Patterns

Recognizing patterns is a skill with broad application. Whether you’re a kindergartner using attribute blocks, a mathematician working with calculus formulas, or a meteorologist making predictions, being able to see beyond the details and recognize the patterns in a situation means better problem-solving. This principle also applies to teaching and coaching.

Coaching conversations can easily get caught up in the here-and-now, the details of one particular lesson. Although noticing the minutia of instruction is important, these specifics are often more helpful when viewed in a broader context.

This week I had a conversation with a teacher whose instruction is usually very solid. I’ve been in her room and been wowed by authentic student discussions on many occasions. However, the lesson I happened to observe this week went awry. And she knew it. Even before we got together, she had reflected on what went wrong. She’d even gone back and retaught portions of the lesson. She’d recognized on her own things that needed fixing. When we got together, however, the conversation kept drifting back to the details of that lesson. She was frustrated with it, but I knew that rehashing the particulars wouldn’t get us far.

After affirming the changes she’d made when reteaching, I steered the conversation toward looking for patterns. Yes, the definition she’d chosen for the vocabulary word led to student confusion. But what was it about her response to their confusion that she could learn from? As we talked, Stacy realized that her fixed focus on one aspect of the vocabulary definition prompted her to go “fishing” for the answers she was looking for. She began to realize that she had negated some students’ responses because they didn’t “fill in the blank” in the way she was anticipating. I did a little probing and a lot of nodding as Stacy made these discoveries.

For Stacy, the conversation helped her articulate some things she already knew about questioning and recognize habits she sometimes falls into when lessons don’t go as she’s envisioned. She’s moving forward with increased sensitivity to this tendency and a resolve to make a change.

Perseverating on the details of a flopped lesson wasn’t what got her there. By looking less at particulars and more at patterns, Stacy walked away with ideas about how to transform her already-strong teaching.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Changing from “have to” to “get to” – the power of language:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eNJaObd05YI

Tag lines for Coaching:

http://heatherrader.com/archives/227

Using color to support math thinking:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/middle-school-math-teaching-tip?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

The Literacy Shed has mini-lessons for writing with free video clips and images that support them:

http://www.literacyshed.com/

Student-Centered discussion in the high school English class:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/strategies-for-student-centered-discussion?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

That’s it for this week. Happy coaching!

Coaching the Pros

Coaching is a cross-professional enterprise. In addition to teachers, surgeons, CEOs, and athletes benefit from having a personal coach. The point guard on your favorite NBA team likely has the support of a position coach who is an expert on just what point guards do. Similarly, teachers who are “top players” can benefit from having a coach – someone to help them fine-tune their already successful practices. Working with the elite and already accomplished has unique rewards and challenges. Finding the right support for an expert can be one of the challenges.

In addition to asking good questions that support reflection (discussed in previous posts), coaches can assist already-skillful teachers by confirming what is working in their classrooms and by verifying the potential of innovative practices they’re ready to try. These affirming practices recognize the assets that teachers bring to the table and encourage continuous improvement. Affirming gives teachers the chance to deepen already-strong practices.

When I talked with a group of coaches recently, here are some assets they were affirming:

*When I looked over lesson plans, I noticed that she had planned out questions in advance!

*The discussion bookmark is really working – I suggested she keep using it.

*She draws the weaker students out in the discussions in a very supportive and positive way. That deserved acknowledgement!

*She was thinking about a service learning project at an assisted living center as a final project in the history unit. What a great idea! We talked through some details and she’s ready to give it a try!

*I love how she assessed students’ understanding during buddy reading and recognized that the material was too difficult for most of the class, so she adjusted the lesson on the spot! She was a little uncomfortable that she had scrapped the lesson plan, but as we talked she recognized it was definitely the right move.

These examples demonstrate the power of affirmation. When a coach concurs that an instructional move is valuable, it’s not only a pat on the back but also nudge forward.

Everyone can benefit from a coach. Coaching is not about intervention or remediation; it is about finding the right level of support based on specific needs and contexts. Whether you are working with an expert or a novice, using the Gradual Increase of Responsibility model can help you find that level.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Whether answering questions on standardized tests or in a more authentic environment, QAR (Question Answer Relationship) is a good way choose a strategy for answering.  Check out these QAR ideas on Pinterest:

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=QAR

Ideas for keeping students on-track for graduation, including the cultivation of character traits such as persistence, grit, and self-control (browse different sections of the report that meet your interests):

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/06/05/34execsum.h33.html?intc=EW-DPCT14-TOC

Videos about a variety of instructional topics:

http://www.stenhouse.com/html/classroomvid.htm

Success stories for getting students to read at home:

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/jun/03/how-to-encourage-students-read-for-pleasure-teacher-top-tips

What is a paideia? (and how many vowels does it have?!?)  Find out in this blog post that includes videos and links to paideia lesson plans:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2014/05/21/paideia-seminars-how-to-build-student-collaboration-skills/

That’s it for this week. Happy coaching!

Questioning for Discovery

Sometimes one question is all it takes.

When working with teachers who have experience and expertise, a well-designed question can cause a big shift. Last week, I had a debrief conference with Julie, a teacher who is strong in so many areas. Julie’s classroom management is consistent, she is teaching for concept development, and discussions engage all students. As I reflected on the lesson I’d observed, though, I realized there was something that would have made the lesson even stronger: differentiation. She was teaching a lesson that connected the idea of timelines with story sequence, and she’d done an excellent job of helping students make connections to their personal experience and making cross-disciplinary connections to number lines in math. She’d used partner talk and whole-class discussion so that students could build their own understanding. She’d previewed a text with them, having them highlight difficult vocabulary and providing support. Then she divided them in groups and sent them off with pictures of events from the story (a biographical narrative) that they were to sequence on a timeline. So many things were going well in the lesson, so she was ready to focus on differentiation, which I view as an advanced teaching practice. I felt that if I asked just the right question, Julie would recognize for herself the value of differentiation in this situation and be open to it for future learning experiences. I knew from past experience that saying, “You should have differentiated this activity,” would be far less impactful than inviting her to consider possibilities for herself. She was ready to do that. So I asked, “What would have happened if you had asked students to create a timeline without giving them the squares?”

There was a thought-filled pause. Then Julie said, “Well, some of the students could have handled it.” In her mind, she was rebutting my suggestion. But I wanted to encourage her to think about what she had just said, so I responded simply, “Hmmmmmm.”

Another thought-filled pause, and then I saw that look that we coaches and teachers love – the light-bulb moment.

“Ahhhhh,” she said. “I could have given some of the students just a timeline.”

“Yes,” I said.

“But some of them would have needed the squares.”

“Yes,” I said again.

Julie looked excited.

“Differentiation,” I said.

Then came an avalanche of ideas, as Julie talked about how she knew all about differentiation but had rarely tried it. She thought about those successes she’d had in the past and began planning for differentiated instruction in upcoming lessons.

Sometimes one question is all it takes.

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*If that sounds like a recommendation-disguised-as-question, I’ll admit that in some circumstances it would have been. But in this situation, I used the question to provoke Julie, not to suggest a single course of action.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

In honor of Valentine’s Day: Love stories ignite a romance with reading:

http://www.reading.org/literacy-daily/classroom/post/engage/2015/02/04/love-stories-ignite-a-romance-with-reading?utm_source=02102015&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ThisWeek&utm_content=PopularOn-3

A formative assessment video – “Show Your Cards”:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/show-your-cards-student-assessment

Student voices about how the “posse” approach uses positive peer pressure to keep kids in school:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/dc/2014/peer-posse-audio.html?intc=EW-DPCT14-EML

Thoughts about personalizing professional development:

https://www.edsurge.com/n/2014-06-03-a-path-towards-personalized-pd

This article, “Digital Literacy Can’t Wait” talks about ways to build capacity and enhance Language Arts lessons with technology:

http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/1026-jul2013/EJ1026Longer.pdf?roi=echo4-27211411575-42661049-ed9b19d09af509d5506757ec1fce2cb1&utm_source=20562206&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=High+Road

This short video by writing teacher Kelly Gallagher describes literacy instruction that he feels is in the best interest of students (don’t be put off that this video previews his new book – the video is great in and of itself!):

http://www.stenhouse.com/html/in-the-best-interest-of-students.htm?r=n340

That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

Soup's On! Essential Ingredients for Coaching

Coaching is collaborative work and it’s the culmination of the GIR coaching model. All along the way, we are co-laborers with teachers. Although collaboration looks different depending on the people and the task, there are a few essential ingredients:

Trust: Working together means relying with confidence on another person.

Time: When a collaborative task is undertaken, build a schedule for the work. Get times on the calendar.

Talk: Communication is key to teamwork. Assumptions left unspoken have potential to damage the relationship and the work.

Flexibility: Being willing to adapt as you go along keeps you open to opportunities.

Risk: Agree that you will try something. If it doesn’t work, you will try something different.

Commitment: There will be rough spots. Recognize this beforehand and commit to persevering.

These essential ingredients are a base for collaborative work. Add other ingredients to meet the specific needs of the people and task, and you’ll have the recipe for an effective partnership.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Test prep to believe in: Increasing kids’ “mindfulness” has lots of benefits – including better test scores:

http://time.com/3682311/mindfulness-math/#3682311/mindfulness-math/

Lesson plans for argumentative writing using letters to the editor:

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/persuading-audience-writing-effective-929.html?tab=4#tabs

An article about letter-to-the-editor assignments:

http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CCC/0654-jun2014/CCC0654Expanding.pdf?roi=echo4-26994800077-41397754-54b78dd2b173b5d3dfa959623980cb38&utm_source=19619952&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=High+Road

Are your students missing the warrants needed in argumentative writing?  Take a look at this blog post: 

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2014/05/22/biggest-problem-in-argument-writing/

The Wingman: Drawing in the less-vocal participant:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/strategies-for-engaging-students

Thoughts about personalizing professional development:

https://www.edsurge.com/n/2014-06-03-a-path-towards-personalized-pd

That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!