One of my favorite fictional characters, Anne of Green Gables,
was fond of spaces and situations that offered “scope for imagination.” She loved to consider people, places, and
possibilities, imagining what could be or what might have been. Like Anne, teachers are full of imagination,
and coaches can help them to broaden their “scope for imagination” as they
consider causal influences and plan for instructional possibilities. By asking questions, coaches can guide inquiry
and encourage flexible thinking.
In
last week’s post, we considered how coaches increase teachers’ responsibility
by moving from a consulting stance of making recommendations to a coaching
stance of asking questions. One of the
purposes of asking questions is to broaden the scope of ideas under consideration.
These inquiring questions tend to be open-ended. Consider how you might use the following
question stems to craft questions that support inquiry:
How are __ and __ similar/different?
How does __ affect ___?
What might the benefits be?
What are some other ways that
might be done?*
Pondering
questions like these requires higher-order thinking that moves the conversation
toward broader views. Generating
alternatives and considering multiple perspectives can result in important
“ah-ha!” moments.
When
you ask inquiring questions during a coaching session, you haven’t
predetermined a thinking path; you’ve instead initiated a course of inquiry
that you and the teacher can pursue together. Because of the contextualized nature of education,
there is seldom one right answer as we explore instructional
possibilities. If there were
one right answer, coaches wouldn’t be needed:
Teachers could simply follow a script.
That’s not the case, however.
When making instructional decisions, there is so much to consider! But that makes the journey of inquiry all the
more interesting, right? As Anne says,
"It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? Ther'd be no scope for imagination then."**
"It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? Ther'd be no scope for imagination then."**
This
week, you might want to check out a few ideas from this potpourri of resources:
Do’s
and Don’ts for literacy coaches from the Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse (scan
the bold headings for a quick refresher!):
A
podcast with Doug Fisher, who talks about vocabulary, comprehension, & the
Common Core:
Wondering how to use the one iPad you have in your room? Check out these ideas:
Video
of a second-grade, hands-on lesson for measuring distance with Debbie Diller:
*Adapted from Taking the lead: New roles for teachers and school‐based coaches, by J. Killion & C. Harrison (2006).
**From Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery (1908).
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