As
coaches, we leave our footprint in the teaching lives of others. Recommending a
teaching practice is an obvious way to influence a teacher's repertoire, and
this coaching move is useful early in a coaching cycle when a teacher is
looking for new ideas.
Later,
as teachers are generating their own ideas, we might less-directly leave a
footprint through what we choose to affirm. The saying, “What gets tested gets
taught,” has its equivalent in the coaching realm: What gets affirmed gets carried
on.
Affirmations
provide encouragement to sustain effective instruction. A coach I was talking
with commented, “(Affirmations) gave her the recognition she needed to know how
to continue.” I added that the affirmations also gave her the recognition of what to
continue. Specific affirmations help teachers determine what to hang on to.
One
of my coaching friends related that a teacher had given her lesson plans to
look over, asking, “Does this look okay?” When my friend confirmed the
effectiveness of the plan, she not only ensured that students would receive appropriate
instruction, she also shaped the teacher’s instructional repertoire.
It’s appropriate to use our role as coach to mold teachers’
instruction so that it is reflective of best practice. Leaning on our own
expertise and experience, we can beneficially influence learning outcomes for the
students’ in our schools. Good teachers are continually morphing their teacher
identify, and they take our affirmations into consideration as part of this
process. The contours of our affirmations can be seen in the instructional
decision-making of the teachers with whom we work.
This week, you might want to
take a look at:
The
value of self-assessment:
Launching
PD with videos:
This
video has ideas for using sentence frames to jumpstart writing:
Helping teachers design or redesign
their classroom libraries:
How technology is changing the way we
teach:
That’s it for this week. Happy
Coaching!
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