Saturday, April 16, 2016

Wrapping Up

As April’s mid-point passes and the final stretch of the school year is in sight, we begin thinking about how we will wrap up the school year. I like that phrase, “wrapping up” because it can bring to mind not just finishing, but packaging, beautifying, and then giving a gift. In a coaching cycle, the “wrapping up” includes plenty of opportunities for teachers to share their own thinking as they demonstrate their growing aptitude with instructional decision-making.

Because coaches are experienced folks with lots of successful ideas, it is easy to make recommendations when meeting with teachers. And often, especially with new strategies or new teachers, that is just the right thing to do. But when we over-rely on this mentoring move, we sometimes rob the teacher we are working with of the opportunity to expand her own thinking and increase the responsibility she is taking for instructional decision-making. It is easy to recommend too long.

This week, I caught myself wanting to make recommendations to Caroline, one of the teachers I’m working with. When I was observing in Caroline’s classroom, I noticed that Caroline was repeating nearly every students’ answer. Immediately, a recommendation sprang to mind: “Don’t repeat student answers.” But I stopped myself. I thought about how much capacity Caroline has shown recently; I thought about her developing self-awareness. I knew she didn’t really need my recommendation. Instead, she needed a nudge to do her own thinking. That nudge could come in the form of a question.

So I thought to myself, “Why do I want to make that recommendation?” I realized it was because, although Caroline was asking thought-provoking questions, the discussion remained a ping-pong conversation between Caroline and one, then another student. I knew Caroline’s students were ready to talk to each other, not just to her. So I asked, “What would have to change so that your students talked more to each other, and less to you, during whole-class discussions?”

Caroline began by mentioning something we’d talked about before – encouraging students to look at each other, rather than at her, when they answered a question. She wondered whether it was time to drop the habit she had of pulling sticks to see who to call on – was that constraining the conversation? I could see that she was mulling over recent class discussions as she talked. Her eyes went to that reflective place in her head as she revisited those conversations. Then suddenly her focus and her posture changed. She sat up straight, looked directly at me with wide eyes, and said, “I need to stop repeating students’ answers.”

Although it was affirming to me to have Caroline come to the recommendation I’d begun with, that wasn’t really the point. The other ideas she’d suggested were equally important for her and her class. And the fact that Caroline had come to these ideas herself gave me confidence that she’d be motivated to put them into practice. She knew what to do. It was in her head. My question simply started her thinking moving in that direction.

As the year begins winding down and we think about how to wrap up effectively, it’s good to reflect on where we are in the GIR cycle with the teachers we’re coaching. If it’s time to increase teachers’ responsibility for instructional decision-making, hold back the recommendation and first ask yourself, “Why do I want to make that recommendation?” This helps us get at the root of the issue and ask questions that support and give direction to teachers’ reflection.


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

3 R’s for PD: Retention, Reflection, and Redistribution of Knowledge:



Harnessing Twitter for professional learning:



The importance of speaking and listening in students’ learning:



Thoughts about mandates and guided reading:



A lesson plan to encourage paying it forward:


That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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