“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:
Richard
Allington & Patricia Cunningham talk about how children benefit from
modeling, demonstration, and explanation during literacy instruction in this
article:
Modeling
for great classroom management:
Video
of a teacher modeling the addition process:
Or
this video where a teacher models the division process:
Read
more about modeling during instruction at:
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