This
week was a busy one – I observed in classrooms but had no time to debrief. I didn’t want the feedback to get cold, so I
sent brief e-mails that highlighted successes but also provided a quick recommendation. Here are two excerpts:“Thanks for inviting me to your class today! It was exciting to see students making connections with previous learning! The opportunities for kinesthetic engagement support students’ concept formation, and providing students time to reflect on what they had learned gave both you and them formative information. One thing you might consider focusing on is listening to and building from student comments. Continue to build a culture where students feel comfortable sharing what they know and their own experiences. Students’ own comments provide wonderful opportunities for authentic discussion that will build understanding - not just knowledge.”
“I enjoyed being with you and your students today! Using the 10-Frames supported students’ understanding of place value. Having students share divergent solutions also supported their concept development – it was so helpful for them to think about different representations for the numbers. I was also impressed with your flexibility in the face of technology blips! Can you send me a quick response regarding where this lesson is going? Keeping a clear focus on the big understanding and how each lesson you are teaching fits with future learning will be a guide for both you and your students.”
Although providing feedback via e-mail isn’t my preferred mode (no opportunity to construct meaning together!), I decided it was important for these teachers to get the feedback while it was still “hot.” When too much time passes between observation and recommendation, the teacher has a harder time making use of suggestions. She is no longer in that moment. A day or two later, although she’ll likely remember what she and the students did, she may find it hard to remember her reasoning. And impacting decision-making is where coaches get the most bang for their buck.
Good recommendations are timely. Our work as coaches is more effective when instruction is still fresh in teachers’ minds. They need to get it while it’s hot!
This week,
you might want to take a look at:
A video with ideas for using
hand signals to encourage active listening:
An article about making
the Common Core text exemplars accessible to middle school students:
Ideas
for a close reading of Hamlet:
A
video with a quick and thoughtful approach to annotating while reading:
Research that describes how learning music closes the
achievement gap in reading:
That’s
it for this week. Happy Coaching!
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