"Reserving
judgements is a matter of infinite hope."
F. Scott Fitzgerald, in The Great Gatsby
Following
classroom observations, it’s easy to judge and recommend. And there are times
when a recommendation is the “just right” coaching move. But frequently, asking
a question is a more cognitively engaging approach. I love the Fitzgerald
quote, above, because it demonstrates positive assumptions. Rather than
judging, I can ask a question that helps me understand a teacher’s thinking. And
that thinking might be brilliant!
The
chart below lists some things I saw during a recent observation. I noted these
in all caps in my notes so that I would be sure to address them during our
debrief. (I’ve found that hitting the “caps lock” key is the quickest way to
emphasize something while I script a lesson.) When planning for our conference,
I crafted the questions to the right.
When I saw this…..
|
I asked this….
|
On
lesson plans, an objective was to use the associative property, but during
the lesson students were encouraged to use grouping to multiply.
|
Where
were you expecting students to use the associative property?
|
Teacher
asked students to rewrite their solution to the math problem on the board to
show their thinking to the class.
|
Why
did you use the board instead of the document camera to show student work?
|
A
student who had used an efficient strategy that wasn’t noted by the teacher
during whole group discussion.
|
Did
you see Adrian's thinking?
|
A
star on the paper of a student who had an incorrect answer.
|
What
does it mean when you put a star on a student’s paper?
|
Some
students not working, some finished; teacher gives class more time to work.
|
Why
did you give students more time to work?
|
What
follows these questions might be a recommendation, but often the act of
questioning prompts an insightful explanation or the teacher’s own appropriate
adaptations or next steps. For example, when I asked the question about the
associative property, the teacher realized on her own that she was mislabeling the
strategy. My question about the document camera was a bit of a disguised
recommendation, but I honestly thought she might have a specific reason for the
recopying. Instead, my question led her to revise her approach to having
students share their work, using the document camera to save time and enhance
visibility. My question about Adrian led to a discussion of not only this
student, but how others might benefit from a differentiated assignment. That’s
not where I expected that question to go, but it made an excellent area of
focus as the teacher planned an upcoming lesson.
Restraining
judgement and, instead, asking questions can reap rewards, encouraging teachers
to take an active role during debrief conversations.
This week, you might want to
take a look at:
Coaching for differentiation:
Measuring
student engagement with an “engagometer”:
Ed Week special issue on writing: Ideas for
developing students' analytical skills and the role of creative writing in the
classroom:
This video on station rotations and
other approaches to blended learning:
Content-area literacy or disciplinary
literacy – what’s the shift and how does it look across disciplines:
That’s it for this week. Happy
Coaching!
