herself and her students and everybody learned more.
Thinking back on our home tiling project, I recognize now that the fact that my husband did not painstakingly level and groom each crack probably allowed me to take on the grouting task without undue angst. Whether tiling or teaching, having a model to observe can make all the difference!
Resources to
explore:
Close Reading: Speaking
of close reading, check out this discussion by Common Core author David
Coleman:
http://vimeo.com/27056255
Goals: The
start of a new year is a great time for coaches, teachers, and students to
think about goals. Use quotes from this
link (quotegarden.com/goals.html) and the protocol below* to
get everyone talking about setting purposeful targets for their work.
*Quotes protocol preparation: Facilitator finds lots of quotes about the topic under consideration (in this case, goals). Quotes are printed and clipped with one quote per slip of paper. Quotes are placed in the middle of each table.
Quotes protocol procedure:
1. Grab a quote, read it over,
and mull it over.
2. Find a partner and share your
quote and thinking.
3. Trade quotes and find a new
partner and repeat.
Followers: For a good laugh and a good lesson about leadership, check out this video:
youtube.com/watch?v=hO8MwBZl-Vc
Then
think about how you are cultivating followers.
That’s
it for now. Happy 2013!
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