Saturday, October 19, 2013

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: 


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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